Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little deserve all the accolades for developing the excellent WordPress software.
Given its current level of popularity, this platform has imparted new definitions to the online web industry, and the results speak volumes. W3Techs ranks WordPress as the leading content management system, with a 59.0% market share.
The much-proclaimed blogging platform has millions of users worldwide. However, if you consider website building an artful digital activity, then WordPress is the best canvas out there.
Consider using this excellent CMS as your ultimate website/blog-building tool to set up a blog or start a new website. Don’t forget to top it up with an excellent web hosting service.
You can build the best digital property for yourself or your valuable business with many beautiful themes and thoughtful plugins. This popular content management system offers so much that your website can be a visitor magnet. Even a layperson can customise a website and add desired fonts and themes!
However, if you think you know about WordPress thoroughly, we still might have ten unique facts about WordPress to take you on an awestruck journey. So, let’s go.
1. WordPress runs a VIP service
As WordPress has justifiably become a global marvel, it has VIP clients like TED, NBC, TIME and many more. The VIP platform includes hundreds of additional plugins, which can be integrated into your website through a single click.
The WordPress VIP cloud hosting service is specially designed for high-profile brands and can bear massive traffic. Its professional service is meant for someone who wants to build their own large-scale WordPress, bbPress, or BuddyPress projects.
2. WordPress powers approximately 28% of websites across the globe
As mentioned above, WordPress is the king of CMS’. However, it can be a somewhat astonishing fact to learn that there are approximately 28% of WordPress sites across the globe. WordPress powers over 75 million websites.
Nearly 50% of this figure employs free WordPress.com hosting. The most prominent names amongst WordPress users are some of the websites you use in day-to-day surfing, such as Forbes, MTV NEWS, TechCrunch, The Wall Street Journal, and so forth.
It has beaten some of the prime names for CMS, like Drupal, Blogger, Magento, and Joomla, by a huge margin.
3. The “Security Infringement Story” of WordPress
Since its very beginning, the nasty elements in the community have tried to drag down the leading unit that WordPress was becoming.
As far as we consider the history of WordPress, it has always been a target of ongoing security exploits. In 2011, a security attack compromised crucial data, resulting in over 18 million hacked WordPress websites. 2007 also witnessed a similar attack. As a worst-case scenario, most of the servers of WordPress broke down.
With the release of WordPress version 2.8.1., the issue was fixed. To quote a shocking fact, WordPress was the most hacked platform in the Q1 of 2016, amounting to 78% of the whole picture.
4. WordPress plugins stats are huge
Plugins are one of the greatest trump cards of WordPress, as they add more functionality to the site and capitalise it enormously.
To date, there are approximately 60,388 plugins available in the official WordPress plugin directory, and that’s not including plugins not included in the Plugin repository and are only available on sites like Envato Elements and others. In fact, WordPress goes into the process of testing and approving a new plugin with every passing hour.
Some of the most downloaded and popular WordPress plugins clocking in with more than 5 million downloads include:
- Classic Editor
- Akismet
- Jetpack
- WooCommerce
- Yoast SEO
5. WordPress themes are also fantastic
The WordPress theme directory makes designing your WordPress website fast and easy.
Instead of creating your website from scratch, these help you choose a templated design that captures what your business is all about. From here, you can edit the layout and its elements with a few clicks to create your custom personalised WordPress site in minutes.
To date, there are 10,787 free themes available in its directory. While it doesn’t show you the most downloaded themes in order, the directory indicates which themes have reached at least 1 million downloads and activations through the years. Here’s a partial list:
- Twenty Twenty-Three
- Hello Elementor
- Astra
6. WP Swag, the official store of WordPress
You might be unaware that WordPress also has an official store named The Mercantile, the ultimate destination for every WordPress admirer to showcase their love for WordPress goodies.
WP Swag store has a wide variety of apparel and accessories. In addition, it is associated with the WordPress Foundation, meaning everything you purchase goes to charity.
7. WordPress rules the ‘Downloads’
824,474,872 is the number of plugins that were downloaded in the year 2014 on WordPress.org. That will roughly mean 100+ downloads per day. Regarding the increase in downloads, the percentage of downloads is increasing per second.
Since blogging is trending rapidly, people are joining this platform by transitioning from a leisurely hobby to a full-time career option.
According to the stats, the net worth of WordPress is estimated to be over eight million dollars.
8. WordPress remains popular through the years
Despite the countless website builders and arguably more easy-to-use CMS platforms through the years, WordPress remains relatively popular among online users.
According to Ahrefs, the search phrase “WordPress” generates 247K monthly searches in the US and 2M globally.
WordPress.org, the site where you can download the stand-alone CMS and is different from WordPress.com, is generating 3 million monthly visitors this year. However, it enjoyed its highest organic traffic in 2016, with under 14 million monthly visitors.
Using Google Trends, we can also compare how WordPress compares to other popular website platforms and how they have trended since 2004.
Below is a screenshot that compares WordPress (blue) with Shopify (red), Wix (yellow), and Squarespace (green).
As you can see, WordPress still edges all of the other platforms for more than a decade in the online space.
9. WordCamp
The WordPress community is one of the best online groups in terms of sharing everything they know about the CMS. The community spans beyond borders with dedicated official WordPress groups worldwide.
This is evident with the different WordCamps held in various parts of the globe. These WordPress Meetups aim to invite people with a rich knowledge of WordPress or even those with a faint interest in it.
Everybody, from website owners to website developers, can join these events and learn new things about how to use WordPress to maximise their business and profitability. More importantly, attendees can connect with others and share their passion for the CMS.
10. Jazz Fever
Owing to the Jazz love of the WordPress creators, every subsequent version since version 1.0 has been named after renowned jazz musicians. From the first version, ‘Davis’, named after Miles Davis, to the 4.7 version, ‘Vaughan,’ named after Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan, all the versions have been named similarly.
Wrapping up
The WordPress statistics featured above show the impact this CMS has had all over the online world.
Despite years under its belt and with much stronger competition this time around, WordPress has managed to stay on top. It continues to provide its community platforms to help each other through themes and plugins and teach others how to get the most out of the platform.
This shows that WordPress continues to innovate and is not going anywhere anytime soon.