21 CMS Statistics [2022]: Facts On The Content Management System Market

Research Summary. The idea of creating a website might seem overwhelming at first, especially if you don’t know how to code or work with software. Luckily, content management systems (CMS) use a drag-and-drop editor to put together modules, making website creation easier and more popular than ever. According to our extensive research:

• 43.6% of websites are custom-built with CMS.

• Over 73 million websites have been built with CMS.

• There are roughly 30.46 million live websites using WordPress.

• As of 2021, there have been 455 million websites built by WordPress.

• 64.9% of CMS users use WordPress.

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Platforms | Trends | WordPress

General Content Management System Statistics

CMS is certainly useful for businesses, blogs, and more, whether they be small or large. Without these individuals and entities, CMS wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is. Knowing that, here are some general facts about where CMS stands today:

• CMS currently has a market size of $62.4 billion.

  There are currently 73 million websites that have been built with CMS. If every one of those websites was made using a platform someone paid for, that’s a whole lot of money going into the industry.

• As of 2021, there are over 80 different CMS platforms to choose from.

  There are tons of CMS platforms on the market, but not all platforms are created equal. For instance, the top five most popular and profitable platforms make up roughly 80% of the entire market.

• As of 2021, only 36% of websites are hand-coded.

  That’s a 52.6% decrease from a decade ago, in 2011, when the vast majority (76%) of websites were hardcoded. CMS is responsible for taking this large chuck out of the share of hand-coded websites over time.

CMS Statistics by CMS Platforms

While WordPress has the largest market share and most users, there are several other CMS platforms to choose from. In part, the influx of CMS platforms is a testament to how popular CMS has become, and therefore, it’s unsurprising to see new platforms gaining steam. According to our research:

• Out of all websites on the Internet, WordPress has a 41.28% market share of them.

  WordPress is by far the most massive CMS platform, but there are others that have been gaining popularity in recent years. Others among the top ten include: Wix (7.03%), Squarespace (4.24%), Joomla (2.44%), GoDaddy Builder (2.50%), Weebly (1.57%), Duda (1.10%), Blogger (1.05%). Drupal (1.03%), Jimdo (0.76%).

  CMS Platform	Total Market Share	Number of Live Websites
  WordPress	41.28%	30.46M
  Wix	7.03%	4.56M
  Squarespace	4.24%	2.75M
  Joomla	2.44%	1.58M
  GoDaddy Website Builder	2.50%	1.62M
  Weebly	1.57%	1.02M
  Duda	1.10%	705.1K
  Blogger	1.05%	672.5K
  Drupal	1.03%	562.6K
  Jimbo	0.76%	486.8K

• Wix and Squarespace have a combined CMS market share of 5.2%.

  While this is well below the 64.9% CMS market share of WordPress, these sites have seen impressive growth over the past few years. For instance, Wix has grown 149% year-on-year, and Squarespace grew 114% year-on-year.

  

• Between 2014 and 2020, the percentage of CMS websites that use Shopify has grown 10X larger.

  When Shopify was introduced in 2014, only 0.3% of CMS websites used it. However, as of 2020, that percentage grew more than 10X larger to 3.4%.

• There are currently 427,676 websites that run on Shopify.

  Despite being a relatively new platform, Shopify is becoming more and more widely used. On top of the over 400,000 websites that use the site, there are also 5,300+ businesses that use Shopify Plus.

• 43.6% of websites are custom-built with CMS.

  Even with effective streamlining and simplification, CMS websites are still completely customizable. In fact, the system makes it very easy to create a “bare-bones” framework that can easily have personalized features added on top.

CMS Market Trends and Projections

CMS has become more popular than ever in recent years. Therefore, to understand this upward trend in popularity, as well as how often CMS may be used in the future, here are some interesting facts about just that:

• Global CMS revenue is expected to reach $123.5 billion by 2026.

  In 2018, CMS had total revenue of $35.8 million. That means that in less than ten years, CMS revenue stands to increase by 245%.

• Between 2015 and 2022, the percentage of websites using CMS increased by 75%.

  In 2015, only around 25% of websites used CMS. However, as of 2022, that number has jumped to nearly half, as 43.6% of websites now use CMS. This also correlates with the fact that the percentage of hard-coded websites has decreased from 76% in 2011 to only 36% in 2022.

• Between 2020 and 2025, CMS is expected to have a CAGR of 13.3%.

  As of 2020, the global CMS market size was $62.4 billion, and with a CAGR of 13.3%, this number could nearly double to $116.2 billion by 2025.

• As of 2021, Wix is the fastest growing CMS platform, with a year-over-year market share growth rate of 149%.

  For context, WordPress might still be the most popular CMS platform, but WordPress’ market share growth was only 5% in 2021. That means Wix is growing almost 30X faster than WordPress.

CMS Statistics by WordPress

Despite recent gains seen by Wix and Squarespace, WordPress is still by far the most popular CMS platform. To understand how big WordPress really is, we’ve gathered some interesting facts about the platform:

• Around 43% of all websites have been built with WordPress.

  And that number is even higher for all CMS websites, as 64.9% of those have been built with WordPress. On the whole, there are roughly 30.46 million live websites using WordPress today.

• As of 2022, there are over 59,000 WordPress plugins.

  WordPress plugins are small software apps that are able to integrate into and add on top of WordPress software. That means the average WordPress user has over 59,000 customization options at their disposal.

• There are currently over 31,000 WordPress themes available.

  Similar to plugins, WordPress themes are broad groups of files that unify the overall appearance of a blog or website. Think graphics, style sheets, and code that are all working together to give your site a cohesive look.

• From 2010-2022, the percentage of CMS websites using WordPress has increased by 27.25%.

  In 2010, just over half (51%) of all websites were made using WordPress. However, over the course of ten years, the platform has maintained its popularity, increasing its market share to over 64.9%.

  

CMS Statistics FAQ

1. What is a content management system?

   A content management system is essentially software that helps users create a website. Because CMS streamlines and simplifies creating, managing, and modifying content, those without any coding experience still create professional projects.

   Additionally, CMS platforms like WordPress come with themes and plugins, which can further simplify the process of making an appealing and functional website.

2. How many people use content management systems?

   There are tens of millions of people who use CMS systems. For instance, there are over 73 million CMS websites online, meaning that even if each user-created one to two websites, there would be between 36 million and 73 million users.

3. What percentage of websites use CMS?

   As of 2022, approximately 43.6% of websites were custom-built using CMS. Between 2015 and 2022, the percentage of websites using CMS increased by 75%. For example, in 2015, only around 25% of websites used CMS. This also correlates with the fact that the percentage of hard-coded websites has decreased from 76% in 2011 to only 36% in 2022.

4. What is the most used CMS in the world?

   WordPress is the most commonly used CMS in the world. Out of all CMS websites, WordPress has a 64.9% market share of them. However, others among the top five include: Shopify (5.6%), Joomla (3.2%), Squarespace (2.6%), and Wix (2.6%).

5. What percentage of websites use WordPress?

   43% of all websites on the internet use WordPress. This is different from the percentage of CMS websites that use WordPress, which is higher. This number instead counts all CMS websites and all hard-coded websites.

   While WordPress is by far the most massive CMS platform, there are others that have been gaining popularity in recent years. Others among the top ten include: Wix (7.03%), Squarespace (4.24%), Joomla (2.44%), GoDaddy Builder (2.50%), Weebly (1.57%), Duda (1.10%), Blogger (1.05%). Drupal (1.03%), Jimdo (0.76%).

Conclusion

CMS websites and the platforms that build them are more popular than ever, with 43.6% of all websites now being custom-built by the software. That’s over 73 million websites around the world.

While WordPress still dominates CMS, with a market share of 64.9% of overall CMS platforms and 41.28% among all internet websites, the popularity of CMS has led to new competition. Going forward, we can expect the massive year-on-year growth of Squarespace and Wix to really shake up the CMS market.

References

1. W3 Techs. “Historical trends in the usage statistics of content management systems.” Accessed on May 1st, 2022.

2. First Site Guide. “CMS Market Share 2022: Usage Statistics of Popular Technologies.” Accessed on May 1st, 2022.

3. Barn2 Plugins. “WordPress market share: how many websites use WordPress?” Accessed on May 1st, 2022.

4. Kinsta. “Wix Market Share.” Accessed on May 1st, 2022.

5. ToolTester. “CMS Market Share Trends – What’s Changed in 2021?” Accessed on May 1st, 2022.

6. MarketWatch. “Content Management Systems (CMS) Market Share 2022-2026 Future Trends, Size Estimates, Segmentation by Application, Global Growth.” Accessed on May 2nd, 2022.

7. PRN. “The global CMS market size is projected to grow from USD 62.4billion in 2020 to USD 116.2 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.3%.” Accessed on May 2nd, 2022.

8. Wpbeginner. “How Many WordPress Plugins Should You Install? What’s too many?” Accessed on May 2nd, 2022.

Author

Jack Flynn

Jack Flynn is a writer for Zippia. In his professional career he’s written over 100 research papers, articles and blog posts. Some of his most popular published works include his writing about economic terms and research into job classifications. Jack received his BS from Hampshire College.