CloudFest EU 2026 wrapped up on 26th March, and we were there with a strong presence at the WebPros pavilion. We were meeting partners, hosting providers, and agencies, and sharing what’s next for the industry.
Across multiple sessions, one thing became clear. The conversation around WordPress is becoming more data-driven.
In his session, “WordPress by the Numbers,” James Lee, Group Product Manager at WebPros, took a different approach. He focused entirely on data and what is happening across the WordPress ecosystem today.
The goal was simple: cut through assumptions and show where WordPress stands right now.
Here are the key insights from the session.
The Scale of WordPress Today
The session started with one thing: scale.
Through WebPros Insights, over 2.3 billion hostnames are scanned every month, with 965 million active hostnames and 1.6 trillion visits tracked monthly across environments.
WordPress remains dominant at scale, powering around 100 million websites and accounting for 67% of all CMS-based sites.
This matters because it changes how we look at WordPress.
Instead of relying on industry estimates or isolated data points, we can now see patterns at scale, how the ecosystem is evolving, where growth is happening, and where challenges are emerging.
But scale alone does not tell the full story.
A Market That Is Shifting
Beyond scale, the data reveals a more nuanced shift.
Growth is no longer accelerating in the same way. The total number of WordPress sites has stabilized after peaking, with a gradual shift over time.
This is an important signal.
It suggests that while WordPress continues to operate at scale, it is now competing in a more dynamic environment, where simpler, more guided platforms are becoming viable alternatives for certain users.
The takeaway is not that WordPress is losing relevance.
It is that the market around it is evolving. That shift becomes clearer when you look at how the hosting market is structured.
The Hosting Landscape Is Highly Competitive
Competition becomes most visible in the hosting landscape.
There are over 1,100 hosting providers competing for WordPress sites, but the market is not evenly distributed. A small group of top providers controls a large share of the ecosystem, while only a limited number have reached significant scale in terms of WordPress sites hosted.
Between these two ends sits a large group of mid-sized providers. They collectively control a meaningful portion of the market but operate in a space where differentiation is becoming harder.
These patterns are also reflected in the Web Hosting Trends Report 2026, where providers consistently point to increasing competition and the need to differentiate beyond pricing and infrastructure.
Competing on infrastructure alone is no longer enough. Providers need to differentiate through experience, efficiency, and the value they deliver to customers. This competition also shows up in how WordPress is actually being used.
Inside the Plugin Ecosystem
Looking inside WordPress sites, the plugin ecosystem reveals how users are actually building and running their websites.
Page builders continue to play a major role, with a large share of sites relying on them for layout and design. Ecommerce is also a significant use case, with many sites running WooCommerce to power online stores.
At the same time, the data highlights a clear gap.
81% of WordPress sites do not have a dedicated security plugin installed, highlighting a significant gap. This reflects how WordPress is often managed in practice, where ease of setup and speed take priority, sometimes at the cost of security.
It also reinforces a broader point from the session.
How WordPress is used in the real world is often very different from how it is expected to be used. Taken together, these patterns point to a few clear signals.
Three Signals That Matter
From all this data, three signals stand out, and each has direct implications for hosting providers.
Signal 1: Managed WordPress Is Becoming the Baseline
Managed WordPress hosting is no longer a premium offering. It is becoming an expectation. A growing number of providers already offer it, and many see it as a key growth opportunity.
The implication is simple. Customers expect a managed experience by default. The question is whether you offer it, and how well you deliver it.
Signal 2: Security Is a Churn Problem
Security is often treated as a technical issue, but data from the Web Hosting Trends Report 2026 shows it is also a retention issue. 19% of customers leave after a security incident.
Vulnerable plugins remain one of the biggest challenges for providers. When something breaks, customers do not just fix it. They leave.
This shifts how security should be viewed. It is not just about protection, but about maintaining trust and preventing churn.
Signal 3: Experience Is Driving Churn
A growing number of users are leaving traditional hosting environments for simpler, more guided platforms.
This includes both SaaS website builders and fully managed WordPress experiences. Once users move to these platforms, winning them back becomes significantly harder.
Price alone is not enough to compete. The real differentiator is experience, how easy it is to get started, manage a site, and see results.
What This Means in Practice
Taken together, these signals point to a clear shift.
WordPress is still operating at scale, but expectations around it have shifted. Users now expect simplicity, reliability, and a more guided experience.
For hosting providers, this changes the role they play. It is no longer just about providing infrastructure. It is about delivering a complete, easy-to-use product.
This is also where the opportunity lies.
Providers that can reduce complexity, improve onboarding, and build more seamless workflows are better positioned to retain customers and compete with simpler, more packaged alternatives.
How We Are Responding
To address the growing demand for managed experiences, we are making it easier for providers to offer Managed WordPress hosting, whether for agencies running smaller environments or providers operating at scale. The focus is on reducing setup time and delivering a ready-to-use experience.
On the security side, the approach is to make detection and protection more accessible. Vulnerability detection is built into WP Toolkit, with visibility available directly within WordPress environments. Protection can then be layered without upfront cost, allowing providers to offer it as part of their service or as an upgrade.
We are also focused on reducing friction in onboarding. With self-service website import, users can move existing WordPress sites without manual migration, bringing over content, plugins, and configurations with minimal effort.
Across all of this, the goal is consistent.
Make WordPress easier to offer, easier to manage, and easier to use, while helping providers address the gaps highlighted by the data.
Closing Thoughts
The numbers point to clear actions.
If managed WordPress is becoming the baseline, it needs to be part of your offering. If security is driving churn, it needs to be built into your workflow. If users are leaving for simpler platforms, the experience you deliver needs to improve.
The opportunity is to act on these signals now.
Review where your current offering stands. Identify gaps in onboarding, security, and day-to-day usability. Focus on reducing friction for your customers, especially in the moments that matter most.
If you want to go deeper, explore the full Web Hosting Trends Report 2026 and see how other providers are adapting.
The direction is clear. The advantage will come from how quickly you act on it.