Is WordPress Still Worth It in 2026? The Honest Answer From a Chicago Web Team

WordPress still runs 58.2% of every website with a known CMS. Nothing else comes close.

But look at the trend line. Its share of all websites slid from 43.0% in January 2026 to 39.5% by early November, according to W3Techs. A platform that sat flat near 43% for years is suddenly losing ground. Wild, right?

And the problems under the hood are real. Only about 45% of WordPress sites pass Google's Core Web Vitals on mobile, and Patchstack logged 11,334 new vulnerabilities across WordPress plugins, themes and core in 2025, up 42%. So is it still worth building on? Here's our take, minus the hype and minus the doom.

The Short Answer

Yes, for most businesses. With conditions.

WordPress is still the most flexible, most widely supported way to build a site you truly own. But it's no longer the "install it and forget it" default it was five years ago. A lazy build now costs you rankings and invites security headaches. A careful build still wins.

The platform didn't get worse. The gap between a well-built WordPress site and a sloppy one just got a lot wider.

What the Market Share Drop Really Means

Don't panic over a 3.5-point slide. Context matters here.

• Other platforms are gaining: Wix, Shopify, Squarespace and Webflow have each picked up ground this year, and sites with no detectable CMS keep growing too.
• WordPress is still huge: As of September 2026 it ran 40.2% of all websites, while Shopify sat at 5.4%, Wix at 4.2% and Squarespace at 2.4%.
• The peak is behind it: Its share of the CMS market hit 65.2% in January 2022 and has eased since.

A shrinking lead is not a collapse. It's a signal that "just use WordPress" is no longer a complete answer.

Where WordPress Still Wins

Let's be fair. The strengths haven't gone anywhere.

• You own everything: It's open source. Your content, your code, your hosting choice. Nobody can raise a subscription price and hold your site hostage.
• The plugin library is enormous: The official directory lists more than 68,000 free plugins, so almost any feature already exists.
• WooCommerce is a real contender: It holds 29.1% of the eCommerce market, which makes WordPress a serious option for stores that need custom logic.
• SEO control is deep: URL structure, schema, redirects and editorial workflows are all yours to shape.
• AI is arriving natively: WordPress 7.0 shipped built-in AI features this year, and version 7 already runs on 67.9% of WordPress sites.

That mix of ownership and flexibility is hard to beat. It's why a good WordPress developer Chicago businesses can rely on is still in steady demand.

Where WordPress Struggles

Now the uncomfortable part.

Performance

About 45% of WordPress sites pass Core Web Vitals on mobile. Wix passes at roughly 74%. Core Web Vitals is a confirmed Google ranking signal, so that gap is not just cosmetic.

Security

Of those 11,334 vulnerabilities, 91% were in plugins, 9% in themes, and just six in WordPress core. Nearly half had no patch available on the day they were disclosed, and the median time to exploitation was about five hours.

The good news? WordPress's responsiveness score (INP) is fine. The failures are concentrated and fixable. They come from heavy page builders, plugin bloat, unoptimized images and cheap shared hosting.

The Real Culprit Is How the Site Gets Built

WordPress core is solid. The trouble starts when someone stacks 30 plugins on bargain hosting and calls it done.

Builder choice alone moves the needle. Elementor runs on 31.3% of WordPress sites, but in one large analysis of desktop Core Web Vitals, sites on Bricks passed at 60.9% while Divi sites passed at 31.6%.

Same platform. Wildly different results.

• Every plugin you add is another door someone can try.
• Abandoned plugins are the worst offenders because nobody patches them.
• Hosting quality shows up in your speed scores more than most owners expect.

WordPress vs Shopify, Wix, Squarespace and Webflow

There's no single winner. There's a best fit.

Platform

Share of All Websites

Usually Best For

WordPress

40.2%

Content-heavy sites, custom builds, WooCommerce stores, full ownership

Shopify

5.4%

Stores where selling is the entire point

Wix

4.2%

Simple brochure sites on a tight budget

Squarespace

2.4%

Portfolios and small creative businesses

Webflow

0.9% (June 2026)

Design-led marketing sites with custom interactions

Who Should Stay on WordPress

If any of these sound like you, WordPress is probably still your best bet:

• You publish a lot of content and want real editorial control, categories and long-term SEO growth.
• You need custom functionality, memberships, booking flows or integrations a template can't handle.
• You want to own your site outright and keep the freedom to change developers or hosts.
• You're running a store with unusual products, pricing rules or B2B logic through WooCommerce.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

Be honest with yourself here. WordPress isn't for everyone.

• You need a five-page site live this week and will never touch it again. A simple builder may serve you better.
• You sell products, full stop, and want checkout, inventory and payments handled for you. That's Shopify territory.
• You have no budget or appetite for ongoing updates and monitoring. WordPress rewards maintenance and punishes neglect.

Choosing the right platform at the start saves you a painful migration later.

What a Well-Built WordPress Site Looks Like in 2026

This is the version worth paying for:

• A lean plugin stack, with each plugin earning its place and abandoned ones removed.
• Quality managed hosting instead of the cheapest shared plan.
• A lightweight theme or block-based build rather than a stack of heavy page builders.
• Mobile Core Web Vitals tested on real devices before launch, not assumed.
• Automatic updates, backups and monitoring running every week, not whenever someone remembers.

That's the standard behind our WordPress website development. Fast, secure, and built to last past launch day.

How to Pick a Chicago Team

Plenty of website developers in Chicago will say yes to a WordPress project. Fewer will tell you when it's the wrong call. Ask these before you sign anything:

• How many plugins do you typically install, and how do you vet them?
• What are the mobile Core Web Vitals scores on your recent builds?
• Who handles updates, backups and security after launch?
• Do I own the site, the hosting account and the code?

A good web design company Chicago owners trust will answer plainly and show live examples. Our guide to hiring a WordPress developer walks through the full vetting process.

If you want one team handling the visuals, the build and the performance work together, our website design and development services cover that. Strong website design Chicago work should never be separate from how fast the site loads.

FAQs About WordPress

What's the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is the free, open-source software you install on your own hosting. You control the code, plugins, themes and data. WordPress.com is a hosted service run by a company, which handles hosting for you but limits what you can customize, especially on lower-priced plans. Most businesses wanting full control choose the self-hosted WordPress.org route.

Is WordPress good for SEO?

Yes, when it's built well. WordPress gives you control over URLs, metadata, schema markup, redirects and site structure, all of which matter for rankings. The catch is speed. Because Core Web Vitals is a ranking signal and fewer than half of WordPress sites pass on mobile, performance work is part of good WordPress SEO, not an optional extra.

Is WordPress free to use?

The software itself is free. Everything around it usually isn't. Expect to pay for hosting, a domain name, premium themes or plugins if you use them, and developer time for design, build and ongoing maintenance. "Free" describes the license, not the total cost of a professional site.

How much does a WordPress website cost in Chicago?

A basic template-based site typically starts around $1,000 to $3,000, while a custom-designed business site of 5 to 15 pages usually runs $2,000 to $8,000. E-commerce and advanced custom functionality cost more. Freelance WordPress developers in the Chicago market commonly charge $65 to $130 an hour at the mid-to-senior level. Hosting and maintenance are separate ongoing costs.

How long does it take to build a WordPress website?

A simple site can launch in 2 to 4 weeks. A custom-designed business site usually takes 4 to 8 weeks, and e-commerce builds or projects with complex integrations can take 8 to 12 weeks or more. The biggest delay is almost always late content, so having copy and images ready speeds things up more than anything else.

So, Is WordPress Worth It?

For most businesses, yes. Just not on autopilot.

WordPress rewards teams who build it lean, host it well and maintain it consistently. It punishes everyone else. The market share slide isn't a reason to run. It's a reason to be pickier about who builds your site and how.

Design Henge is a Chicago-based digital agency that builds WordPress sites to pass Core Web Vitals and stay secure after launch. Not sure if WordPress is even the right fit for your business? We'll tell you honestly, even if the answer is something else.

Call us: (872) 268-5809 Location: Chicago, IL Visit: designhenge.com

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