For many years, we’ve invited folks to tell us how they use WordPress by filling out an annual survey. In the past, interesting results from this survey have been shared in the annual State of the Word address. This year, for the first time, the results of the 2017 survey are being published on WordPress News, along with the results of the 2015 and 2016 survey.
So that information from the survey doesn’t reveal anything that respondents might consider private, we do not publish a full export of the raw data. We’d love to make this information as accessible as possible, though, so if you have a suggestion for an OS project or tool we can put the data into that allows people to play with it that still protects individual response privacy, please leave a comment on this post!
Major Groups
This survey features multiple groups, dividing respondents at the first question:
Which of the following best describes how you use WordPress? (Mandatory)
Those who selected “I’m a designer or developer, or I work for a company that designs/develops websites; I use WordPress to build websites and/or blogs for others. (This might include theme development, writing plugins, or other custom work.)” were served questions from what we’ll call the “WordPress Professionals” group.
This “WordPress Professionals” group is further divided into WordPress Company and WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist groups, based on how the respondent answered the question, “Which of the following best describes your involvement with WordPress? (2015) / Do you work for a company, or on your own? (2016-17).”
Those who selected “I own, run, or contribute to a blog or website that is built with WordPress.” were served questions in what we’re calling the “WordPress Users” group.
The relevant survey group is noted in each table below. In the case of questions that were served to different groups in 2015 but then served to all respondents in 2016 and 2017, the group responses from 2015 have been consolidated into one set of data for easier comparison between years.
Survey results
Jump to answers from WordPress Professionals
Jump to answers from WordPress Users
Jump to answers from All Respondents
Which of the following best describes how you use WordPress? (Mandatory)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Number of responses (since this question was mandatory, the number of responses here is the total number for the survey) | 45,995 | 15,585 | 16,029 | |||
| I’m a designer or developer, or I work for a company that designs/develops websites; I use WordPress to build websites and/or blogs for others. (This might include theme development, writing plugins, other custom work.) | 26,662 | 58% | 8,838 | 57% | 9,099 | 57% |
| I own, run, or contribute to a blog or website that is built with WordPress. | 16,130 | 35% | 5,293 | 34% | 5,625 | 35% |
| Neither of the above. | 3,204 | 7% | 1,460 | 9% | 1,306 | 8% |
WordPress Professionals
Which of the following best describes your involvement with WordPress? (Mandatory, 2015) / Do you work for a company, or on your own? (Mandatory, 2016-17)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Professional | ||||||
| Number of responses | 26,699 | 8,838 | 9,101 | |||
| My primary job is working for a company or organization that uses WordPress. | 9,505 | 36% | 3,529 | 40% | 3,660 | 40% |
| My primary job is as a self-employed designer or developer that uses WordPress. | 9,310 | 35% | 3,188 | 36% | 3,440 | 38% |
| I earn money from part-time or occasional freelance work involving WordPress. | 5,954 | 22% | 1,633 | 18% | 1,590 | 17% |
| Work that I do involving WordPress is just a hobby, I don’t make money from it. | 1,930 | 7% | 491 | 6% | 411 | 5% |
How does your company or organization work with WordPress?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Company | ||||||
| Number of responses | 9,342 | |||||
| Build/design and/or maintain websites or blogs for other people, companies, or organizations. | 7,772 | 27% | ||||
| Develop or customize themes. | 5,404 | 19% | ||||
| Build/design and/or maintain websites or blogs for my own use. | 4,733 | 16% | ||||
| Host websites for customers. | 4,397 | 15% | ||||
| Develop or distribute plugins. | 3,181 | 11% | ||||
| Provide educational resources to help others to use WordPress. | 1,349 | 5% | ||||
| Sponsor and/or attend WordCamps. | 1,127 | 4% | ||||
| Contribute bug reports and/or patches to WordPress core. | 914 | 3% | ||||
| Other Option | 182 | 1% | ||||
| Number of responses | 3,457 | 3,598 | ||||
| We make websites for others. | 2,695 | 24% | 2,722 | 23% | ||
| We make websites for ourselves. | 2,355 | 21% | 2,470 | 21% | ||
| We develop or customize themes. | 1,866 | 16% | 1,910 | 16% | ||
| We host websites for others. | 1,564 | 14% | 1,595 | 14% | ||
| We develop or distribute plugins. | 1,283 | 11% | 1,342 | 11% | ||
| We provide educational resources to help others to use WordPress. | 581 | 5% | 631 | 5% | ||
| We sponsor and/or attend WordCamps. | 561 | 5% | 579 | 5% | ||
| We contribute bug reports and/or patches to WordPress core. | 444 | 4% | 468 | 4% | ||
| Other Option | 98 | 1% | 96 | 1% | ||
How would you describe the business of your typical client(s)? (2015) / How would you describe the business of your typical client/customer? (2016, 2017)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Company | ||||||
| Number of responses | 9,154 | 3,317 | 3,498 | |||
| Small business | 6,893 | 32% | 2,398 | 31% | 2,510 | 31% |
| Large business or Enterprise | 3,635 | 17% | 1,361 | 18% | 1,447 | 18% |
| Non-profit | 2,644 | 12% | 934 | 12% | 992 | 12% |
| Individual | 2,600 | 12% | 888 | 12% | 1,022 | 12% |
| Education | 2,344 | 11% | 854 | 11% | 966 | 12% |
| Website development (sub-contracting) | 2,065 | 10% | 637 | 8% | 677 | 8% |
| Government | 1,410 | 6% | 524 | 7% | 552 | 7% |
| Other Option | 127 | 1% | 66 | 1% | 64 | 1% |
How does your company or organization use WordPress when developing websites? (2015) / When making websites, how does your company or organization use WordPress? (2016, 2017)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Company | ||||||
| Number of responses | 9,078 | 3,369 | 3,552 | |||
| Mostly as a content management system (CMS) | 6,361 | 70% | 2,482 | 74% | 2,640 | 74% |
| About half the time as a blogging platform and half the time as a CMS | 1,222 | 13% | 370 | 11% | 383 | 11% |
| Mostly as a blogging platform | 721 | 8% | 137 | 4% | 129 | 4% |
| Mostly as an application framework | 629 | 7% | 303 | 9% | 303 | 9% |
| Other Option | 145 | 2% | 78 | 2% | 97 | 3% |
How much is your average WordPress site customized from the original WordPress installation?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Company | ||||||
| Number of responses | 9,054 | 3,302 | 3,473 | |||
| A lot of work has been done, the front end is unrecognizable, but the Dashboard still looks like the usual WordPress interface. | 5,651 | 62% | 2,025 | 61% | 2,105 | 61% |
| There’s a different theme and some plugins have been added. | 2,230 | 25% | 799 | 24% | 905 | 26% |
| Not at all, it’s still pretty much the same as the original download. | 756 | 8% | 302 | 9% | 298 | 9% |
| You’d never know this was a WordPress installation, everything (including the admin) has been customized. | 417 | 5% | 177 | 5% | 165 | 5% |
Roughly how many currently active WordPress sites has your company or organization built?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Company | ||||||
| Number of responses | 8,801 | |||||
| 200 + | 1,074 | 12% | ||||
| 51 – 200 | 1,721 | 20% | ||||
| 21 – 50 | 1,718 | 20% | ||||
| 11 – 20 | 1,284 | 15% | ||||
| 6 – 10 | 1,109 | 13% | ||||
| 2 – 5 | 1,418 | 16% | ||||
| 1 | 390 | 4% | ||||
| 0 | 87 | 1% | ||||
| Number of responses | 3,358 | 3,540 | ||||
| Thousands. | 291 | 9% | 331 | 9% | ||
| Hundreds. | 770 | 23% | 894 | 25% | ||
| Fewer than a hundred. | 1,144 | 34% | 1,177 | 33% | ||
| Just a few, but they are really great. | 926 | 28% | 896 | 25% | ||
| Prefer not to answer. | 228 | 7% | 242 | 7% | ||
How many person-hours (of your company’s work) does the typical site take to complete?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Company | ||||||
| Number of responses | 9,091 | 3,353 | 3,522 | |||
| More than 200 | 939 | 10% | 309 | 9% | 325 | 9% |
| 100 – 200 | 1080 | 12% | 329 | 10% | 367 | 10% |
| 60 – 100 | 1541 | 17% | 527 | 16% | 513 | 15% |
| 40 – 60 | 1854 | 20% | 583 | 17% | 620 | 18% |
| 20 – 40 | 2066 | 23% | 691 | 21% | 685 | 19% |
| Fewer than 20 | 1611 | 18% | 479 | 14% | 519 | 15% |
| Prefer not to answer (2016, 2017) | 436 | 13% | 493 | 14% | ||
Roughly what percentage of your company or organization’s output is based around WordPress (as opposed to other platforms or software)?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Company | ||||||
| Number of responses | 8,950 | 3,345 | 3,503 | |||
| 100 % | 1,089 | 12% | 438 | 13% | 480 | 14% |
| 90 % | 1,043 | 12% | 417 | 12% | 459 | 13% |
| 80 % | 955 | 11% | 367 | 11% | 424 | 12% |
| 70 % | 831 | 9% | 305 | 9% | 344 | 10% |
| 60 % | 534 | 6% | 246 | 7% | 226 | 6% |
| 50 % | 973 | 11% | 335 | 10% | 338 | 10% |
| 40 % | 613 | 7% | 245 | 7% | 202 | 6% |
| 30 % | 877 | 10% | 335 | 10% | 310 | 9% |
| 20 % | 806 | 9% | 242 | 7% | 280 | 8% |
| 10 % | 1,039 | 12% | 344 | 10% | 348 | 10% |
| 0 % | 190 | 2% | 72 | 2% | 92 | 3% |
In which of the following ways do you work with WordPress?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist | ||||||
| Number of responses | 17,009 | 5,221 | 5,425 | |||
| Build/design and/or maintain websites or blogs for other people, companies, or organizations | 15,342 | 34% | 4,795 | 34% | 5,064 | 34% |
| Develop or customize themes | 10,549 | 24% | 2,997 | 21% | 3,021 | 20% |
| Host websites for customers | 8,142 | 18% | 2,466 | 17% | 2,728 | 18% |
| Develop or distribute plugins | 4,125 | 9% | 1,395 | 10% | 1,416 | 9% |
| Provide educational resources to help others to use WordPress | 3,276 | 7% | 1,187 | 8% | 1,308 | 9% |
| Sponsor and/or attend WordCamps | 1,559 | 4% | 648 | 5% | 724 | 5% |
| Contribute bug reports and/or patches to WordPress core | 1,107 | 2% | 381 | 3% | 393 | 3% |
| Other Option | 389 | 1% | 243 | 2% | 299 | 2% |
How would you describe the business of your typical client(s)?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist | ||||||
| Number of responses | 16,863 | 5,151 | 5,353 | |||
| Small business | 14,185 | 35% | 4,342 | 35% | 4,622 | 36% |
| Individual | 8,513 | 21% | 2,581 | 21% | 2,583 | 20% |
| Non-profit | 6,585 | 16% | 2,004 | 16% | 2,113 | 16% |
| Website development (sub-contracting) | 4,301 | 11% | 1,258 | 10% | 1,216 | 9% |
| Education | 3,458 | 8% | 1,049 | 8% | 1,139 | 9% |
| Large business or Enterprise | 2,391 | 6% | 805 | 6% | 857 | 7% |
| Government | 1,150 | 3% | 300 | 2% | 329 | 3% |
| Other Option | 173 | 0% | 101 | 1% | 99 | 1% |
How do you use WordPress in your development?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist | ||||||
| Number of responses | 16,768 | 5,145 | 5,372 | |||
| Mostly as a content management system (CMS) | 11,754 | 70% | 3,641 | 71% | 3,959 | 74% |
| About half the time as a blogging platform and half the time as a CMS | 2,825 | 17% | 812 | 16% | 721 | 13% |
| Mostly as an application framework | 1,012 | 6% | 343 | 7% | 344 | 6% |
| Mostly as a blogging platform | 992 | 6% | 246 | 5% | 226 | 4% |
| Other Option | 185 | 1% | 105 | 2% | 122 | 2% |
How much is your average WordPress site customized from the original WordPress installation?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist | ||||||
| Number of responses | 16,699 | 5,131 | 5,317 | |||
| A lot of work has been done, the front end is unrecognizable, but the Dashboard still looks like the usual WordPress interface. | 9,457 | 57% | 2,837 | 55% | 2,998 | 56% |
| There’s a different theme and some plugins have been added. | 5,526 | 33% | 1,694 | 33% | 1,781 | 34% |
| Not at all, it’s still pretty much the same as the original download. | 977 | 6% | 341 | 7% | 310 | 6% |
| You’d never know this was a WordPress installation, everything (including the admin) has been customized. | 739 | 4% | 261 | 5% | 228 | 4% |
How many currently active WordPress sites have you built? (2015) / Roughly how many currently active WordPress sites have you built? (2016, 2017)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist | ||||||
| Number of responses | 16,690 | |||||
| 200 + | 514 | 3% | ||||
| 51 – 200 | 1,728 | 10% | ||||
| 21 – 50 | 3,000 | 18% | ||||
| 11 – 20 | 3,146 | 19% | ||||
| 6 – 10 | 3,405 | 20% | ||||
| 2 – 5 | 3,838 | 23% | ||||
| 1 | 698 | 4% | ||||
| 0 | 361 | 2% | ||||
| Number of responses | 5,165 | 5367 | ||||
| Thousands. | 110 | 2% | 104 | 2% | ||
| Hundreds. | 603 | 12% | 713 | 13% | ||
| Fewer than a hundred. | 2,264 | 44% | 2,457 | 46% | ||
| Just a few, but they are really great. | 1,871 | 36% | 1,813 | 34% | ||
| Prefer not to answer. | 319 | 6% | 280 | 5% | ||
Roughly what percentage of your working time is spent working with WordPress?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist | ||||||
| Number of responses | 16,658 | 5,039 | 5,241 | |||
| 100 % | 949 | 6% | 459 | 9% | 461 | 9% |
| 90 % | 1,300 | 8% | 527 | 10% | 540 | 10% |
| 80 % | 1,784 | 11% | 637 | 13% | 711 | 14% |
| 70 % | 1,850 | 11% | 608 | 12% | 627 | 12% |
| 60 % | 1,313 | 8% | 438 | 9% | 465 | 9% |
| 50 % | 2,095 | 13% | 612 | 12% | 639 | 12% |
| 40 % | 1,438 | 9% | 391 | 8% | 384 | 7% |
| 30 % | 2,076 | 12% | 530 | 11% | 511 | 10% |
| 20 % | 1,743 | 10% | 445 | 9% | 429 | 8% |
| 10 % | 1,819 | 11% | 342 | 7% | 419 | 8% |
| 0 % | 291 | 2% | 52 | 1% | 55 | 1% |
How many hours of your work does the typical site take to complete? (2015) / How many hours of work does your typical WordPress project take to launch? (2016, 2017)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist | ||||||
| Number of responses | 16,670 | 5,164 | 5,378 | |||
| More than 200 | 503 | 3% | 222 | 4% | 245 | 5% |
| 100 – 200 | 973 | 6% | 386 | 7% | 393 | 7% |
| 60 – 100 | 2,277 | 14% | 788 | 15% | 815 | 15% |
| 40 – 60 | 3,896 | 23% | 1,153 | 22% | 1,216 | 23% |
| 20 – 40 | 6,068 | 36% | 1,487 | 29% | 1,582 | 29% |
| Fewer than 20 | 2,953 | 18% | 712 | 14% | 751 | 14% |
| Prefer not to answer | 418 | 8% | 376 | 7% | ||
Which of the following have you done with WordPress?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Professional (Company/Freelancer/Hobbyist) | ||||||
| Number of responses | 20,687 | |||||
| I’ve written a theme from scratch. | 11,894 | 25% | ||||
| I’ve written a plugin. | 9,719 | 21% | ||||
| I’ve answered a question in the WordPress forum. | 8,805 | 19% | ||||
| I’ve attended a WordPress meetup. | 4,062 | 9% | ||||
| I’ve submitted a WordPress bug report. | 4,062 | 9% | ||||
| I’ve attended a WordCamp. | 3,571 | 8% | ||||
| I’ve contributed to WordPress documentation. | 1,778 | 4% | ||||
| Other Option | 1,739 | 4% | ||||
| I’ve contributed a WordPress core patch. | 1,055 | 2% | ||||
What’s the best thing about WordPress?*
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Professional | ||||||
| Number of responses | 22,718 | 7,891 | 8,267 | |||
| Easy/simple/user-friendly | 9,450 | 42% | 3,454 | 44% | 3,852 | 47% |
| Customizable/extensible/modular/plugins/themes | 8,601 | 38% | 3,116 | 39% | 3,555 | 43% |
| Community/support/documentation/help | 3,806 | 17% | 1,211 | 15% | 1,340 | 16% |
| Free/open/open source | 2,291 | 10% | 802 | 10% | 908 | 11% |
| Popular/ubiquitous | 249 | 1% | 86 | 1% | 187 | 2% |
What’s the most frustrating thing about WordPress?*
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Professional | ||||||
| Number of responses | 21,144 | 7,294 | 7,691 | |||
| Plugins & themes (abandoned/conflicts/coding standards) | 6,122 | 29% | 2,194 | 30% | 2,187 | 28% |
| Security/vulnerabilities/hacks | 2,321 | 11% | 712 | 10% | 829 | 11% |
| Updates | 1,544 | 7% | 422 | 6% | 508 | 7% |
| Nothing/I don’t know/can’t think of anything | 1,276 | 6% | 344 | 5% | 476 | 6% |
| Speed/performance/slow/heavy | 1,196 | 6% | 644 | 9% | 516 | 7% |
WordPress is as good as, or better than, its main competitors.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress Professional | ||||||
| Number of responses (this question was not asked in the 2015 survey) | 8,672 | 9,059 | ||||
| Agree | 7551 | 87% | 7836 | 87% | ||
| Prefer not to answer | 754 | 9% | 795 | 9% | ||
| Disagree | 370 | 4% | 428 | 5% | ||
WordPress Users
Which of the following describes how you use WordPress?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress User | ||||||
| Number of responses | 15,169 | 5,043 | 5,521 | |||
| My personal blog (or blogs) uses WordPress. | 9,395 | 36% | 3,117 | 36% | 3,424 | 36% |
| My company or organization’s website is built with WordPress software. | 7,480 | 29% | 2,519 | 29% | 2,841 | 30% |
| I have a hobby or side project that has a website built with WordPress. | 6,112 | 23% | 1,973 | 23% | 2,200 | 23% |
| I write (or otherwise work) for an online publication that uses WordPress. | 2,329 | 9% | 806 | 9% | 821 | 9% |
| Other Option | 872 | 3% | 234 | 3% | 288 | 3% |
Who installed your WordPress website?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress User | ||||||
| Number of responses | 15,055 | 5,020 | 5,523 | |||
| I did. | 11,216 | 66% | 3,659 | 73% | 4,129 | 75% |
| My hosting provider | 2,236 | 13% | 667 | 13% | 767 | 14% |
| An external company | 909 | 5% | 182 | 4% | 178 | 3% |
| An internal web person/team or a colleague | 874 | 5% | 178 | 4% | 191 | 3% |
| A friend or family member | 787 | 5% | 192 | 4% | 172 | 3% |
| I don’t know | 502 | 3% | 145 | 3% | 87 | 2% |
| Other Option | 345 | 2% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
How much has the site been customized from the original WordPress installation?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress User | ||||||
| Number of responses | 14,789 | 4,997 | 5,494 | |||
| There’s a different theme and some plugins have been added. | 7,465 | 50% | 2,337 | 47% | 2,660 | 48% |
| A lot of work has been done, the site itself is unrecognizable from the original theme, but the Dashboard still looks like the usual WordPress interface. | 4,715 | 32% | 1,707 | 34% | 1,872 | 34% |
| Not at all, it’s still pretty much the same as it was when I started out. | 1,841 | 12% | 635 | 13% | 673 | 12% |
| You’d never know this was a WordPress installation, everything has been customized. | 768 | 5% | 321 | 6% | 290 | 5% |
What’s the best thing about WordPress?*
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress User | ||||||
| Number of responses | 14,328 | 4,613 | 5,076 | |||
| Easy/simple/user-friendly | 7,391 | 52% | 2,276 | 49% | 2,511 | 49% |
| Customizable/extensible/modular/plugins/themes | 4,219 | 29% | 1,569 | 34% | 1,632 | 32% |
| Free/open/open source | 1,586 | 11% | 493 | 11% | 538 | 11% |
| Community/support/documentation/help | 1,085 | 8% | 388 | 8% | 458 | 9% |
| Popular/ubiquitous | 223 | 2% | 74 | 2% | 48 | 1% |
What’s the most frustrating thing about WordPress?*
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress User | ||||||
| Number of responses | 13,681 | 4,287 | 4,758 | |||
| Plugins & themes (abandoned/conflicts/coding standards) | 2,531 | 19% | 1,183 | 28% | 1,300 | 27% |
| Customization/design/look/template | 1,273 | 9% | 381 | 9% | 408 | 9% |
| Code/coding/PHP | 931 | 7% | 306 | 7% | 277 | 6% |
| Updates | 926 | 7% | 209 | 5% | 296 | 6% |
| Security/vulnerabilites/hacks | 785 | 6% | 255 | 6% | 292 | 6% |
WordPress is as good as, or better than, its main competitors.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: WordPress User | ||||||
| Number of responses | 5,026 | 5,498 | ||||
| Agree | 4,038 | 80% | 4,462 | 81% | ||
| Prefer not to answer | 737 | 15% | 782 | 14% | ||
| Disagree | 254 | 5% | 255 | 5% | ||
All Respondents
Can you (truthfully!) say “I make my living from WordPress”?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: All Respondents | ||||||
| Number of responses (combination of all three groups from 2015; this question was not broken out by group in 2016-2017) | 42,236 | 14,906 | 15,616 | |||
| Not really, but I do get some or all of my income as a result of working with WordPress. | 16,607 | 39% | 5,408 | 36% | 5,702 | 37% |
| Yes. | 9,635 | 23% | 4,791 | 32% | 5,033 | 32% |
| No. | 15,995 | 38% | 4,713 | 32% | 4,882 | 31% |
Which devices do you access WordPress on?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: All Respondents | ||||||
| Number of responses (combination of all three groups from 2015; this question was not broken out by group in 2016-2017) | 42,433 | |||||
| Web | 40,503 | 95% | ||||
| Android phone | 15,396 | 36% | ||||
| iPhone | 12,353 | 29% | ||||
| iPad | 11,748 | 28% | ||||
| Android tablet | 9,223 | 22% | ||||
| Desktop app, like MarsEdit | 6,018 | 14% | ||||
| Other Option | 1837 | 4% | ||||
| Number of responses (this question was not broken out by group in 2016-2017) | 14,840 | 15,597 | ||||
| Web browser on a desktop or laptop | 14,160 | 54% | 15,052 | 55% | ||
| Web browser on a mobile device (tablet or phone) | 7,952 | 30% | 8,248 | 30% | ||
| An app on a mobile device (table or phone) | 3,309 | 13% | 3,311 | 12% | ||
| A desktop app like MarsEdit | 517 | 2% | 498 | 2% | ||
| Other Option | 282 | 1% | 240 | 1% | ||
WordPress now updates minor & security releases automatically for you. Check all that apply: (question not asked in 2016, 2017)
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: All Respondents | ||||||
| Number of responses (combination of all three groups) | 39,726 | |||||
| I love auto-updates. | 17,367 | 44% | ||||
| I’d like to see auto-updates for plugins. | 12,796 | 32% | ||||
| Initially, I was nervous about auto updates. | 11,868 | 30% | ||||
| Auto updates still make me nervous. | 10,809 | 27% | ||||
| Auto updates don’t make me nervous now. | 10,708 | 27% | ||||
| I’d like to see auto-updates for themes. | 10,449 | 26% | ||||
| I’d like to see auto updates for major versions of WordPress. | 10,225 | 26% | ||||
| This is the first I’ve heard of auto-updates. | 8,660 | 22% | ||||
| I hate auto-updates. | 3,293 | 8% | ||||
What is your gender?*
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: All respondents (This question was not asked in the 2015 survey.) | ||||||
| Number of responses | 13,953 | 14,680 | ||||
| Male | 10,978 | 78.68% | 11,570 | 78.81% | ||
| Female | 2,340 | 16.77% | 2,511 | 21.70% | ||
| Prefer not to answer | 601 | 4.31% | 562 | 3.83% | ||
| Transgender | 11 | 0.08% | 8 | 0.05% | ||
| Nonbinary | 8 | 0.06% | 17 | 0.12% | ||
| Genderqueer | 4 | 0.03% | 3 | 0.02% | ||
| Androgynous | 6 | 0.04% | 5 | 0.03% | ||
| Fluid | 3 | 0.02% | 4 | 0.03% | ||
| Demimale | 2 | 0.01% | 0 | 0 | ||
Where are you located?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: All respondents (This question was not asked in the 2015 survey.) | ||||||
| Number of responses | 14,562 | 15,343 | ||||
| United States | 3,770 | 25.89% | 4,067 | 26.51% | ||
| India | 1,456 | 10.00% | 1,424 | 9.28% | ||
| United Kingdom | 810 | 5.56% | 900 | 5.87% | ||
| Germany | 555 | 3.81% | 729 | 4.75% | ||
| Canada | 511 | 3.51% | 599 | 3.90% | ||
| Australia | 389 | 2.67% | 460 | 3.00% | ||
| Italy | 298 | 2.05% | 356 | 2.32% | ||
| Netherlands | 343 | 2.36% | 350 | 2.28% | ||
| France | 232 | 1.59% | 283 | 1.84% | ||
| Bangladesh | 257 | 1.76% | 263 | 1.71% | ||
| Spain | 271 | 1.86% | 252 | 1.64% | ||
| Brazil | 239 | 1.64% | 251 | 1.64% | ||
| Pakistan | 254 | 1.74% | 240 | 1.56% | ||
| Indonesia | 230 | 1.58% | 226 | 1.47% | ||
| Iran, Islamic Republic of | 190 | 1.30% | 173 | 1.13% | ||
| Sweden | 144 | 0.99% | 173 | 1.13% | ||
| Nigeria | 196 | 1.35% | 172 | 1.12% | ||
| South Africa | 193 | 1.33% | 172 | 1.12% | ||
| Russian Federation | 181 | 1.24% | 151 | 0.98% | ||
| Poland | 129 | 0.89% | 137 | 0.89% | ||
| Romania | 144 | 0.99% | 132 | 0.86% | ||
| Switzerland | 122 | 0.84% | 130 | 0.85% | ||
| Philippines | 92 | 0.63% | 125 | 0.81% | ||
| China | 136 | 0.93% | 123 | 0.80% | ||
| Austria | 89 | 0.61% | 122 | 0.80% | ||
| Ukraine | 105 | 0.72% | 118 | 0.77% | ||
| Denmark | 107 | 0.73% | 114 | 0.74% | ||
| Greece | 120 | 0.82% | 114 | 0.74% | ||
| Portugal | 94 | 0.65% | 109 | 0.71% | ||
| Vietnam | 101 | 0.69% | 108 | 0.70% | ||
| Mexico | 94 | 0.65% | 105 | 0.68% | ||
| Nepal | 76 | 0.52% | 97 | 0.63% | ||
| Ireland | 72 | 0.49% | 94 | 0.61% | ||
| Israel | 78 | 0.54% | 94 | 0.61% | ||
| New Zealand | 77 | 0.53% | 91 | 0.59% | ||
| Finland | 63 | 0.43% | 90 | 0.59% | ||
| Turkey | 91 | 0.62% | 86 | 0.56% | ||
| Malaysia | 91 | 0.62% | 81 | 0.53% | ||
| Belgium | 84 | 0.58% | 79 | 0.51% | ||
| Norway | 66 | 0.45% | 79 | 0.51% | ||
| Argentina | 65 | 0.45% | 76 | 0.50% | ||
| Bulgaria | 74 | 0.51% | 72 | 0.47% | ||
| Japan | 61 | 0.42% | 68 | 0.44% | ||
| Thailand | 69 | 0.47% | 67 | 0.44% | ||
| Czech Republic | 76 | 0.52% | 66 | 0.43% | ||
| Serbia | 89 | 0.61% | 63 | 0.41% | ||
| Kenya | 58 | 0.40% | 62 | 0.40% | ||
| Colombia | 39 | 0.27% | 59 | 0.38% | ||
| Egypt | 40 | 0.27% | 52 | 0.34% | ||
What is your age?
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Group: All Respondents | ||||||
| Number of responses (This question was not asked in 2015.) | 14,944 | 15,636 | ||||
| 60 and over | 1,139 | 8% | 1,641 | 11% | ||
| 50-59 | 1,537 | 10% | 1,996 | 13% | ||
| 40-49 | 2,205 | 15% | 2,643 | 17% | ||
| 30-39 | 3,914 | 26% | 3,972 | 25% | ||
| 20-29 | 5,013 | 34% | 4,444 | 28% | ||
| Under 20 | 1142 | 8% | 941 | 6% | ||
Thank you to everyone who made time to fill out the survey — we’re so happy you use WordPress, and we’re very grateful that you’re willing to share your experiences with us! Thanks also to everyone who spread the word about this survey, and to those of you who read all the way to the bottom of this post.
*Text Field Questions: Each survey included some questions that could be answered only by filling out a text field. In the case of the questions “What is the best thing about WordPress?” and “What is the most frustrating thing about WordPress?” we listed the five most common responses, aggregated when applicable. In the case of the question “What is your gender?” in the 2016 and 2017 surveys, we aggregated responses as best we could. Responses meant to obscure respondents’ gender entirely are aggregated in “prefer not to answer.”