WordPress – From a Simple Blogging Platform to the Leading CMS Ecosystem

WordPress is incredibly popular and continues to attract new users every year. The short answer to the question "why?" is simple: it's convenient, highly extendable through plugins, has an intuitive interface and can be used by people with little technical knowledge.

Most articles about WordPress focus on listing its obvious benefits: open-source code, block-based editing, and thousands of plugins. But behind these surface-level features lies a deeper story—one of how a dedicated team of developers made a series of pivotal decisions that shaped the entire content management industry. It wasn’t abstract ideals but these concrete, strategic moves that transformed a simple blogging tool into a platform managing nearly half of all websites on the internet.

Understanding these strategic choices not only explains WordPress’s current dominance but also helps predict its future in the face of growing competition from modern website builders and headless CMS solutions.

What CMS Market Statistics Reveal

According to W3Techs, the top five most popular CMS platforms are:

The first thing that stands out is the overwhelming dominance of WordPress—43% of all websites and 61% market share of the CMS. These figures clearly show that WordPress has evolved beyond its original purpose as a "blogging platform" into a universal solution for web projects. The advantage stems from benefits listed above, and the widespread adoption of the platform by developers.

The rest of the market shows extreme fragmentation, but Shopify holds a modest 4.8% share of all websites and controls 6.8% of the content management system (CMS) market, indicating a specialization in e-commerce, which makes sense. When it comes to serious online retail businesses, owners are willing to pay for specialized solutions.

Wix, with a 4% share of websites and a 5.6% market share reveals an interesting trend. Website builders are gradually taking market share away from traditional CMS (content management system) platforms, especially among small businesses and individuals. Squarespace and Joomla remain niche players, suggesting either highly specific needs or a slow loss of market share to more modern and user-friendly options.

This market landscape shows that users vote with their feet in favor of simplicity and functionality. WordPress wins by striking a perfect balance between capabilities and accessibility.

The Battle for the WordPress User

Statistics on the usage of popular tools within the WordPress ecosystem, based on W3Techs:

The most surprising result was the 40.4%, categorized as "Other," indicating the use of custom themes, obscure plugins or bespoke solutions. This figure emphasizes the platform's flexibility: developers are not limited to mainstream tools, but create unique solutions tailored to specific needs.

In the page builder market, a fierce competition for usability is ongoing. Elementor has taken nearly a third (29.2%) of the market, becoming the de facto standard for users wanting to create websites without coding skills. Its success rests on the WYSIWYG (what you see, is what you get) principle.

WooCommerce maintains a steady 20.5% market share, having become synonymous with e-commerce powered by WordPress. One fifth of all WordPress websites run commerce through WooCommerce, an impressive penetration rate for this specialized tool.

WPBakery Page Builder has 8.9% market share, remaining a favourite among more conservative users who are accustomed to the interface. BeaverBuilder, with just 1% market share, appears to have lost out in the race for widespread adoption, instead focusing on a niche professional audience.

These figures reveal a key strength of the WordPress ecosystem: it successfully serves two radically different user groups. On one hand, professional developers have a powerful tool for building complex projects—hence the high share of custom solutions in the “Other” category. They write their own code, design unique themes, and use specialized plugins for advanced functionality.

On the other hand, non-technical users can create professional-looking websites using visual tools like Elementor. Bloggers, small business owners, and freelancers can assemble a well-designed site in just a few hours, by dragging and dropping different elements. This is why page builders have such a large market share—they've made web development more accessible to everyone.

This is the way

So how did WordPress become so dominant? We’ve examined its evolution from the first release (January 3, 2004) to understand how it transformed over time.

The versions selected for comparison were not chosen for chronological completeness, but for their strategic significance - each marks a major architectural shift or a change in development priorities. These pivotal decisions, rather than incremental improvements, explain how a simple blogging tool has become the leading content management platform.

The tradition of naming releases after jazz musicians as a tribute to developers is a quirky practice. Matt Mullenweg, a jazz enthusiast, started this tradition. Now, every release honours a legendary artist, which is a strange habit. Who are we to judge the developers for this?

WordPress debuted on May 27th, 2003 as a fork from b2/cafeLog. Early versions were intended solely for personal blogs and informational sites. The transition from WordPress 1.0 to WordPress 1.5 was the first major leap in architecture. While WordPress 1.0 was a basic blogging platform with limited support for plugins, WordPress 1.5 established the foundation for today's ecosystem.

The key innovation was the introduction of static pages, which effectively transformed WordPress into a full-featured CMS. At the same time, hundreds of extensions—hooks for developers—enabled functionality to be customized without altering the base code. This decision was so successful that the hook and filter system remains central to the WordPress platform two decades later.

The launch of the plugin repository in 2005 sparked what can only be called "the democratization of web development." Suddenly, building complex sites no longer required deep technical knowledge - users could simply install plugins.

Platform Professionalization (2005–2015)

The period from WordPress version 2.0 to 4.2-4.3 saw steady functional growth. Version 2.0 "Duke" introduced the TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor, which revolutionized the user experience. Previously, HTML knowledge was essential, but now anyone familiar with word processors could use WordPress.

Equally important was the improved user and role management system. WordPress has evolved from a tool for individual bloggers to a platform for team collaboration, allowing different levels of access and paving the way for corporate use.

The technical shift to UTF-8MB4 in versions 4.2-4.3 may seem minor, but it reflects the strategic vision of WordPress. Emoji support and extended Unicode made the platform truly global. Today, WordPress websites operate in hundreds of languages, including ones with logographic writing systems.

The Gutenberg Revolution: A Paradigm Shift (2018)

WordPress 5.0 "Bebo" was the most controversial release in the history of the platform. The replacement of the classic editor with a block-based interface sparked intense discussion, but it was this innovation that shaped the future of WordPress.

The block-editor fundamentally changed the way content is created. Instead of a linear text with occasional images, pages became a modular construction of independent blocks, each with its own options for images, texts, galleries, and embedded videos.

However, the real revolution did not happen in 2018, but three years later when the block system developed into Full Site Editing. With WordPress 6.0 "Arturo", the platform transformed from a content editing tool into a complete design tool. Now users could edit not only page content, but also templates and headers, essentially any site element.

The Modern Era (2022–2025)

Recent versions show a shift towards performance and security. The WordPress 6.8 "Cecil" exemplifies this trend.

Speculative loading - a technology that pre-loads pages based on user behaviour - transforms the user experience. Analyzing cursor movement and predicting clicks allows WordPress to begin loading content before a user even clicks, resulting in near-instant page load times.

The switch to bcrypt password hashing at version 6.8 reflects increasing cybersecurity concerns. This algorithm is much more resistant to brute force attacks, making it significantly harder to breach passwords.

The most significant change is the universal rollout of the Style Book - a centralized design system. Previously, full design control was limited to modern block themes. Even classic themes now benefit from unified styling tools thanks to the Style Book.

The Evolution of System Requirements

Analyzing system requirements reveals the development philosophy of WordPress. The platform takes a surprisingly conservative approach towards compatibility. While the minimum requirements in 2005 were PHP 4.2 and MySQL 3.23.23, they had risen to only PHP 7.2.24 and MySQL 5.5.5 by 2024.

This strategy stems from an understanding of WordPress's global user base. Many websites run on shared hosting, with limited server upgrade capabilities. By supporting older versions of PHP and MySQL, WordPress ensures access for millions of people in developing countries.

The 2025 Strategic Shift

WordPress's decision to reduce the number of major releases from three per year to one marks a fundamental change in its development strategy. While speed once dominated the agenda, stability and quality have now become priorities.

This change reflects WordPress's maturity. Nearly half of the web relies on it, so every update affects billions of pages. Responsibility for the global web infrastructure requires a more thoughtful and deliberate approach.

Ecosystem Maturity and Growth Challenges

Today, WordPress is not just a content management system (CMS)—it's a full-fledged ecosystem. Over 60,000 plugins from the official repository turn it into a toolbox for virtually any type of web application: blog, e-commerce store, corporate portal, educational platform—the platform can adapt to any need.

But success also brings new challenges. The open-source code of WordPress is studied not only by enthusiastic users but also by malicious hackers. Due to its popularity, WordPress becomes a prime target for attacks. In response to this, the platform has doubled down on security measures, evident in its stronger encryption algorithms and frequent security updates.

The Technological Horizon: Preparing for the AI Era

Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, openly discusses the preparation of the platform for the era of artificial intelligence. This is not just about integrating artificial intelligence tools for content creation - it's about rearchitecting WordPress so that it works seamlessly with artificial intelligence agents.

Market Share Growth Over Time

The data confirm the effectiveness of the architectural choices made by WordPress:

• The steady rise in market share since 2011 demonstrates how the platform's evolution has aligned with user needs.
• The first surge (2011-2015) coincided with the professionalization of the platform. Market share almost doubled - from 13,1% to 23,3% - amid a startup boom and the rise of digital entrepreneurship. WordPress was at the right place and at the right time
• The mobile transformation (2015-2018) boosted growth to 29.2% The move to UTF8MB4 and internationalisation came just as the world switched to mobile. Social media fuelled content marketing and the gig economy boosted demand for personal websites and portfolios
• Gutenberg initially faced resistance, but by 2020, its advantages became clear. The growth from 29.2% to 35.4%, reflects the community's adaptation to the new interface.
• The pandemic acted as a catalyst, with a jump from 35.4% to 43.2% just in two years driven by forced digitization. Restaurants, salons, freelance workers, and schools all rushed online, making the e-commerce boom make WordPress + WooCommerce essential.
• Since 2022, growth has slowed down. Stabilization at around 43-44% indicates market saturation. WordPress powers nearly half of the web, and further expansion is limited to niche markets that require specialized platforms.

The correlation between technical decisions and market success is striking. UTF8MB4 was ready for the mobile revolution, and Gutenberg and full site editing were perfectly timed to meet the demands of the pandemic-driven surge in digital use. Today's focus on performance and security reflects the needs of a mature market.

With 43.6% of the global web running on WordPress, it has become a cornerstone of Internet infrastructure. Hence, the 2025 strategic shift towards cautious, deliberate development is underway. Controlling half of the web requires extraordinary responsibility.

Yet, dominance also brings opportunities. WordPress can shape the standards of web development and lay the foundation for the next frontier in technology—the era of artificial intelligence that is already knocking on the door.

Conclusions

The most striking aspect of the evolution of WordPress is not technical perfection, but rather the ability of the development team to make the right decisions in critical moments. 43% of all websites are powered by WordPress, not because it's the most sophisticated CMS, but rather because each architectural change addresses real user needs.

The ecosystem's most fascinating trait is its combination of simplicity and complexity. Elementor, on the one hand, captures a third of the market for page builders, enabling non-programmers to create websites. However, 40 percent of users still prefer custom solutions that require deep technical knowledge. This apparent contradiction actually results from a well-designed architectural system first introduced in WordPress 1.5 through its hook system.

The 2025 slowdown in the release frequency might seem like stagnation, but in reality it reflects the maturity of the ecosystem. When your platform powers nearly half of the internet, each change affects billions of pages - there's no room for risky experimentation. WordPress learned the wisdom that many startups lack - sometimes the best move is to avoid revolution in favor of gradual evolution.

The coming AI era will be a test of this philosophy's ultimate success. Success depends on maintaining a delicate balance between innovation and stability, the very principles that turned a simple blog tool into the basis of the modern internet.