No—WordPress is not dying. It remains the most widely used content management system (CMS) in W3Techs’ measurements, appearing on 40.7% of all websites in its September 2026 snapshot. But its measured share has fallen over the past year. The evidence points to a large platform losing share, not one on the verge of disappearing.
How widely is WordPress used?
W3Techs reported WordPress on 40.7% of all websites in September 2026. Among websites for which W3Techs could identify a CMS, WordPress accounted for 58.9%. Those figures use different denominators: the first includes all websites in the survey; the second includes only sites with a known CMS. Both are technology-detection estimates, not a direct census of the web. W3Techs’ WordPress usage statistics describe WordPress as an open-source publishing and content-management system based on PHP and MySQL.
W3Techs also reported that Elementor was used by 31.5% of WordPress sites and WooCommerce by 19.8% in September 2026. These figures show that widely used extensions are part of the ecosystem; they do not measure extension quality, support, or user satisfaction.
Is WordPress losing momentum?
Yes, by the measure of share of all websites in W3Techs’ monthly series. WordPress registered 43.4% on 1 September 2025 and 40.7% on 1 September 2026. The series also shows 43.0% on 1 January 2026, 41.9% on 1 June, and 40.2% on 29 September 2026. The one-year comparison is between like-for-like dates, but the figures remain estimates rather than a count of every site on the internet. W3Techs’ historical CMS table records the trend.
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A declining share does not by itself show that the absolute number of WordPress sites is shrinking. Nor does the data explain why the share fell. Website share is not a measure of new-site adoption, revenue, security incidents, developer sentiment, or the quality of an individual installation.
Is WordPress development still active?
Yes. WordPress.org’s roadmaps describe continued work on block and site editing, collaboration, and the platform. The project’s 2026 goals include WordPress 7.0, AI integration with transparency and user-control guardrails, and contributor development. A September 2026 Core roadmap outlines proposed features for 7.2 while warning that not every active item is guaranteed to ship. A roadmap signals planned work, not a promise that each feature will be released or evidence that users are satisfied with the result. WordPress.org’s roadmap and the September 2026 Core roadmap updates set out those plans.
Why did WordPress change its release cadence?
In April 2025, the project announced that it would target one major release per year for the time being. The post said ongoing legal matters were diverting energy and resources, and that a slower schedule could make room for attention to technical debt, performance, noncommercial plugins, design, testing, and contributor experience. This is the project’s stated rationale, not an independent assessment of the platform’s condition. The announcement also said, “That remains the ideal for a fast-moving, community-driven project like WordPress,” referring to the project’s preference for moving quickly. Read the official release-cadence announcement.
What should existing WordPress site owners do?
A market-share trend alone is not a reason to migrate. Decide based on how the site works for you and what it takes to keep it reliable.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstall- Check the site’s needs: Confirm that its editor, theme, plugins, and integrations still support the work you need to do.
- Review maintenance: Check whether the theme and plugins are maintained, and whether you can manage updates, backups, and any troubleshooting the site requires.
- Confirm hosting compatibility: A January 2026 WordPress Core note said WordPress 7.0 was planned to drop PHP 7.2 and 7.3 support, with PHP 7.4 as the planned minimum and PHP 8.3 still the recommended minimum. The note reported that PHP 7.2 and 7.3 together accounted for less than 4% of monitored WordPress installations. That is the project’s monitored-installation figure, not a web-wide statistic. Check the current WordPress and hosting requirements before changing PHP versions or scheduling an upgrade. See the January 2026 Core note.
- Weigh upkeep against alternatives: Consider hosting responsibility, portability, migration effort, support and governance, and the trade-off between WordPress’s extensive extension ecosystem and the work of maintaining extensions. The reviewed sources do not establish comparative performance, security, total cost, or customer satisfaction across CMS products.
Migration involves content, URLs, integrations, and user training; the sources cited here do not quantify that work. Treat it as a project to scope rather than as an automatic response to a change in market share.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does WordPress still make sense for a new site?
It can, but its popularity is not enough to make it the right choice for every project. Start with the work the site must do: publishing and editing needs, required integrations, who will manage hosting and maintenance, and how portable the content must remain. Compare those needs with viable alternatives and the effort of operating each one.
WordPress.org’s summary of its 2025 report makes a positive case for continued relevance through investment in the Block Editor, Full Site Editing, AI, and hybrid or headless architecture. The report’s author is identified as a co-owner of a WordPress agency, so it is best read as a project-and-agency perspective, not independent proof of market momentum. WordPress.org’s 2025 report summary outlines that case.
For a version-sensitive setup, rely on current official documentation rather than an older guide. Any book or course should be treated as an optional learning aid, with its edition checked against the WordPress version you intend to use.
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