WordPress Evolving: Everything You Need to Know

Shaping the Web landscape for over 20 years, WordPress offers a flexible and accessible solution to millions of sites around the world. Even today, it remains undoubtedly the most widespread CMS platform, powering over 43% of all websites. However, several new trends in the Web world lead us to ask: Is WordPress still an optimal CMS choice for businesses in 2025? What are the challenges and alternatives for this software? Let's delve together into the evolution of this major technology!

A Giant in Transformation

Since its inception, WordPress has stood out by combining ease of use for internet users and scalability for developers, thanks to its rich ecosystem of themes, plugins, and programming interfaces.

This balance, key to WordPress's success, could however be compromised by some recent developments:

• The advent of Gutenberg and a block-based system: Introduced in 2018 on WordPress, the Gutenberg content editor marked a shift towards a no-code approach with a modular block system. While this direction enhances flexibility for content creators, it also complicates development for more advanced projects requiring a more structured approach. Several web specialists believe that such a change moves WordPress away from its original DNA by seeking more to please end-users at the expense of developers who have historically contributed to its success.
• Technological debt and increasing complexity: WordPress still relies on an architecture based on PHP and MySQL, characterized by often manual management of dependencies and versions. The accumulation of outdated code and the rapid development of the web sometimes make the WordPress ecosystem precarious and complex to secure.
• Tensions at WordPress: For the past few months, we have witnessed an open war between several WordPress key contributors, thus harming the overall health of the platform.

What Explains the Tensions at WordPress?

Although WordPress still dominates the CMS market, its recent evolution has sparked sharp criticism within its own community. These tensions are largely due to two clashing visions: that of WordPress.org and that of WordPress.com. Let's first look at the difference between the two.

1. WordPress.org: This is the open-source and "self-hosted" version of WordPress, which you can download for free. This option requires you to have your own web hosting and to manage the installation, updates, backups, and security of your site yourself. You thus benefit from maximum flexibility in terms of customization, themes, and plugin choices.
2. WordPress.com: This is a hosting platform managed by Automattic, the company founded by Matt Mullenweg, the co-creator of WordPress. This version offers a more structured experience and takes care of all the technical aspects of hosting your site. However, the free and low-cost options limit your ability to customize your site. Paid options offer more flexibility, but often less freedom than with WordPress.org.

This dual status opens the door to conflicts of interest between the commercial vision of Automattic (which develops WordPress.com and its extensions like WooCommerce or Jetpack) and the nonprofit vision of the developers/agencies contributing to WordPress.org. As a result, there is opaque governance where several major decisions, such as the forced integration of Gutenberg, are made without clear consensus within the community, thus creating a climate of mistrust among several historic contributors to WordPress who are gradually distancing themselves from the project. Many people using WordPress as an independent and open-source platform denounce the fact that it is evolving more and more towards a closed ecosystem that meets the needs of Automattic and its paid features rather than those of the community.

An Increasingly Fragile Model...

The success of an open-source CMS like WordPress depends on a virtuous cycle between its number of users and the involvement of its developer community.

This highly cyclical model has been key to the success of WordPress and most open-source CMSs... but it can become weakened by drifting too far from the needs of developers:

• A less active development community means fewer innovations, less maintenance, and less expertise available within WordPress.
• This decline in quality and dynamism in the WordPress ecosystem leads to a loss of attractiveness for users.
• Fewer users mean fewer opportunities for developers, which further accelerates the decline of the platform.

An Evolution to Watch Closely

WordPress has always benefited from a very large base of contributors, but recent tensions and the lack of consensus could slow down this dynamic. That's why all web experts are keeping a close eye on recent developments within the platform: the decisions that will be made by WordPress in the coming months and years will either confirm its leadership or begin its gradual decline in favor of other CMS solutions.

Adopting WordPress? Yes, but not at any cost!

Although WordPress remains a major web technology in 2025, its use must be conscientiously evaluated based on current technical challenges and the specific needs of each project. It is a relevant solution for certain specific needs, but should not be adopted by default.

Choosing the right technology for the right context remains key to making an informed decision and ensuring the success of a project. To do this, it is important to develop a pragmatic and technologically agnostic approach, based on three specific axes of analysis:

1. Customer needs: WordPress is a good CMS option for projects prioritizing autonomy and ease of use. However, other more suitable solutions should be recommended for projects with higher web traffic and higher customization needs.
2. Scalability and maintenance: Any CMS must be able to evolve over time. Therefore, choose a solution that can minimize technical debt and integrate effectively into the overall digital ecosystem of an organization.
3. Security and performance: WordPress is often the target of web attacks, leading many experts to recommend more secure alternatives for projects requiring a high level of protection and performance.

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