WordPress is still the most powerful and flexible website platform in 2025, dominating the CMS landscape with a 61.3% market share. In this blog, we explore why it remains the top choice for businesses, developers, and marketers alike. From its vast plugin ecosystem and SEO strengths to its unmatched flexibility, scalability, and content ownership, WordPress continues to lead despite rising competition from tools like Webflow, Wix, Framer, and Squarespace.
Is WordPress Still Relevant in 2025?
Absolutely. Despite the rise of sleek new platforms like Webflow, Framer, Wix, and Squarespace, WordPress remains the most used CMS by far. As of 2025, W3Techs reports that WordPress powers 43.6% of all websites, with a 61.3% share of the CMS market.
Here’s a quick breakdown of its nearest competitors:
- Shopify: 4.8%
- Wix: 3.7%
- Squarespace: 2.3%
- Webflow: 0.8%
- Framer: Currently a niche platform with no reliable usage data
What this tells us: WordPress isn’t just surviving—it’s still leading.
WordPress is used by major institutions like The New York Times, BBC America, and The Walt Disney Company. Its credibility as an enterprise-grade CMS is well-established. From media outlets to universities and e-commerce giants, WordPress powers businesses that demand scale, security, and stability.
Additionally, the ecosystem around WordPress—including premium theme marketplaces like ThemeForest, block libraries like Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg, and managed hosting providers like Kinsta and WP Engine—ensures high-quality options for performance, design, and developer support.
Unique Strengths of WordPress Compared to Newer Website Builders
- Unmatched Flexibility: With thousands of themes and plugins, WordPress is fully customisable. You can design your site from scratch or use builders like Elementor, Divi, or Thrive Theme Builder.
- Massive Plugin Ecosystem: Over 59,000 plugins allow you to integrate everything from SEO tools and forms to complex automation, marketing integrations, eCommerce, and analytics.
- Content Ownership: WordPress is self-hosted, meaning you own all your files, data, and structure. This is vital for scaling, migrating, or adapting your site.
- Scalability: WordPress is suitable for everything from a personal blog to a high-traffic enterprise site. With the right infrastructure, it handles massive scale with ease.
- Open Source Foundation: Being open source, WordPress benefits from a global community. It’s not locked to the roadmap of a single company and allows for limitless innovation.
In contrast, builders like Wix and Squarespace can feel restrictive over time. Features are often gated behind expensive plans, and exporting content is typically cumbersome. Webflow and Framer offer stunning visuals and smoother animation, but they lack the deep plugin ecosystem and editorial workflow tools that WordPress provides.
When Should You Choose WordPress Over Other CMS Platforms?
WordPress is a strong contender in many different use cases:
- Blogs: If you plan to post content regularly, WordPress is excellent. It was built as a blogging platform, with intuitive post creation tools, category/tag management, and SEO-focused architecture.
- Membership Sites: For paywalls, subscriptions or gated content, WordPress works well using plugins like MemberPress and WooCommerce.
- SEO-Focused Businesses: If ranking on Google is important to you, WordPress is hard to beat. Tools like Yoast SEO and All in One SEO give you total control over how your site appears in search.
- Multi-language Sites: For companies with a global audience, plugins like WPML and Polylang let you run complex multilingual sites.
- Custom Development: If you need something bespoke, WordPress is open-source and developer-friendly. You can build or integrate just about anything.
- Ease of Use: While it may not be as drag-and-drop simple out of the box as some builders, tools like Elementor and Kadence Blocks make it user-friendly for non-tech teams.
- Budget Considerations: WordPress itself is free, but you will need to pay for hosting and may want premium themes or plugins. Still, it’s generally more cost-effective long-term than paying for proprietary builder subscriptions.
For businesses that anticipate growth, require integrations, or simply want long-term flexibility, WordPress offers a future-proof foundation with a lower total cost of ownership.
How Can You Make WordPress Easier to Use in 2025?
The criticism that WordPress feels “clunky” is outdated. With modern tools and plugins, WordPress now offers an experience that rivals or even outperforms many no-code platforms.
- Use visual builders like Elementor or Kadence to design pages quickly and easily.
- Speed up your site with tools like WP Rocket and image optimisers like Smush.
- Simplify backups, security, and updates with platforms like ManageWP or MainWP.
- Automate SEO checks and schema markup with tools like Rank Math.
- Use AI tools like Bertha AI to generate content, saving time on blog posts and marketing pages.
Plus, modern WordPress hosting providers now include built-in features like automated backups, malware scanning, one-click staging environments, SSL certificates, and CDN access—giving you an enterprise-level infrastructure with minimal technical effort.
What’s the Long-Term Advantage of Building on WordPress?
Unlike proprietary platforms that tie you into their roadmap, pricing, and hosting, WordPress gives you full control. It evolves with the web and is driven by a massive open-source community rather than a single company.
Here’s why that matters:
- Future-proofing: WordPress adapts with technology trends and industry standards.
- Full control: Choose your host, scale your infrastructure, and own your data.
- SEO power: Fine-grained control over metadata, sitemaps, and performance.
- Global support: Thousands of developers, forums, tutorials, and agencies ready to help.
In a world of constant platform shifts, algorithm changes, and AI-driven updates, WordPress is built to grow with your business. You’re not at the mercy of a company discontinuing features or locking you into monthly plans.
Whether you’re an eCommerce brand planning a global rollout or a marketing team needing rapid experimentation with landing pages, WordPress gives you the scalability and freedom you’ll need to move fast and own your outcomes.
Ready to Build Your Site on WordPress?
At Burst Digital, we specialise in high-performance WordPress websites that are as powerful as they are beautiful. Whether you’re redesigning a legacy platform or launching something new, our team helps you:
- Custom design your site around your brand
- Optimise for SEO and speed
- Train your team to use WordPress effectively
Book a free strategy call to get started.
