When you’re building a website, there’s a lot of choice on the market. WordPress is a CMS giant, but what about the competition?
We look at the latest CMS market share statistics to see who comes out on top in the battle of WordPress vs Joomla.
What is a CMS?
First things first, it’s important to define what we mean when we talk about content management systems (CMS).
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A content management system is a software that allows anyone to create a website, usually with minimal technical know-how or coding knowledge.
Content management systems have changed the landscape of the internet. Over half of all sites live on the web use a CMS.
WordPress vs Joomla: Introducing the Platforms
In this blog – it’s the battle of the open source software: WordPress vs Joomla. Let’s take a closer look at each.
WordPress
First up is WordPress. If you’ve spent any time on the internet in the last 20 or so years, you’ve probably heard the name. Founded in 2003, WordPress has become a heavyweight in the CMS market. More on that later.
WordPress is a free, open source software – which is just one of the many reasons it’s remained so popular over the last two decades.
Joomla
Facing off against WordPress is Joomla.
Launched in 2005, the platform is junior by just two years. Like WordPress, Joomla is an open source software that enables even complete beginners to build their own professional looking website.
So, how do the two compare in terms of CMS market share?
Who Has the Biggest Market Share?
Let’s kick off by looking at WordPress’ current market share amongst the top content management systems.
W3Techs is the go-to source for the latest CMS market share statistics. We can see from their data that WordPress is positioned as the current market leader.
WordPress is used on 43.0% of all websites live on the internet. This gives the platform a 64.3% market share of all websites using a known content management system. Impressive stats.
Meanwhile, Joomla sits fifth in the rankings. The platform is used on just 1.6% of all live websites, giving it a 2.5% CMS market share.
Taking WordPress out of the equation for just a moment, Joomla isn’t doing too badly amongst the rest of its competitors. It has fallen below Shopify, Wix and Squarespace, but still sits comfortably ahead of other CMS names like Drupal and Adobe Systems.
Comparing the CMS Market Share Stats
However, you can see the clear gap between the two platforms when looking at the CMS market share statistics side by side.
We can also see it when we look at usage among the world’s top websites.
When breaking down usage in the top sites ranked by traffic, WordPress emerges as the clear winner once again. As the graph shows, WP is used on 47.7% of sites in the top 1,000. Joomla, meanwhile, takes just a 0.3% share of the top 1,000.
Who is Seeing Most Growth?
Time for the next round in the fight between WordPress and Joomla: market share growth. To assess this, let’s take a look at the WordPress and Joomla market share statistics from 2011 to 2024.
It’s safe to say that the gap was smaller in 2011. WordPress had a 13.1% market share, while Joomla took 2.6%.
Both platforms saw steady year on year growth up until 2017-2018, when Joomla’s market share took a hit.
Sitting at 3.4% in January 2017, it dipped to 3.2% in January 2018. The usage in January 2022 fell down to 1.7%. Joomla’s market share has been shrinking ever since, decreasing for 0.2-0.5% each year.
WordPress, on the other hand, has only seen growth – it has periods stable periods and jumps. And this is true even when we zoom in even further to look at monthly statistics.
In 2024 it doesn’t show much grow, but the numbers are quite stable. Between January 2024 and September 2024, WordPress’ market ranges between 42% to 43%.
WordPress’ continued popularity compared to Joomla is also highlighted when looking at Google Trends.
If we look at search popularity worldwide from 2004-2024, we see Joomla explode onto the scene after it’s launch in 2005. It was actually the more popular platform in the late 00s, before dipping in popularity around 2010 as WordPress races into the lead.
Although WordPress has seen it’s search engine interest decrease too, it still remains ahead of the competition.
WordPress Wins the Fight
The CMS market share statistics make it clear that WordPress comes out on top.
The CMS behemoth knocks down the competition when it comes to usage and popularity, but that isn’t to say you should count Joomla out. Both platforms have something to offer, making website creation accessible to the masses.
However, we don’t see WordPress’ stronghold on the industry letting up any time soon. There are so many great reasons why WordPress is still the internet’s most popular CMS, even two decades after its launch.
The platform offers flexibility and affordability, and knows how to adapt to the changing landscape of the internet. It’s an excellent choice whether you want to build a blog, eCommerce store, community forum, or any other kind of custom website.
