CMS Market Share 2023: Usage Statistics of Popular Technologies
The CMS market started out very small with FileNet back in the 1980s. Over the last four decades, the market kept growing. During the last two decades, the growth became exponential. CMSes usage growth makes this market very interesting from a statistical perspective.
Before we dive into the CMS market share and CMS usage stats, you should know that as of March 2022, there are more than 73 million live websites that use CMSes on the internet.
What is the most popular CMS (content management system) out there? Where can I see accurate CMS market share numbers? What are CMSes used for? These are just some of the questions you might have. Don’t worry – you won’t have to open dozens of browser tabs to answer all of these questions.
In this article, you can discover the CMS market share for the best CMS platforms on the market.
10 most popular CMS platforms on the web
Yes, there are over 73 million websites online that use a CMS. However, not all of them use the same CMS. CMSes encompass various solutions, including open-source software, blogging platforms, hosted websites solutions, and website builders. This makes the CMS market diverse and highly competitive.
- WordPress Market share 41.28%
- Wix Market share 7.03%
- Squarespace Market share 4.24%
- Joomla! Market share 2.44%
- GoDaddy Builder Market share 2.50%
- Weebly Market share 1.57%
- Duda Market share 1.10%
- Blogger Market share 1.05%
- Drupal Market share 1.03%
- Jimdo Market share 0.76%
In the table below are listed the most popular CMS platforms together with the details about how many websites use them.
CMS Technology | Live Websites | Market share |
WordPress | 30,462,105 | 41.28% |
Wix | 4,565,423 | 7.03% |
Squarespace | 2,750,270 | 4.24% |
Joomla! | 1,580,832 | 2.44% |
GoDaddy Website Builder | 1,624,154 | 2.50% |
Weebly | 1,019,509 | 1.57% |
Duda | 705,120 | 1.10% |
Blogger | 672,560 | 1.05% |
Drupal | 562,655 | 1.03% |
Jimdo | 486,843 | 0.76% |
Next, we will give you detailed up-to-date information on each CMS market share numbers and usage stats.
WordPress — (market share 41.28%)
WordPress is the most popular CMS platform in the market. It started out in 2003 as a subsidiary of b2/cafelog. Over the years, WordPress has gone through hundreds of revisions and updates. Today it’s a modern platform built on MySQL and PHP.
WordPress continues to be an open-source project. It has the largest community in the CMS world, consisting of web designers, developers, and bloggers.
WordPress usage stats
- Total number of websites – 30,462,105
- Global market share – 41.28%
- Number of websites in the US – 9,145,507
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/WordPress)
Who should use it / best for
WordPress is best for absolute beginners, bloggers, magazines, education websites, and business and nonprofit portfolios. It’s built like one of those out-of-the-box solutions. You only need a couple of minutes to set it up and launch a blog or website.
The most popular and great looking websites using WordPress include Vogue, The Obama Foundation, Angry Birds, and Canada.com.
Main features
- Themes – choose any of the three default themes or access a theme directory and browse through thousands of themes to find one that you like.
- Plugins – improve your website functionality and deliver your users the features they’ll like with WordPress plugins.
- Publishing tools – everything you need to get blog posts live on your site.
- Built-in comments – enable your audience to engage with your content in a convenient way. Comments come built-in and forum-like websites are supported as well.
- Search engine optimized – WordPress is optimized for popular search engines and offers access to SEO plugins to take your SEO efforts to another level.
Pricing
WordPress is open-source software.
- Free of charge.
You can download it and use it completely free. However, if you want to run a website, you will need to get a domain name and hosting plan. This is the part of your website project that comes with a price tag, but that’s a completely different subject. If you want to check prices, consult our best domain registrars and the best hosting providers posts.
Takeaway
There’s a reason why WordPress has such a high CMS market share. It’s one of the best CMSes in terms of ease of use, freedom, and customization. Even if you are building a website for the first time, WordPress will enable you to do it hassle-free. Here is a great guide anyone can use to complete the installation successfully.
Wix — (market share 7.03%)
Wix creators were frustrated by how hard and costly it was to build and launch websites. They wanted to build a platform that was affordable and easy to use. Wix was founded in 2006, and since then, it has evolved into one of the most popular CMSes with a CMS market share of 7.03%.
Wix is an online website builder. It features everything you need to create a beautiful website, whether you are an absolute beginner or someone tech-savvy on the lookout for a quick workaround.
Wix usage stats
- Total number of websites – 4,565,423
- Global market share – 7.03%
- Number of websites in the US – 15,757
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/Wix)
Who should use it / best for
Wix is built to cater to the needs of individuals and businesses, and it’s recommended for less-experienced people as well as businesses with no budget for full-fledged website development projects. It’s often used for blogging websites, eCommerce businesses, business portfolios, startup websites, freelance, and entrepreneur websites.
The best way to assess a CMS is to take a look at the websites using it. The most popular Wix websites include Animal Music, Wendy Ju, Poke Bowlz, and Rafael Varona.
Main features
- Wix editor – use a drag and drop editor to build stunning web pages or use designer-made templates to get your site up in a matter of minutes.
- App market – extend the functionality of your website with apps from the app market.
- Automated website builder – use Wix ADI to build a website solely by answering questions.
- Custom domain name – personalize your website with a unique domain name of your choosing.
- Wix stores and booking – access the business features to build an eCommerce website or launch a website for your cafe, restaurant, take-out food service, or hotel.
Pricing
Wix offers Free, Website, and Business & eCommerce plans.
Free
- Free of charge.
The free account provides you with access to the Wix website builder, free hosting, unlimited pages, and hosting. However, your website will feature Wix ads.
Website
- Starting at $4.50 per month.
Inside the Website plan, you have access to 4 unique offers.
Business & eCommerce
- Starting at $17.00 per month.
Business & eCommerce plans include Business Basic, Business Unlimited, and Business VIP.
Takeaway
Wix is a complete website builder that comes with a variety of tools and support for web apps. It offers many pricing plans that cater to the needs of individuals as well as businesses. It’s easy to use, but it also allows you to build complex websites with extended functionality. Here is a step by step guide on how to use Wix to make your website.
Squarespace — (market share 4.24%)
With a CMS market share of 4.24%, Squarespace sits at the third position on our list. Squarespace started out as a dorm room project. Today, it’s one of the leading website builders. While it comes with all of the standard website building tools, this platform is more focused on looks.
Squarespace templates are high-grade. All of them are professionally designed and pixel perfect. Now, let’s take a closer look at these CMS usage stats.
Squarespace usage stats
- Total number of websites – 2,750,270
- Global market share – 4.24%
- Number of websites in the US – 2,000,984
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/Squarespace)
Who should use it / best for
Squarespace shines in the usability department. It’s recommended for beginners. Since it offers great-looking templates, Squarespace is especially appreciated by beginners that value the visual aspect of a website. It supports eCommerce websites, so businesses in this industry can also use it to launch online stores.
Visit these popular Squarespace websites to check out the visuals and functionality that Squarespace offers: Slow Travel Magazine, New Inc, A+I, and Egg Shop.
Main features
- Customizable pages – create a completely customized website with ease. Build pages from scratch, use templates, and customize them on the go.
- Custom redirects – remap your website anytime with 301 and 302 redirects.
- Mobile-ready – all Squarespace templates are optimized for the most optimal mobile experience.
- Blogging tools – use custom layouts, workflow, scheduled posts, and RSS syndication to launch your blog in no time.
- eCommerce – start selling digital content, products, services, or subscriptions with ease by using Squarespace eCommerce features.
Pricing
Paid plans
- Starting at $12.00 per month.
Squarespace offers four plans: Personal, Business, Basic Commerce, and Advanced Commerce.
Takeaway
Squarespace is a great website builder. It comes with some of the most beautiful templates you can find online. With deep customization options and support for businesses, it has attracted a large piece of the world’s CMS market. Check out our detailed guide on how to make a website using Squarespace.
Joomla! — (market share 2.44%)
The first version of Joomla! was released in 2005. Over the last 15 years, this CMS has grown to be one of the most versatile CMSes on the market. Joomla! Has managed to remain open-source and completely free. However, using Joomla! requires some knowledge, and it’s not recommended for absolute beginners.
It’s a very popular CMS in the web development niche since it’s built on a model-view-controller web application framework. The framework is standalone, and it can be used to build powerful web apps.
Joomla! usage stats
- Total number of websites – 1,580,832
- Global market share – 2.44%
- Number of websites in the US – 466,141
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/Joomla!)
Who should use it / best for
Joomla! is all over the place. It’s a robust CMS with support for a website in any niche. It can be used for small and enterprise business websites, newspapers, eCommerce, community-based portals, and more. However, it’s better suited for people with a background in using CMS because it has a steeper learning curve than other CMSes. On the other hand, there are plenty of regularly updated, easy-to-follow tutorials available.
Joomla! runs some of the most popular websites. Get ready to be surprised! The list includes Peugeot, Nintendo, NPO 3FM, Michael Phelps, Roger Federer, and more.
Main features
- Extendable – there are over 8,000 extensions available to improve the functionality of your website.
- Layouts – render HTML from objects or arrays of data, great for creating dynamic pages.
- Completely responsive – Joomla! Uses Bootstrap to deliver the ultimate mobile experience.
- Deep customization – create the website you want. Joomla! even allows you to use different templates on every web page of your site.
- Content editing – over 9 content editing tools and the WYSIWYG editor will help you to streamline content creation and publishing.
Pricing
Joomla! is open-source software.
- Free of charge.
Joomla! is completely free for use under GPL. You can download it and install it on your server. However, Joomla! also offers website hosting services on launch.joomla.org. You can build and launch a website on launch.joomla.org for free but with only 500MB of storage space and the same subdomain usage.
You can upgrade to Premium to remove these limitations through the Community Sponsorship program, starting at $5.00 per month.
Takeaway
Joomla! is a great CMS and its CMS market share testifies to it. It has a steeper learning curve than the CMSes we’ve covered so far but far more customizations. This makes it a risky option for someone with no experience in building websites but a great option for more advanced users.
GoDaddy Website Builder — (market share 2.50%)
GoDaddy started out in 1997 under the name Jomax Technologies. Eventually, it became GoDaddy Group Inc. and is now one of the most popular service platforms for all things websites. One of their services is their Website Builder.
GoDaddy Website Builder is a complete solution for people who want a one-stop solution. It’s an easy-to-use builder with plenty of options to satisfy both beginners and advanced users.
GoDaddy usage stats
- Total number of websites – 1,624,154
- Global market share – 2.50%
- Number of websites in the US – 1,376,582
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/GoDaddy-Website-Builder)
Who should use it / best for
GoDaddy has a wide user base. It was built to get the job done. Designed with ease of use in mind, GoDaddy Website Builder is equally useful to users with different experiences. You can use it to build virtually anything ranging from a simple business portfolio to a complex eCommerce store.
GoDaddy is famous for having good looking websites built on their platform. To check the power of the GoDaddy Website Builder, hit up one of the following websites: Women Working in Technology, San Gabriel Valley Humane Society, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Main features
- Drag & drop editor – move website elements around until you make a perfect layout, rinse and repeat for every webpage, and your site is ready to be published.
- Menu tools – create beautiful drop-down menus to make your site more user-friendly.
- Theme library – choose a theme to make your website appear more professional.
- Marketing – get your website out there with SEO, email marketing, social media sync, and a review widget.
- Track and improve – monitor your ranking, campaigns, and Facebook insights to see how your site and content perform so that you can make improvements on the go.
Pricing
GoDaddy Website Builder offers 5 plans: Free, Basic, Standard, Premium, and eCommerce.
Free trial
- Free trial period of 30 days.
Free trial gives you the basic tools you’ll need to create and publish a website.
Premium plans
- Starting at $9.99 per month.
All of GoDaddy’s paid plans come with a free trial period of 30 days.
Takeaway
The GoDaddy Website Builder is a promising CMS. The company works on it constantly, and their improvements are obvious. It’s a website builder backed up by the biggest player in the hosting industry. Its toolbox is diverse, and so is its functionality. There’s a free plan so that you can try it out before committing. Check out our guide on how to make a website using GoDaddy website builder.
Weebly — (market share 1.63%)
Weebly started out as a small company with offices in San Francisco in 2007. Today, it’s a website builder powering hundreds of thousands of websites. Although you can use it to create different types of websites, Weebly targets a specific niche – eCommerce websites. The variety of features and services it offers will help you to launch, manage, and improve your online store with minimal technical knowledge.
With a CMS market share of 1.63%, Weebly comes in 6th on our list. However, it’s the most popular builder specifically designed for online stores.
Weebly usage stats
- Total number of websites – 1,040,819
- Global market share – 1.63%
- Number of websites in the US – 837,024
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/Weebly)
Who should use it / best for
Weebly is perfect for users who want to launch an online store without spending a fortune on an eCommerce website. The platform is feature-rich and offers enough resources for you to create an online store, no matter how complex your needs are. Scaling up and down is also an option. Given the simple and intuitive user interface, Weebly is perfect for less-experienced users who want to launch a professional portfolio website or business website.
Here are some of the most popular websites created on Weebly so that you can see what it can do: The Box Brothers, Japhlet Bire Attias, Brighton Secondary School Music, and The Whiskey Ball.
Main features
- Powerful website builder – use the drag and drop editor to create simple to complex web pages.
- eCommerce – get access to eCommerce tools to build a functional online shop.
- App center – benefit from third-party integrations in your online store.
- Custom domain – brand your online store just as you see fit.
- Statistics – track website usage statistics and understand site performance.
Pricing
Weebly offers plans for websites and for online stores.
Free
- Free of charge.
The free plan is for basic use. It includes a domain with Weebly branding, a free SSL certificate, and 500MB storage.
Premium plans
- Starting at $5.00 per month.
Paid plans offer you everything from basic personal use to small business sites.
Takeaway
Weebly is a complete website builder solution. Although it’s versatile and can be used for making all kinds of websites, it appears that its target market is people who need a way to easily build an online store site.
Duda — (market share 1.10%)
Duda is a web design platform catering to the needs of companies and individuals who offer web design services to small to medium-sized businesses. Duda has a unique approach to website building. Besides offering site-building tools, it also has collaboration and client management tools built in on the dashboard.
Considering it has a very narrow niche, Duda is doing remarkably well, with a CMS market share of 1.07%.
Duda usage stats
- Total number of websites – 705,120
- Global market share – 1.10%
- Number of websites in the US – 307,337
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/Duda)
Who should use it / best for
Duda is a website builder created by web designers for web designers. It’s perfect for scaling your web design agency, taking your freelancing business to a new level, or integrating your SaaS platform. It’s not something an absolute beginner should be interested in. Duda requires some technical knowledge.
Some of the Duda websites include LWG Photography, Tygerpoort Primary School, Chef Adoni, and many others.
Main features
- Drag & Drop editor by device – create a unique look and feel of your website for every screen size.
- Navigation styles – choose from different navigation styles to achieve the ultimate user experience.
- Site widgets – add popups, contact forms, click to call/email, and other widgets hassle and code-free.
- Team collaboration – bring your team to a single place to streamline your web design processes.
- Powerful integrations – integrate business or marketing apps, social networks, collections, or video & audio.
Pricing
Duda offers four plans: Basic, Team, Agency, and Enterprise.
Premium plans
- Starting at $19.00 per month.
You can try all Duda paid plans for free for 14 days. No credit card is required.
Takeaway
The Duda website builder is a powerful tool designed for agencies and freelancers aiming to improve their processes and get access to premium tools at affordable prices.
Blogger — (market share 1.05%)
Blogger started out as a place where bloggers from around the world could publish their articles on their own blogging websites. Google purchased Blogger a while back, but it has remained a blog-focused platform. It’s an extremely easy-to-use website builder, but it doesn’t have as many features as some of the other builders on this list.
Blogger usage stats
- Total number of websites – 672,560
- Global market share – 1.05%
- Number of websites in the US – 437,905
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/Blogger)
Who should use it / best for
Blogger is perfect for people who want to start their blog completely hassle-free. With Blogger, the learning curve doesn’t exist. You can create your blog in a couple of minutes and focus on writing your next piece. As the name suggests, it’s best suited for blogs. However, with the functionality Google has given to Blogger, you can also use it to create stunning websites.
Some of the amazing websites created using Blogger include Pinch Gallery, Luma on Park, Prado, and Trail Rail.
Main features
- Selection of easy-to-use templates – publish great-looking websites thanks to Blogger’s library of pre-built templates.
- Free domain – get a blogspot.com domain for free or buy a custom one.
- Monetize your site – passively generate income thanks to Google AdSense.
- Built-in analytics – learn a great deal about your audience and your site performance.
- Save precious memories – save your posts and photos with Google for free.
Pricing
Free
- Free of charge.
Blogger is a completely free platform. However, if you want to get your website on a custom domain you will have to purchase it from any of the domain registrar companies.
Takeaway
Blogger’s primary focus is on ease of use. It’s by far the easiest platform to use if you want to start a blog and have no experience in website building. However, it’s a bit lacking in the functionality department – something you should consider should you decide to take your blog to another level.
Drupal — (market share 1.03%)
Drupal is an open-source CMS and one of the veteran CMSes. It comes with all of the standard features you would expect to see in a CMS. Drupal can be used for easy content authoring and delivers a great performance as well as industry-grade security. It’s a modular CMS that provides creative freedom.
Drupal usage stats
- Total number of websites – 562,655
- Global market share – 1.03%
- Number of websites in the US – 249,778
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/Drupal)
Who should use it / best for
Drupal is a versatile CMS, meaning that you can use it to build any website. However, it has a steep learning curve, and building serious projects requires technical knowledge. It’s not a CMS for beginners.
A lot of popular websites use Drupal. For instance, the White House, London, BBC, NBC, MTV UK, and the University of Oxford all use Drupal as their platform of choice.
Main features
- Advanced stats and logging – stay on top of everything that’s going on on your website.
- Advanced search – enable visitors to find what they are looking for in seconds.
- Modules – extend the functionality of your website with any of the modules Drupal has to offer.
- Multi-level menu system – build complex navigation to enhance the usability of your website.
- Workflow tools – set triggers and actions to improve your development practices.
Pricing
Drupal
- Drupal is open-source software.
Drupal is an open-source CMS, and it remains free to use under GPL.
Takeaway
Drupal is a very powerful CMS. However, it’s really challenging to use, especially if you want to build complex websites.
Jimdo — (market share 0.76%)
Jimdo is a website builder with great capabilities. You can use it to create a website or launch an online store. It’s designed with end-users in mind, and its main characteristics are ease of use and versatility.
Jimdo usage stats
- Total number of websites – 486,843
- Global market share – 0.76%
- Number of websites in the US – 170,170
(Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/Jimdo)
Who should use it / best for
You can use Jimdo for any project, even if it’s your first website. Jimdo websites are helping businesses across industries to expand their online reach and attract more customers.
Some noteworthy examples of Jimdo sites include Christian Heuser, Les Ateliers de Laurène, and Craftsmans Tattoo.
Main features
- Password-protected areas – leverage user permissions to control who can modify and access content on your website.
- Statistics – gauge your website performance and what your visitors are doing.
- Custom footer – create a custom footer for your website.
- Responsive design – all Jimdo websites are mobile-friendly.
- Online store capabilities – use Jimdo to launch your online store business.
Pricing
Jimdo offers three pricing plans: JimdoFree, JimdoPro, and JimdoBusiness.
Free
- Free of charge.
JimdoFree comes with 500MB storage, 2GB bandwidth, and basic SEO.
Premium plans
- Starting at $9.00 per month.
All paid plans give you the freedom to customize websites for specific needs.
Takeaway
If you take a look at the CMS usage stats, it’s clear that Jimdo has secured a spot in the CMS market. Thanks to the ease of use and their beautiful templates, many inexperienced users opt for using this site builder.
CMS market share correlation chart
In the correlation chart below you can see the most popular CMS platforms, with market shares and a number of sites.
Conclusion
This concludes our CMS market share and CMS usage stats report. Hopefully, this article has helped you to see the big picture. We have listed and examined every CMS and website builder available that has a portion of the market share. Should something change, we will be the first ones to inform you, so stay tuned!