WordPress has been the most popular content management system (CMS) for building websites for many years. And WooCommerce, a plugin for WordPress, remains one of the most widely used platforms for building online stores.
WordPress market share
WordPress is used to power over 43% of the world’s ten million largest websites, and over 63% of all websites using a CMS.
Source: W3Techs — Usage of Content Management Systems.
Google Trends shows WordPress increasing strongly in popularity when compared with Joomla and Drupal: WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal.
WooCommerce market share
WooCommerce used to be the eCommerce technology of choice, though in recent years Shopify surged ahead, taking the top spot for eCommerce technology. With that said, WooCommerce is the second most used eCommerce platform, with 20% of eCommerce websites across the entire internet.
Source: BuiltWith — eCommerce usage statistics.
WooCommerce began life as Jigoshop, which was forked and significantly enhanced into WooCommerce by WooThemes, and later acquired by Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com).
In Google Trends, WooCommerce joined the market late (in 2012) and has generated substantial interest. In relative terms, interest in Magento has flattened and declined, while Shopify has continued to grow: WooCommerce vs Shopify vs Magento.
Additional information
This detailed article from Smashing Magazine looks at WordPress, Drupal and Joomla and their use as a CMS: How WordPress Took The CMS Crown From Drupal And Joomla.
You can also read some other related articles below — they use different information sources from different periods, but the overall picture is the same: WordPress is a very popular CMS for building websites.
- A Look at WordPress Market Share Numbers
- WordPress Usage Statistics
- CMS Usage Statistics
- Joomla and WordPress by TechCrunch
What this means for your website
Market share isn't the whole story, but it does tell you something useful: with WordPress and WooCommerce you're building on mature, well-supported platforms with a huge ecosystem of themes, plugins, developers and hosting. That means less lock-in, plenty of expertise to draw on, and a clear upgrade path as your business grows.
Whether WordPress, WooCommerce or Shopify is the right fit depends on your goals. See how we build websites, or get in touch for a recommendation tailored to your business.