--- title: "Is WordPress Outdated in 2026? The Newcomer Problem" description: "WordPress fell from 43% to 39.5% of all websites in 2026, and the beginner searches are vanishing. Where the share went, and what I think happens next." url: https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions/wordpress-has-a-newcomer-problem language: en updated: 2026-11-07 publisher: Wonder Works (Wonder Works Design Ltd), Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria --- [Home](https://wonderworksdesign.net/)[Colin Rooney](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney)[Colin's Predictions](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions) [Prediction 13](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions)Called on **6 Nov 2026**Still open # WordPress has a newcomer problem Nobody new is choosing WordPress [Colin Rooney](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney)Co-founder, Wonder Works · my opinion, not Wonder Works advice ![Colin Rooney with his arms folded beside an empty queue under a sign reading New users this way, while Neli Rooney looks at an empty clipboard](https://wonderworksdesign.net/media/colin-neli-new-users-this-way.webp) Every website on the internet as 200 tiles, one for each half a percent, 1 January to 1 November 2026 **39.5%** WordPress 43.0% on 1 Jan 2026 **32.2%** No system at all, built straight from code 28.6% on 1 Jan 2026 Shopify, Wix and everything else WordPress went down every single month this year. Websites with no system behind them went up every month since February, while Shopify (5.0% to 5.3%) and Wix (4.2% to 4.2%) barely moved. Every month, as a table | Date | WordPress | No system at all, built straight from code | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 Jan 2026 | 43.0% | 28.6% | | 1 Feb 2026 | 42.8% | 28.6% | | 1 Mar 2026 | 42.7% | 28.8% | | 1 Apr 2026 | 42.5% | 28.9% | | 1 May 2026 | 42.2% | 29.2% | | 1 Jun 2026 | 41.9% | 29.5% | | 1 Jul 2026 | 41.5% | 29.9% | | 1 Aug 2026 | 41.2% | 30.4% | | 1 Sep 2026 | 40.7% | 30.9% | | 1 Oct 2026 | 40.2% | 31.5% | | 1 Nov 2026 | 39.5% | 32.2% | Source: [W3Techs, content management history](https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all/m), share of all websites on the first of each month, checked 7 November 2026. The short answer WordPress still runs about four in ten websites, but it has slipped every month of 2026, and the share went to sites built straight from code, not to Wix or Shopify. The beginners aren't turning up: the questions a newcomer types into Google are falling, and when people wonder about WordPress now, they ask AI. My call: it's gone, or it reinvents itself, which is hard with millions of sites that need to keep working. ## Is WordPress outdated in 2026? I'll say it so there's no confusion about where I stand. I hate the fucking thing. Not the brand, I don't hate WordPress as a brand, just the platform itself. It's old and dated, we don't drive cars that old, and it came out in [2003](https://wordpress.org/about/history/), long before my iPhone 1. I did use it, a few years ago, and what I found is how clunky it is, how nothing is just "easy", and how mistakes got made all the time, so I gave up. I'll be honest, my lifestyle changed too, so I didn't need it. I still touch it from time to time, but not directly. I use my AI to do it through my browser, and it's ok, but slow and restrictive, because of the plugins and dated themes. I assume it's got better, and I know you can connect AI to it now, but it's not as clean as custom code. Now I code everything with AI. It's fast, it's effective, it's better design, and it's better for AI. Just look at the website you're on now. I can add helpful content faster than it used to take me to research a new topic, approve it and rewrite it, and the final execution takes minutes. ## Is WordPress losing market share in 2026? WordPress still runs about four in every ten websites, so let's be fair, it's the giant. But it has slid every single month this year, from 43% of all websites on 1 January to 39.5% now, [according to W3Techs](https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all/m), which tracks this. And the bit that made me sit up is where it went. Not to Wix, not to Shopify, they barely moved. It went to websites with no system behind them at all, which rose from 28.6% to 32.2% over the same months, the first time that number has gone up in more than a decade. Sites built straight from code. Sites like this one. ## Are fewer people starting new WordPress sites? I don't care about the people already on it. People are creatures of habit, moving a site is a chore, and they'll stay for years. The new user is gold, and the new user isn't turning up. The questions a beginner types into Google are disappearing. In America, "does WordPress cost money" is down 85% in a year, "why WordPress" and "is WordPress easy to use" are both down by around half, and searches for WordPress hosting, which is what you look for when you're about to start one, are down 70%. Here in Bulgaria, more people now search for Claude Code than for WordPress, and they have since the first half of this year. And when people do wonder about WordPress now, they ask AI: "is WordPress still worth it" went from about 20 questions a month to several hundred. It's not so much that WordPress searches are falling, it's just less in the conversation. What people type into Google before they start a WordPress site, United States - “does wordpress cost money” 260**40**\-85% Google searches a month, September 2025 → September 2026 - “why wordpress” 320**140**\-56% Google, September 2025 → September 2026 (August to August: 140 → 110) - “is wordpress easy to use” 390**170**\-56% Google, September 2025 → September 2026 (August to August: 260 → 170) - “wordpress hosting” 27,100**8,100**\-70% Google, September 2025 → September 2026 (August 2026 was still 18,100) - “is wordpress still worth it” 24**295**+1,129% Asked in AI tools, November 2025 → September 2026 Sources: Google Ads search volumes and DataForSEO's estimates of questions asked in AI tools, United States, pulled 6 and 7 November 2026. Every question starts the same size; as it plays, its size follows how much more or less it's asked now. Bulgaria: searches for Claude Code and for WordPress, month by month Claude Code has been searched for more than WordPress in Bulgaria every month since January 2026. | Month | Claude Code | WordPress | | --- | --- | --- | | Dec 2025 | 2,900 | 4,400 | | Jan 2026 | 8,100 | 6,600 | | Feb 2026 | 9,900 | 5,400 | | Mar 2026 | 14,800 | 8,100 | | Apr 2026 | 12,100 | 5,400 | | May 2026 | 9,900 | 4,400 | | Jun 2026 | 8,100 | 3,600 | | Jul 2026 | 6,600 | 2,900 | | Aug 2026 | 5,400 | 2,900 | | Sep 2026 | 5,400 | 2,900 | Source: Google Ads search volumes, Bulgaria, December 2025 to September 2026, pulled 7 November 2026. Google Trends shows the same, every month since March. ## What is the downside of using WordPress? This is the reality. It was designed many years ago as a blog site, then it added lots of plugins to function as a website, and now, who knows. And the plugins are where the trouble lives. [11,334 new WordPress security holes were found in 2025](https://www.patchstack.com/whitepaper/state-of-wordpress-security-in-2026/), 91% of them in plugins, and this summer even WordPress itself [needed an emergency fix](https://wordpress.org/news/2026/07/wordpress-7-0-2-release/). It also runs on an old programming language called PHP, and the AI tools building today's new websites don't write it. [PHP's share of websites has dropped from 75% to 69%](https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/programming_language/ms/y) in under two years. Nobody ran away from PHP, most business owners have never heard of it. The machines just don't speak it. New security holes found in WordPress sites in 2025 **11,334** new security holes in one year - **91%** in plugins - **9%** in themes - **6** in WordPress itself*holes, all low priority* Source: [Patchstack, State of WordPress Security in 2026](https://www.patchstack.com/whitepaper/state-of-wordpress-security-in-2026/): 91% in plugins, 9% in themes, 6 in WordPress itself. The stack is drawn from those shares. PHP, the language WordPress is written in: its share of all websites 1. **80.6%** January 2015 2. **75.2%** January 2025 3. **72.4%** January 2026 4. **69.1%** November 2026 Source: [W3Techs, server-side language history](https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/programming_language/ms/y), checked 7 November 2026. ## Do you still need a CMS, or should a website be custom-built? Don't build it yourself. [Let someone who lives in this world do it](https://wonderworksdesign.net/services/web-design). It's not expensive like it was, and you focus on what you do best, your business. That goes for any CMS, a content management system, the dashboard you log into to update your own site. We don't live in that world anymore. Why would you want a website you update yourself, for a client that doesn't click unless they have to? Yes, make it look cool for when they do, I do, but make it so it can be spoken about in AI search. Be the answer. Websites have a new objective now, in November 2026, and it won't stay still in 2027. I would never use WordPress for me or for a client. If that's what you want, it's not us, but it's cool, you're spoiled for choice of agencies who will happily do it for you. ## Is WordPress dying, or still the king of the castle? My call: gone, or they invest heavily in R&D, which will be a challenge, because they have far too many current sites that need to keep working. I'm sure they talk about this all the time, I hope they do. It's still the market leader and runs about four in ten websites, but is it the king of the castle for much longer? Time will tell. ## Updates, newest first 6 Nov 2026The original call This is the prediction as I made it that day. When something changes, I add a dated update here and leave the original as it is. ## Keep reading [Older · 12 · called 6 Nov 2026**Welcome to the B2Ai era. Canva just found out.**Canva told 22% of its people their job was changing or going, and the pattern underneath it is one quote: a customer's AI agents routed him around Canva without anyone deciding to. The AI agent now goes on your ideal client sheet. It isn't the end user, the human is, but it does the legwork, and it wants one thing from you: the correct information, easily.](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions/welcome-to-the-b2ai-era)[Newer · 14 · called 6 Nov 2026 **Is SEO dead? Yes, because there won't be a page one of Google.**Yes, SEO is dead the way we know it, because its goal was page one of Google and page one is going. Google is turning into AI Mode: you talk, it answers, and you only get a link if you ask for one. A conversation has room for one or two sources, not ten. My call: AI Mode becomes the default Google, the page of links survives as a switch for a while, and then it goes.](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions/is-seo-dead) [All 11 predictions in the logbook](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions) ### In this piece 1. Is WordPress outdated in 2026? 2. Is WordPress losing market share in 2026? 3. Are fewer people starting new WordPress sites? 4. What is the downside of using WordPress? 5. Do you still need a CMS, or should a website be custom-built? 6. Is WordPress dying, or still the king of the castle? ### How I mark these - Happening - Still open - Proved wrong ### Linked predictions - [“I don't need a website, that's what ChatGPT is for”](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions/i-dont-need-a-website-thats-what-chatgpt-is-for) - [Welcome to the B2Ai era. Canva just found out.](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions/welcome-to-the-b2ai-era) - [SEO is named after something nobody does anymore](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions/seo-named-after-something-nobody-does) - [Your customers are already asking AI. You're not, yet.](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions/is-bulgaria-behind-on-ai-search) ### All of them - [← Back to the logbook](https://wonderworksdesign.net/authors/colin-rooney/predictions)