Is WordPress still a good choice for building websites in 2025?

Content management systems (CMSs) make it easier to build, manage, and grow websites. Whether it’s a small portfolio, a business site, or a full-scale e-commerce store, people rely on CMS platforms to handle the heavy lifting. But with so many options out there, the real question isn’t just which CMS to choose — it’s whether WordPress is still the best option.

WordPress has dominated the CMS market for years, but in 2025, hosted platforms like Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace, and newer headless solutions are competing for attention. As technology advances, expectations around performance, security, and ease of use continue to shift.

In this article, we compare WordPress to other leading CMS options, examining market trends, performance benchmarks, customization options, ease of use, and security. We want to provide a clear picture of where WordPress stands and how solutions like Kinsta’s managed hosting help businesses get the most out of it.

Where the CMS market currently stands

As of 2025, content management systems remain a central part of website creation and management. With businesses, developers, and individuals looking for scalable and user-friendly solutions, competition among CMS platforms has intensified. While WordPress continues to dominate, alternative platforms, especially those specializing in e-commerce, design flexibility, and headless architecture, are gaining some traction.

Here’s a closer look at the market share distribution among the leading CMS platforms.

Market leaders

A few key players dominate the CMS market, each carving out a niche based on functionality, ease of use, and audience demand:

• WordPress: WordPress remains the most widely used CMS, powering 43.5% of all websites, which translates to a 61.6% share of the CMS market. Its open-source nature, plugin selection, and strong community support make it the go-to choice for businesses, bloggers, and developers alike.
• Shopify: With a 6.7% CMS market share, Shopify has solidified itself as a leading e-commerce platform. Its all-in-one approach simplifies store setup and management, making it a preferred choice for businesses focused on online retail.
• Wix: Holding a 5.1% market share, Wix attracts small businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs with its drag-and-drop website builder and built-in hosting. While limited in flexibility compared to WordPress, it remains a strong competitor for those who prioritize ease of use.
• Squarespace: With a 3.2% market share, Squarespace caters to creatives and professionals looking for visually polished, template-driven sites. Its design-forward approach has made it popular among photographers, artists, and small businesses.
• Joomla: Once a top CMS, Joomla now holds a 2.1% market share, reflecting a steady decline in adoption. While it offers useful features and flexibility for developers, its complexity has made it less accessible to casual users.

Established CMS alternatives

Beyond the market leaders, several CMS platforms offer powerful alternatives that speak to specific industries, technical users, and unique website needs:

• Drupal: With 1.2% of the CMS market, Drupal remains a favorite for government agencies, universities, and large organizations that require advanced security and scalability.
• Adobe Systems (Adobe Experience Manager): Holding 1.1% of the market, Adobe’s CMS is built for enterprise-level clients who need advanced content personalization and integration with Adobe’s marketing tools.
• Google Systems (like Blogger): With 0.9% market share, Google’s CMS platforms, including Blogger, have seen diminishing relevance as people shift toward more modern solutions.
• Webflow: At 1.1% market share, Webflow has gained traction among designers and developers who want a no-code yet highly customizable platform. Its visual builder and CSS-level control make it an appealing choice for agencies and freelancers, too.
• OpenCart: Sitting at a 0.6% market share, OpenCart remains a notable open-source e-commerce platform, particularly for developers seeking flexibility outside of hosted solutions like Shopify.

Niche and emerging CMS platforms

These niche and emerging CMS platforms are gaining traction by focusing on specific needs, from developer-first flexibility to super minimal and lightweight site management:

• TYPO3: With 0.6% of websites using a CMS opting for it, TYPO3 remains a preferred choice in Europe, especially for enterprises and government organizations that need multilingual and multi-site support.
• Craft CMS: Accounting for a 0.2% market share, Craft CMS is growing in popularity among developers who want a more structured and flexible CMS with built-in API capabilities.
• Statamic: While holding less than 0.1% market share, Statamic is a flat-file CMS that offers an alternative to database-driven platforms. Its speed and developer-friendly approach make it appealing for high-performance web projects.

Going just by the numbers, WordPress still dominates the CMS market, while platforms like Shopify and Wix have carved out substantial niches, particularly in e-commerce and user-friendly website creation, respectively. The diversity among CMS platforms helps people choose solutions that best fit their specific needs, whether that’s blogging, online shopping, or complex enterprise websites.

Performance

Speed and efficiency are crucial when choosing a content management system, as they impact user experiences and search engine rankings. Comparing performance metrics like page-load speed among different CMSs can be tricky, since there can be significant variation in the sizes of pages each generates. Still, you can take a deep dive into our most-recent benchmarks comparing many of the CMS platforms mentioned above across different PHP versions.

Customization

Customization plays a huge role in choosing a content management system. The right platform should let you tweak design elements, add features, and integrate third-party tools to achieve your goals.

While many CMS platforms offer some flexibility, WordPress stands out as the most customizable, giving beginners an easy way to build a site while offering the depth and control that developers need.

Let’s look at how these platforms compare:

• WordPress: WordPress is the most customizable CMS, offering tens of thousands of themes and 60,000 plugins in its official repository. You can easily extend functionality with plugins for SEO, e-commerce, memberships, and more, while developers have full control over custom themes, custom post types, and a REST API. Unlike some platforms, WordPress doesn’t limit third-party integrations or require proprietary tools for modification.

• Shopify: Shopify provides theme customization and an app store. Advanced customization requires knowledge of Shopify’s Liquid template language, and users are limited to the Shopify ecosystem when adding new features. Custom development is possible but requires knowledge of Shopify’s framework and APIs.
• Wix: Wix offers drag-and-drop customization but lacks deep control over code and backend features. You’re locked into Wix’s templates, and advanced features often require using Wix’s proprietary tools, limiting flexibility.
• Squarespace: Like Wix, Squarespace is highly design-centric but comes with limitations in terms of extensibility. Customization mainly happens within the constraints of Squarespace’s themes, with limited developer control over backend functionality.

• Joomla: Joomla is highly customizable, offering a modular structure and a wide range of extensions. However, it’s much more difficult to use than other CMS platforms mentioned here.
• Drupal: Drupal is a highly flexible CMS designed for developers who need extensive customization options. It supports custom content types, taxonomies, and advanced user permissions, but it requires proficiency in PHP and Drupal’s framework, making it challenging for beginners to use.
• Webflow: Webflow provides extensive design customization through its visual editor so you can modify layouts and animations. However, extending functionality beyond design requires custom coding, which isn’t ideal if you have specific needs.

• Craft CMS: Craft CMS is highly flexible and developer-focused, too, and allows custom content modeling and API-driven development. But it lacks a plugin ecosystem, which means many features must be built from scratch.
• Adobe Experience Manager (AEM): Designed for enterprise-level content management, this platform offers deep customization through Adobe’s proprietary tools. However, modifying the platform requires expertise in Java-based development rather than PHP.
• Google’s Blogger: This platform provides limited customization options, mainly allowing you to modify layouts and basic widgets. Advanced customization requires editing HTML and CSS manually, with little flexibility beyond that.
• OpenCart: This ecommerce solution supports extensive customization through extensions and custom modules. Its marketplace is smaller than Shopify or WordPress, which means some features require custom development.
• TYPO3: Offers high levels of customization, including flexible user roles, multilingual support, and modular extensions. However, its complexity makes customization difficult for non-developers.
• Statamic: Since this platform uses a flat-file structure, it’s highly customizable without relying on databases. It also supports custom APIs and flexible content modeling, but its smaller surrounding community means fewer pre-built solutions.

Ease of use

A CMS should make building, managing, and updating a website easy without requiring deep technical expertise. Some platforms prioritize simplicity, while others offer more control at the cost of needing developer experience.

Here’s how the top CMS platforms compare based on usability and user experience.

Most user-friendly platforms

For those who want an easy way to build and manage a website, WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Google systems, and OpenCart are among the best options.

WordPress strikes a balance between ease of use and flexibility. Its dashboard is intuitive, and most tasks — like installing themes, adding plugins, and publishing content — can be done without coding.

The Block Editor makes content creation simple, and drag-and-drop builders like Elementor and Divi offer even more customization. However, managing WordPress can become more complex when dealing with custom development or troubleshooting plugin conflicts.

Shopify is a great choice for e-commerce, handling hosting, security, and maintenance so store owners don’t have to. It’s beginner-friendly but limits customization, which can be a drawback for those with unique needs.

Wix and Squarespace focus on design flexibility with drag-and-drop editors and pre-built templates. They’re ideal for small business owners, freelancers, and creatives who want a professional-looking site without needing to code. Wix allows for more layout adjustments, while Squarespace maintains a more structured approach for a polished design.

Webflow blends ease of use with more advanced customization. It offers a visual editor like Wix and Squarespace but also allows for direct HTML and CSS editing. While this gives designers more creative freedom, it’s more difficult to use.

Blogger, Google’s long-standing blogging platform, is one of the simplest CMS options available. While it’s easy to set up and use, it lacks the advanced functionality of other platforms, so it’s really best for personal blogs rather than business or e-commerce sites.

OpenCart, on the other hand, provides a user-friendly interface for e-commerce businesses and supports extensions, too. If you need more than the basics, however, it does require some technical knowledge to scale and customize.

Moderately user-friendly platforms

If you require more control, Joomla, Drupal, and Craft CMS do provide greater flexibility overall, but require more technical knowledge.

Joomla has a modular setup with lots of extensions available, but its interface often feels overwhelming for beginners. It’s better suited for those comfortable managing templates, modules, and extensions.

Drupal is even more developer-focused, offering advanced user roles, security features, and deep customization options. However, it lacks a built-in visual editor, making content management harder for non-developers. It’s commonly used for large-scale websites in government, education, and enterprise sectors where security and scalability are top priorities over usability on the backend.

Craft CMS provides a cleaner and more intuitive dashboard than Joomla and Drupal, but still requires development knowledge. Unlike WordPress, which has seemingly limitless plugins available, Craft CMS relies on custom-built features, meaning more control but also more work.

Advanced platforms for developers

At the highest level of complexity, we have Adobe Experience Manager, TYPO3, and Statamic — best suited for large businesses, enterprises, and developers.

AEM is an enterprise-grade CMS that integrates with Adobe’s marketing tools. This allows for personalized content delivery, automation, and multi-platform distribution. However, customization requires expertise in Adobe’s proprietary technology, so it’s largely inaccessible to most non-enterprise users.

TYPO3 is a highly flexible CMS built for large and complex websites, but its complexity makes it difficult to manage. Only those with deep development knowledge would feel comfortable with this platform.

Lastly, we have Statamic, which allows for extensive customization and API-driven development. Developers who want a lightweight but flexible system stand to benefit a lot, but the creator ecosystem around this platform is much smaller than WordPress, so you’ll need to make most features from scratch.

Security considerations

Security matters a lot when choosing a content management system. Each platform comes with its own security features (or lack thereof), and knowing what they offer can help you make the right choice.

Let’s look at how leading CMS platforms handle security, including the risks and benefits of using plugins, themes, and third-party integrations with WordPress.

WordPress security

WordPress’s open-source nature provides the flexibility needed to customize your site extensively. However, this openness can introduce security challenges, especially when integrating third-party plugins and themes.

Plugins and themes enhance how sites look and perform, but can also introduce vulnerabilities if not properly vetted. Insecure or outdated plugins and themes are common targets for attackers, potentially leading to unauthorized access or data breaches.

To ensure your WordPress installation stays secure, perform WordPress core updates as soon as they become available and update plugins and themes on a regular schedule as well. You should also thoroughly evaluate the credibility and security practices of third-party services before installing them. Check out reviews and ratings to get a sense of other people’s experiences. Installing a dedicated security plugin is a good idea, too, of which there are many to choose from, like Sucuri or Wordfence.

For enhanced security, opt for managed WordPress hosting to offload security responsibilities. A managed host like Kinsta will handle updates and backups for you all while implementing measures like PCI DSS compliance, SSL certificates, and GDPR compliance, alongside many other enterprise-level security features.

Shopify security

Shopify manages security at the server level, including PCI DSS compliance, SSL certificates, and regular updates, but it does leave some of the security up to you. For instance, you need to be mindful of which third-party apps you integrate into your site. Plus, you should use strong passwords and limit user access to keep your site secure.

Wix and Squarespace security

Both platforms are closed-source and offer automatic updates, SSL certificates, and limit third-party integrations. There’s minimal maintenance to be done on your part, other than maintaining strong passwords and being cautious with external integrations. But the trade-off here is a notable lack of flexibility.

Joomla and Drupal security

Both of these open-source platforms are known for having strong security frameworks as well as active communities dedicated to identifying and patching vulnerabilities and super granular user permissions that allow for detailed control over user access.

Effective security within these platforms, again, relies on timely updates, restrictive module selection, and proper configuration. Since the difficulty is higher for these CMSs, there’s a greater likelihood of mismanagement by the less experienced.

Craft CMS security

Craft CMS emphasizes security with features such as enforcing the use of POST for state-modifying actions to mitigate CSRF risks, cryptographically secure token generation using OpenSSL, and super-specific user permissions. It’s a secure platform, but vulnerabilities can still arise from misconfigurations or outdated software.

OpenCart security

OpenCart includes basic security measures like user authentication and input validation. However, it has been subject to vulnerabilities like SQL injection and XSS attacks, often due to insecure extensions.

Statamic security

Since Statamic is a flat-file CMS, this reduces certain risks associated with database-driven platforms. It includes features like user authentication and role-based access control. Even so, it can still be vulnerable to issues like XSS and CSRF if not adequately secured.

TYPO3 security

TYPO3 offers extensive security features, including enforcing the use of POST for state-modifying actions to mitigate CSRF risks, a full permissions system, and secure session management.

But like many of the platforms listed here, maintenance is required to keep its security in check.

AEM security

Since Adobe Experience Manager is built for enterprise-level content management and integrates Adobe’s security infrastructure, it includes advanced access controls, data encryption, and automated compliance features. However, customization requires working within the provided Adobe tools, which limits flexibility and means you must already be familiar with that platform to get the most out of it.

Blogger security

Blogger benefits from Google’s security infrastructure, so it’s low-maintenance and decently secure. Automatic updates and Google-managed security measures reduce vulnerabilities as well. The lack of customization options and third-party integrations make it far less flexible than other CMS platforms, which means it’s not particularly suitable for businesses.

Webflow security

Webflow is closed-source and handles security automatically. It provides SSL encryption, DDoS protection, and global CDN support. Because it limits third-party integrations, security risks are minimal, but, like Wix and Squarespace, Webflow’s restrictive customization means that you have to work within what it provides.

Kinsta provides optimized hosting for WordPress

Kinsta is a high-performance managed hosting provider for WordPress that takes the hassle out of website management. It’s built to deliver speed, security, and scalability without the technical headaches that come with traditional shared hosting or unmanaged servers. Designed specifically for WordPress, the Kinsta platform helps businesses of all sizes run their sites smoothly while handling the complexities behind the scenes.

While WordPress is a powerful and flexible CMS on its own, it does carry security risks, performance concerns, and maintenance responsibilities, especially for businesses that rely on third-party plugins and themes. Kinsta mitigates these issues with a fully managed hosting environment. This way, WordPress sites run smoothly without your constant oversight.

Here are just a few ways managed hosting for WordPress from Kinsta can help you make the most of the most popular CMS in the world:

• Performance optimization: Kinsta runs on Google Cloud Platform’s premium tier network, using the fastest-available virtual machines in each data center. Built-in server-level caching, Cloudflare integration, and a global CDN keep load times fast without relying on extra caching plugins.
• Security enhancements: Kinsta reduces WordPress security risks with DDoS protection, firewall rules, malware scanning, and automatic backups. Free SSL certificates and isolated container technology keep each site secure and separate.
• Automatic updates and maintenance: Kinsta handles automatic backups, staging environments, and uptime monitoring, so businesses can focus on growth instead of technical upkeep.
• Developer-friendly tools: Unlike beginner-focused hosts that limit customization, Kinsta supports SSH access, WP-CLI, Git integration, and multi-user management, making it a solid choice for agencies and advanced WordPress users.
• Expert support: Kinsta’s 24/7 support team consists of WordPress specialists, ensuring fast, knowledgeable assistance in 10 languages.

Whether you’re running an e-commerce store, membership site, blog, or enterprise-level website, Kinsta’s optimized hosting ensures your WordPress site remains fast, secure, and scalable.

Summary

WordPress remains the go-to choice for building websites and it ranks as the top-used CMS for a reason. This platform offers unmatched flexibility, customization, and scalability. That applies to you whether you’re a tech newbie, a business owner, or a developer. It provides the tools to create and manage a strong online presence. While newer platforms serve niche needs, none match WordPress in terms of extensibility or long-term value.

That said, WordPress isn’t without challenges. Security risks, performance concerns, and ongoing maintenance require attention. This is where Kinsta managed hosting plans really shine. With Google Cloud-powered infrastructure, built-in optimizations, and 24/7 expert support, Kinsta ensures fast, secure, and hassle-free WordPress hosting so businesses can focus on growth, not the technical stuff that might otherwise hold them back.

Future-proof your WordPress site with Kinsta to succeed in 2025 and beyond.

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