CMS Market Share 2026: 80+ Statistics, Trends & Data
Last updated: March 2026
WordPress still dominates — but for the first time in 20 years, it’s losing ground. Wix grew 32.6% in a single year. Shopify crossed 5%. Joomla and Drupal are in freefall. Here are 80+ CMS market share statistics that show exactly where the web is headed in 2026.
Key CMS Market Share Statistics (March 2026)
- WordPress powers 42.4% of all websites — down from 43.6% peak in mid-2025 (W3Techs)
- 71% of all websites use a CMS; 29% use none (W3Techs)
- Wix grew 32.6% year-over-year — the fastest-growing major CMS (SEJ)
- WordPress + Shopify + Wix control ~73% of the CMS market (SEJ)
- Global CMS market worth $34-38 billion in 2026 (Grand View Research)
- Only 43-45% of WordPress sites pass Core Web Vitals on mobile (HTTP Archive)
- 11,334 WordPress vulnerabilities discovered in 2025 — up 42% (Patchstack)
CMS Market Share Overview (March 2026)
The top 12 content management systems by usage, measured across all websites:
| # | CMS | % of All Websites | CMS Market Share | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WordPress | 42.4% | 59.8% | 🔴 -1.0 pp |
| 2 | Shopify | 5.1% | 7.2% | 🟢 +0.4 pp |
| 3 | Wix | 4.3% | 6.0% | 🟢 +0.8 pp |
| 4 | Squarespace | 2.5% | 3.5% | 🟢 +0.2 pp |
| 5 | Joomla | 1.3% | 1.8% | 🔴 -0.2 pp |
| 6 | Webflow | 0.9% | 1.2% | 🟢 +0.1 pp |
| 7 | Tilda | 0.8% | 1.2% | 🟢 +0.2 pp |
| 8 | Duda | 0.7% | 1.0% | 🟢 +0.1 pp |
| 9 | Drupal | 0.7% | 1.0% | 🔴 -0.2 pp |
| 10 | Adobe Systems | 0.7% | 0.9% | — |
| 11 | GoDaddy Builder | 0.7% | — | — |
| 12 | Google Systems | 0.6% | — | — |
CMS Market Share Trends (2015-2026)
How the CMS landscape has shifted over the past decade:
| CMS | 2015 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2024 | 2025 | Mar 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 23.3% | 29.2% | 35.4% | 43.2% | 43.1% | 43.6% | 42.4% |
| Shopify | 0.3% | 0.9% | 1.9% | 4.4% | 4.1% | 4.7% | 5.1% |
| Wix | 0.1% | 0.4% | 1.3% | 1.9% | 2.6% | 3.3% | 4.3% |
| Squarespace | 0.2% | 0.7% | 1.5% | 1.8% | 2.1% | 2.2% | 2.5% |
| Joomla | 3.3% | 3.2% | 2.6% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.3% |
| Drupal | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1.7% | 1.3% | 1.1% | 0.9% | 0.7% |
| No CMS | 61.7% | 51.3% | 43.1% | 33.8% | 31.4% | 29.6% | 29.0% |
- WordPress peaked at 43.6% in mid-2025 and has since declined — the first sustained contraction in 20 years
- WordPress CMS market share fell from 65.2% (2022) to 59.8% (March 2026)
- Shopify grew 929% since 2015 (0.3% → 5.1%)
- Wix grew 43x since 2015 (0.1% → 4.3%)
- Joomla declined 61% from 3.3% to 1.3%
- Drupal declined 70% from its 2018 peak of 2.3% to 0.7%
- In 2015, 61.7% of websites used no CMS. By 2026, that dropped to 29%
Year-Over-Year Changes (March 2025 → March 2026)
| CMS | Mar 2025 | Mar 2026 | Change | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 43.4% | 42.4% | -1.0 pp | 🔴 Declining |
| Wix | 3.5% | 4.3% | +0.8 pp | 🟢 Fastest growing |
| Shopify | 4.7% | 5.1% | +0.4 pp | 🟢 Growing |
| Squarespace | 2.3% | 2.5% | +0.2 pp | 🟢 Growing |
| Joomla | 1.5% | 1.3% | -0.2 pp | 🔴 Declining |
| Drupal | 0.9% | 0.7% | -0.2 pp | 🔴 Declining |
The trend is clear: Open-source CMS platforms (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal) are losing ground to hosted/SaaS builders (Wix, Shopify, Squarespace). Between Dec 2024 and Dec 2025, WordPress contracted 2.9% while Wix grew 22.4% and Squarespace grew 6.2%.
CMS Revenue & Market Size
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global CMS market size (2026) | $34-38 billion | Grand View Research |
| Projected market by 2032 | $54.16 billion (7.54% CAGR) | Grand View Research |
| Shopify revenue (2025) | $11.56 billion (+30% YoY) | SEJ |
| Wix revenue (2025) | $1.99 billion | SEJ |
| Squarespace acquisition | $7.2 billion (Permira, Oct 2024) | SEJ |
| WordPress ecosystem economy | $596.7 billion | WP Engine study via Kinsta |
| Shopify + Wix combined revenue | $13.5+ billion | SEJ |
CMS Usage by Website Type
Ecommerce CMS market share
| Platform | Ecommerce Share | Live Stores |
|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce | 33-37% | 4.53 million |
| Shopify | 26-29% | 4.6-4.8 million |
| Wix Stores | ~16% | 2.9 million |
| Squarespace | ~11% | — |
| Magento/Adobe | 7-8% | — |
| BigCommerce | ~3% | — |
CMS usage by traffic tier
- WordPress accounts for ~58% of CMS usage among the top 10,000 highest-traffic websites (HTTP Archive)
- Drupal holds 6-7% among the top 10,000 — punching well above its 1% overall share
- Shopify and Wix are largely absent from the top 10,000 highest-traffic sites
- 14.7% of the world’s top websites use WordPress, including NYT, Spotify, and TechCrunch (Kinsta)
- Over 55% of new ecommerce stores in 2025 launched on SaaS platforms, not self-hosted CMS
Live Websites by Platform
| Platform | Estimated Live Websites | Source |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | ~810 million | W3Techs / Internet Live Stats |
| Squarespace | ~4.7 million | Market share estimate |
| Shopify | 4.6-4.8 million | StorLeads |
| Wix | ~2.9 million | BuiltWith |
CMS Performance Benchmarks (Core Web Vitals)
How each CMS performs on Google’s Core Web Vitals — the metrics that affect search rankings.
| CMS | Overall CWV Pass | INP | LCP | CLS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 Duda | 85% | 94% | 94% | 93% |
| 🥈 Shopify | 75-78% | 89% | — | — |
| 🥉 Wix | 71-75% | 87% | 81% | 95% |
| Squarespace | 68% | 96% | — | 89% |
| Drupal | 59% | 86% | — | — |
| WordPress | 43-45% | 86% | 53% | 84% |
- Wix improved CWV pass rate by 14 percentage points in one year (55% → 75%)
- Squarespace ranks #1 for INP (responsiveness) at 96% pass rate
- WordPress is last among major CMS platforms for Core Web Vitals (43-45%)
- Wix leads Lighthouse performance on mobile with a score of 64; WordPress scores 41
- Wix has the lowest image weight at 194 KB (mobile); Joomla the highest at 1,612 KB
- WordPress median page weight: 2,894 KB on mobile
Note from Colorlib: As WordPress theme developers, we know these numbers don’t tell the whole story. A well-optimized WordPress site with a quality theme and caching can easily pass CWV. The low average reflects the huge number of unoptimized sites using heavy plugins and themes.
CMS Security Statistics
| Statistic | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress vulnerabilities discovered in 2025 | 11,334 (+42% YoY) | Patchstack |
| Vulnerabilities in plugins | 91% | Patchstack |
| Vulnerabilities in themes | 9% | Patchstack |
| Vulnerabilities in WordPress core | Only 6 | Patchstack |
| XSS as % of all vulnerabilities | 47.7% | Patchstack |
| Median time to mass exploitation | 5 hours | Patchstack |
| Exploited within 72 hours of disclosure | 58% | Patchstack |
| No developer patch at disclosure | 46% | Patchstack |
| Exploitable without authentication | 43% | Patchstack |
| Vulnerability growth 2023 → 2025 | 5,948 → 7,966 → 11,334 | Patchstack |
Hosted CMS platforms (Shopify, Wix, Squarespace) have near-zero user-facing vulnerabilities since the vendor handles all security. For WordPress, the takeaway is clear: keep plugins updated and use a WAF.
WordPress Ecosystem Statistics
- 500+ new WordPress sites built every day (Kinsta)
- 70 million new posts and 77 million comments published monthly
- 55,000+ plugins in the Plugin Directory; 1 billion+ total downloads
- 9,000+ free themes; 11,000+ premium themes on Envato
- Elementor used on 31% of WordPress sites; WooCommerce on 20.1%
- ~60% of WordPress sites use a page builder (HTTP Archive)
- 91.7% of WordPress sites run version 6.x; 2.5% still run 4.x or older
- 990 WordCamps held across 73 cities in 65 countries
For a deeper dive, see our full WordPress Statistics article.
CMS Migration Statistics
Where are people going when they leave WordPress?
| Statistic | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Former WP users who moved to Shopify | 42% | TechRadar |
| Former WP users who moved to Wix | 38% | TechRadar |
| Former WP users who don’t regret switching | 7 out of 8 | TechRadar |
| Switchers who reported no cost increase | ~70% | TechRadar |
Headless CMS & Emerging Trends
- Headless CMS market expected to grow from $974M (2025) to $7.1B (2035) — 22.6% CAGR (FMI)
- 44% of organizations now use a headless CMS (Storyblok)
- 86% of headless CMS users reported increased ROI (Storyblok)
- 92% of US ecommerce brands now use “composable commerce” as default architecture
- JAMstack sites load 35% faster, with 50% achieving FCP under 1 second
- Gartner predicts 70% of new applications will use low-code/no-code tools by 2025
AI & CMS Statistics
- 81% of developers report increased productivity when using AI tools in web development
- Nearly 40% of web designers use AI tools daily
- GPTBot mentions in robots.txt increased 55% YoY; ClaudeBot mentions nearly doubled
- 2.13% of websites now have valid llms.txt files; 39.6% auto-generated by AIOSEO (SEJ)
CMS Market by Region
| Region | CMS Market Share | Growth Rate |
|---|---|---|
| North America | 34% | Moderate |
| Europe | 28% | Moderate |
| Asia-Pacific | 27% | 14.5-15.1% CAGR (fastest) |
| Middle East & Africa | 11% | Growing |
- CMS adoption highest in Italy (51% mobile); US and UK both at 49% (HTTP Archive)
- CMS adoption lowest in Indonesia (25%) and Brazil (32%)
- Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing CMS region
SEO-Related CMS Statistics
- 68% of desktop pages use canonical tags (up from 65% in 2024)
- 47% of desktop pages use meta robots tags (up from 45.5%)
- Yoast SEO runs on 15.96% of all desktop websites — nearly 70% of all identified SEO tool usage (SEJ)
- Squarespace average SEO score: 40.5 out of 100; 66.4% have missing alt text (SEJ)
Key Takeaways
- WordPress is still dominant — 42.4% of all websites — but it’s declining for the first time in its history. The peak was mid-2025.
- Wix is the disruptor. 32.6% YoY growth, top Lighthouse scores, and it’s closing the gap fast.
- SaaS builders are winning the new-site market. Over 55% of new ecommerce stores launch on hosted platforms, not self-hosted CMS.
- Joomla and Drupal are fading. Combined, they’ve gone from 14% to under 3%. The open-source CMS story is increasingly WordPress-only.
- Performance matters more than ever. WordPress’s 43% CWV pass rate is a real competitive disadvantage against Duda (85%) and Shopify (78%).
- Security is the #1 WordPress risk. 11,334 vulnerabilities in one year, 91% from plugins. Keep everything updated.
- Headless CMS is the future for enterprise — projected to grow 7x by 2035 — but traditional CMS isn’t going anywhere for SMBs.
Sources
- W3Techs — CMS Overview (March 2026)
- W3Techs — Historical CMS Trends
- Search Engine Journal — 3 CMS Platforms Control 73% of the Market
- HTTP Archive 2025 Web Almanac — CMS Chapter
- Patchstack — State of WordPress Security 2026
- Grand View Research — CMS Market Report
- Kinsta — WordPress Statistics
- Mordor Intelligence — CMS Market
- Future Market Insights — Headless CMS
- Storyblok — CMS Statistics
- Red Stag — WooCommerce Market Share
- TechRadar — CMS Switching Survey
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most popular CMS in 2026?
WordPress is the most popular CMS, powering 42.4% of all websites and holding 59.8% of the CMS market as of March 2026. Shopify is second at 5.1%, followed by Wix at 4.3%.
Is WordPress losing market share?
Yes. WordPress peaked at 43.6% in mid-2025 and has since declined to 42.4%. Its CMS market share dropped from 65.2% in 2022 to 59.8% in 2026. This is the first sustained decline in WordPress’s 20+ year history, driven by growth in SaaS platforms like Wix (+32.6% YoY) and Shopify (+0.4 pp YoY).
What is the fastest-growing CMS?
Wix is the fastest-growing major CMS with 32.6% year-over-year growth. It went from 0.1% of all websites in 2015 to 4.3% in March 2026 — a 43x increase.
How many websites use a CMS?
71% of all websites use a content management system. The remaining 29% are built without a detected CMS (custom-coded, static sites, or proprietary systems). In 2015, only 38.3% of websites used a CMS.
What CMS do the biggest websites use?
WordPress accounts for ~58% of CMS usage among the top 10,000 highest-traffic websites. Drupal punches above its weight at 6-7% in this tier. Shopify and Wix are largely absent from the top 10,000 — they dominate among small and medium businesses instead.
Which CMS has the best performance?
Duda leads Core Web Vitals with an 85% mobile pass rate. Shopify (75-78%) and Wix (71-75%) follow. WordPress has the lowest CWV pass rate among major platforms at 43-45%, though well-optimized WordPress sites can perform as well as any platform.
Looking for a CMS for your next project? Browse our free WordPress themes, explore Tailwind CSS templates, or see our full WordPress statistics deep dive.
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