WordPress Maintenance Statistics 2026

1. 1WordPress powers approximately 43% of all websites on the internet.

   Source: W3Techs — usage statistics of content management systems

2. 2WordPress holds roughly 60%+ of the CMS market — several times larger than the next competitor.

   Source: W3Techs

3. 3The plugin directory hosts 59,000+ free plugins; the average business site runs 20–30 of them.

   Source: WordPress.org plugin directory

1. 4~7,900 new WordPress vulnerabilities were disclosed in 2024 — roughly 22 per day.

   Source: Patchstack State of WordPress Security 2024

2. 5Approximately 97% of WordPress vulnerabilities come from plugins, ~3% from themes, and under 1% from WordPress core.

   Source: Patchstack State of WordPress Security

3. 6An estimated 30,000 websites are hacked every day across the web.

   Source: Sophos / industry security estimates

4. 7WordPress sites account for the overwhelming majority of infected CMS sites in remediation datasets — a function of market share, not inherent insecurity.

   Source: Sucuri Hacked Website Threat Report

5. 8Roughly half of hacked WordPress sites were running outdated core, plugin, or theme versions at the time of infection.

   Source: Sucuri Hacked Website Threat Report

6. 9Most vulnerabilities are exploited within days of disclosure — patch speed is the single biggest security factor.

   Source: Patchstack vulnerability research

1. 10Downtime costs small businesses an estimated $137–$427 per minute.

   Source: Ponemon Institute-derived industry estimates

2. 11Average enterprise downtime cost: $5,600+ per minute.

   Source: Gartner downtime cost research

3. 12Professional one-off malware cleanup: $250–$1,000+ per incident — more than a year of basic maintenance.

   Source: Industry remediation pricing (WP Buffs, Sucuri, WP Engine)

4. 13Google blacklists sites distributing malware — recovering search rankings after a blacklist takes weeks to months.

   Source: Google Search Central — security issues report

1. 14WordPress ships 2–3 major core releases per year, plus continuous security patches.

   Source: WordPress.org release archive

2. 15A 25-plugin site sees multiple plugin updates every week — each a potential compatibility break if applied blindly.

   Source: WPOPS maintenance operations data

3. 16DIY maintenance (updates, backup checks, security scans, uptime) takes a conservative 5+ hours per month per site.

   Source: WPOPS client onboarding surveys

4. 17At a $50/hr freelancer rate, that DIY time is worth $250+/month — vs $39–$89/month for entry professional plans. Try our maintenance cost calculator.

   Source: Freelancer rate benchmarks vs provider pricing

Verified from providers' public pricing pages, July 2026:

1. 18Entry-level professional maintenance: $39–$89/month per site (GoWP $39, WPOPS $49, WP Buffs $89).

   Source: GoWP, WPOPS, WP Buffs public pricing — accessed July 2026

2. 19Plans with unlimited content edits: $99–$179/month (GoWP $99, WP Buffs Protect $179).

   Source: GoWP and WP Buffs pricing pages — accessed July 2026

3. 20Full-service plans with speed optimization and malware removal: $239–$359/month (WP Buffs Perform/Custom).

   Source: WP Buffs plans page — accessed July 2026

4. 21White-label agency plans: $39–$79+/month per site wholesale, typically resold at $99–$200.

   Source: GoWP and WPOPS white-label pricing — accessed July 2026

5. 22Hourly WordPress developer rates: $50–$150/hr — making incident-based support 3–10× costlier than preventive plans.

   Source: Freelancer and agency rate surveys