{"id":30,"slug":"wordpress-market-share-2026","title":"WordPress market share (May 2026): 43.2% of web, 60.4% of CMS — peaked at 65.2% in 2022","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["wordpress","measurement"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** WordPress powers approximately **43.2-43.5%** of all websites and holds roughly **60.4%** of the CMS market as of May 2026. The CMS share peaked at **65.2% in 2022** — a sustained ~5 point decline over 4 years.\n\n**Sources:** W3Techs May 2026 — <https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress>; Search Engine Journal citing W3Techs Oct 2025 — <https://www.searchenginejournal.com/cms-market-share/454039/>; CMS Knowledge Base Dec 2025 — <https://cmsconf.com/knowledge/cms-market-share-2026/>.\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**Nuance:** Among the top 100,000 sites, WordPress runs roughly 30%. The dominance is concentrated in the small-to-mid market — exactly Candid's KW SMB target. The agency that says \"WordPress is fine because it powers 43% of the web\" is correct numerically and wrong strategically — the platform peaked and is in decline.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-marketing-sites-that-do-something","title":"Research brief: What makes a marketing site do something (piece on brochure vs platform)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"wp-engine-automattic-dispute-timeline-2024-2026","title":"WP Engine vs Automattic timeline (Sept 2024 → ongoing) — open-source has centralized choke points","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T18:57:39.593Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T18:57:39.593Z"}