Is now the right time to abandon WordPress and look for another CMS or platform for your web design projects?
You’re not alone in thinking that WordPress’s future as the top CMS seems shaky, given the WP drama of the last quarter of 2024 and the continuing shenanigans into 2025.
Over the past few months, I’ve thought a lot about WordPress’s stability and future.
As a freelance designer/developer or business owner, I’m guessing you’ve also considered this.
With possible years of lawsuits abounding, Matt Mullenweg (MM) mentioned this could bankrupt him or force the closure of his WordPress.org site, the main theme and plugin repository for the WordPress app.
How Critical Is the WP.org Website?
I hosted a “WordPress Repository on WordPress.org: Pros and Cons” hallway track at WordCamp Sydney 2024 to discuss this issue.
The hallway track was well attended to, and many opinions and ideas floated. You can listen to a summary of the discussion on the Crossword podcast episode 11 by hosts Luke Carbis and Jonathan Wold.
When MM revoked WP Engine’s access to WP.org, 💩 hit the fan, and thousands of WP site owners couldn’t update their site’s plugins or themes. WPE has secured a preliminary injunction forcing MM to restore their access to the WP.org repo.
The WP Dashboard had errors, as access to WP.org is directly built into the core app. It’s expected to be there.
Then, it was revealed that MM personally owned WP.org and could do whatever he liked. He modified and continues to modify this critical resource, which, until his revelation, community members thought belonged to the community through the WordPress foundation.
Give that a thought for a second. Forty-three per cent (43%) of all websites are at the fingertips of one person. Once thought a Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL), now not so much benevolent.
Why Building Your Business On WordPress Alone Is Risky
We’ve seen previous collapses in the tech world where a business builds 100% on top of another tech stack, only for changes to be made, wiping out their entire business overnight.
Just recently, Meta cut off third-party access to the Facebook Groups API, causing panic among developers, app owners and SaaS providers who relied on the free API resource to run their business model.
Tomorrow, MM could shut down access to WP.org to everyone outside Automattic.
How would your business cope if that happened? 🤔
WP drama aside, data shows WordPress’s market share is declining.
Ref: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms/WordPress
WooCommerce, a strong driver for WordPress uptake, is also in decline.
Ref: https://trends.builtwith.com/shop/WooCommerce-Checkout
Don’t get me wrong. WordPress will not disappear overnight, and it still runs millions of business websites, so your freelancing career and business is OK for now.
I’m not jumping the WordPress ship just yet.
LinkedIn Poll – Long-Term Future of WordPress
I conducted a LinkedIn poll to see what freelancers and business owners thought about the future of WordPress.
The poll has now closed, but if you have thoughts, please leave a comment.
Futureproofing Your WordPress Business
If you are a freelance developer or designer worried about the WordPress ecosystem’s decline, what can you do to future-proof your business?
I’ve been thinking about this and looking at other CMS platforms like Grav, Shopify, Webflow, Yola, and Wix. Heck, I even had a quick look at Joomla and Drupal. 🙀
However, whichever angle I take, I always return to the core web skills of HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript.
If you understand the fundamentals of these core web skills, then no matter which CMS, framework or platform you choose, or none, you’ll still be able to deliver a great business website that achieves its owner’s goals.
So, for 2025, I’m deep-diving into each skill, learning new features, best practices and frameworks.
I’ll spin up a few side projects using these core web skills alone, not WordPress. I also have two apps/SaaS ideas I will code in Python. Just because.
What are your thoughts on the future of WordPress and your business model?
Send me an email, DM, or comment; I’d love to hear your opinions.
Until next time, keep thriving!
Wil.
