Despite WordPress being the most popular Content Management System (CMS) in the world, there are a lot of misinformation about WordPress on the internet. Some of these common WordPress myths and misconceptions end up confusing users and leading them to choose the wrong platform.

According to various estimates, surveys, and experiments, it’s believed that there are nearly two billion websites online today. The number, by any measures, is beyond huge. This creates a lot of space for the web’s top website platforms to shine. That is why various popular CMS tools now dominate all lists of top website platforms! It’s estimated that around half of all websites run on some form of a CMS.

WordPress is the CMS to rule them all! There’s just no other way to say this. According to the latest data, WordPress controls nearly 65% of the CMS market! What’s even more impressive, is that nearly 40% of all websites run on WordPress. That’s among all websites! Knowing these numbers, it should come as no surprise that this very website runs on WordPress as well.

The number of active sites running on WordPress that has been tracked so far is over 810,000,000. From among those, the number of sites among the top one million websites in the world is 337,200. Over 409 million people view 21.2 billion WordPress pages each month and over 661 new WordPress sites go live every day.

List of common misconceptions

  • WordPress is Just a Blogging Tool
  • WordPress is Not Secure
  • There is Very Limited Support Available for WordPress
  • WordPress is Easy so It Must be Low Quality
  • WordPress is for Beginners
  • WordPress is Not Well Suited For Large Sites
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1. WordPress is NOT just a blogging tool

One of the most persistent WordPress myths is mistaking WordPress as just a blogging software.

It is not.

WordPress is a powerful website builder that can be used to build almost any kind of website imaginable. It powers more than 30% of all websites on the internet, and a vast number of these websites are not just blogs.

WordPress is used for corporate sites, building an online store/eCommerce site, online magazines, and so much more. It is used by governments, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies.

The popular WordPress eCommerce plugin, WooCommerce, is actually the biggest eCommerce platform in the world. Way larger than Shopify, Magento, and others.

2. WordPress is extremely secure

Another common myth that we hear often is that WordPress is less secure than some other proprietary software.

WordPress is very secure, and this is one of the reasons for its popularity. WordPress is an open source software which means its source code is available online for anyone to study and find security loopholes.

WordPress is extremely flexible, and its security can be further strengthened by taking a few extra steps.

Malware and brute force attacks are common on the web and are not just limited to WordPress. This is why there are specialized security services like our own which provide monitoring service and website firewall to protect against common web threats.

You can make your WordPress site even more secure by taking simple steps like using strong passwords and by following some security best practices.

3. WordPress is supported by a massive development community

WordPress is a free and open source software. Many people who don’t know how open source software work, believe in the myth that the future of WordPress is not clear, and it could just suddenly disappear.

WordPress is not developed by a single person, but a community of passionate and professional developers. It is a protected trademark owned by a non-profit organization called WordPress Foundation, which protects the WordPress brand name and promotes the open source software.

There are thousands of small and large WordPress companies selling products and services based on WordPress. Many of these companies actively participate in the WordPress community.

The WordPress community is not just one company, person, or a small group that would just suddenly disappear. It consists of hundreds and thousands of people from all over the world. While WordPress itself is free, this eco-system alone powers millions of dollars in annual revenue for businesses involved.

In short, WordPress is not going anywhere and its future is bright.

4. Websites developed on WordPress offer a high level of quality

Another common WordPress myth is that since WordPress is free, then it must be low quality. Beginners have asked us why would developers do their best work for a free software?

WordPress is not developed by just one person or a small team. It is developed by thousands of developers and is used by millions of websites. The code is open source for anyone to read, scrutinize, and examine for quality.

It follows and adheres to the very best programming practices. The code behind WordPress is rock solid, developer friendly, open, and free. It is also a state of art publishing system with a very easy to use interface. This is why WordPress is immensely popular and way ahead of any other CMS software in the world.

WordPress is used by some of the largest brands including but not limited to CNN, Microsoft, Adobe, The New York Times, and many more.

5. WordPress is not just for beginners

Another common myth that we often hear from users who don’t know much about WordPress is that it is more suitable for beginner level users who don’t know any CSS, HTML, or programming.

This is not entirely true. While WordPress is extremely easy to use for beginners, it is also used by corporations, businesses, and developers. WordPress is equally popular among beginners and advanced level users.

For beginners, the good part is that they can create their websites without learning any programming or web design skills. For developers, WordPress provides great flexibility to extend the software with custom code using plugins and themes.

6. WordPress is well suited for large websites

The myth that WordPress is not well suited for High Traffic sites is promoted by developers of other platforms who fail to acknowledge that WordPress powers some of the most popular websites on the internet. This includes high traffic websites like Techcrunch, The New Yorker, Variety, and our own site.

Since WordPress is a self-hosted platform, you are responsible to manage its performance and scale your server resources as your website grows. You can also use our very affordable maintenance services instead.

Popular website built on WordPress

Do you want to know which big name brands are using WordPress? One of the common misconceptions about WordPress is that since it is open source, it may not be good enough for big brands. To disprove this myth, we have created a list of most notable big name brands that are using WordPress on their websites.
The White House
The National Archives
Smithsonian National Museum
Mercedes-Benz
Harvard Gazette
Pulse by Target
University of Washington
Georgia State University
Blender
Group Renault
Toyota
Vogue
Wired
Fortune
BBC America
International Gem Society
Economic Policy Institute
Microsoft Studios
TechCrunch
The New Yorker
BBC America
Bloomberg Professional
The Official Star Wars
Variety
Sony Music
MTV News
Beyonce
PlayStation
Sweden’s Official Website
Microsoft News Center
Bata
Quartz
Usain Bolt
The Walt Disney Company
Time Inc.
Facebook Newsroom
New York Times Company
Marks & Spencer for Business
The Walking Dead – AMC
The Wall Street Journal Law
Snoop Dogg
Reuters