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What a year it’s been! And the world of WordPress has seen its share of excitement and ups and downs, and throughout it all, it inspired people to decorate the web with their creativity.
2024 was yet another year of dynamic updates, releases, strategic acquisitions and even heated debates in the WordPress community.
Whether you’re a developer, an entrepreneur, a blogger or just someone who constantly screams “Why is my website not fast enough?,” this recap will take you through the major milestones and happenings from the world of WordPress.
Let’s roll.
WordPress in Numbers
As of November 2024, there are more than 1.1 billion websites out there in the wild, out of which around 488 million are hosted on WordPress, maintaining its position as the leading CMS globally.
But let’s take a look at things in numbers:
Global Usage: 488.6 millions websites run on WordPress, which is approximately 43.7% of all websites.
CMS Market Share: Holds a dominant 62.2% CMS market share, which is significantly ahead of other key players like Shopify (6.6%) and Wix (4.5).
Themes: There are 30,000+ available, out of which 13,000 are free.
Plugins: There are 70,000+ plugins available to enhance and augment your website’s functionality.
WooCommerce: The ecommerce plugin for WordPress boasts a 36.3% share of the ecommerce platform market, trumping significant rival Shopify.
Version Adoption: Over 86% of WP websites are running version 6, which means there’s widespread adoption of the latest features and enhancements.
Language Support: The CMS supports over 200 languages, with English taking the lead with 71% usage.
These are just some figures that tell you about the dominance of WordPress as a CMS. And it seems that with passing years, the WordPress ecosystem is only growing.
But let’s take a look at the highlights of 2024, the good, the bad, the unexpected, and what to possibly expect in the year to follow.
WordPress vs WP Engine Drama – The Unexpected Highlight of 2024
Before we move on with the exciting updates and major happenings, it is important to highlight the biggest event surrounding the WordPress community in 2024; the WordPress drama.
On 20th September 2024, Matt Mullenweg criticized WP Engine pointing that despite being a huge corporation, it wasn’t doing enough to contribute to the open-source community. WP Engine, in contrast, denied this claim stating that they have been contributing as much as any other company would.
Things escalated quickly to Cease and Desist Letters from both companies, and now there is a litigation battle going on in the US courts.
What exactly is open-source contribution and why does it even matter?
Even though WordPress provides its CMS platform for free, it doesn’t happen out of thin air.
The entire premise behind an open-source platform is for a loyal global community to contribute to it. Since the code is publicly accessible, anyone can use, modify and distribute it. This is what the hosting companies do when they provide shared or managed WP hosting services.
To operate a healthy ecosystem, there is a sustained level of contribution to it, by:
- Writing new codes, testing and fixing bugs.
- Helping other users to get the most out of the platform in forums, blogs and on social media.
- Developing educational material such as API docs.
The reason why WordPress is an immensely successful platform is the tireless global contribution of volunteers every single day. It is no wonder to see WordPress evolving from a simple blog to a versatile platform powering 43% of the web.
This criticism by Matt on WP Engine centered on whether their level of contribution was proportional to their commercial success derived from WordPress.
So what is next?
The WordPress community has had its mixed share of responses. Some are siding with WP, whereas others believe that WP Engine was doing their job.
Comment by user reddit user u/deadweights who thinks Matt Mullenweg is doing the right thing.
Comment by Reddit user u/screendrain who thinks it’s unfair to WP Engine.
So while the opinions are polarizing, in the grand scheme of things, none of this is impacting our clients. In fact, most of the small and medium businesses relying on WordPress hardly know or are impacted by this controversy.
Companies would often engage in legal battles due to trademark and branding disputes. And in this case, it doesn’t spell the end of WordPress. This is a dispute between two companies, and as long as you are currently not using WP Engine, there isn’t anything you need to be concerned about.
Even though the judge ruled that WordPress parent company must stop blocking WP Engine, we believe there’s still a long way to go before the dust settles on this entire WordPress drama.
Now, let’s continue with all the other major updates from the world of WordPress in 2024:
Major WordPress Releases and Updates
In 2024, similar to what WordPress does every year, there were major updates to the WP open-source platform. These updates are critical for over 488 million websites to ensure they remain functional with no hiccups.
WordPress kicked off 2024 with a trio of game-changing updates, each introducing enhancements that beefed up the platform’s content management capabilities.
But beyond just adding new features, these updates were vital for maintaining the platform’s security, compatibility and performance. Every update came with patches for addressing critical vulnerabilities and making major performance updates.
The platform also has a tradition of naming each major update after a Jazz musician, which sets it apart from other open-source platforms. Naming releases after artists gives each update a distinct identity making it more engaging than simply using numerical version numbers.
Here are the 2024 updates:
WordPress 6.5 “Regina” (April 2)
Released on 12th April, Regina focused on improving accessibility. It also added ARIA landmark support, making it a step forward for inclusivity.
It refined site-building experience, providing you with greater control on your website with the ability to add and manage fonts in the new Font Library without coding.
Key improvements also included extensive revision tracking and significant updates to the Site Editor, all while boosting overall site performance for a faster and more efficient workflow.
WordPress 6.6 “Dorsey” (July 16)
Dorsey was released on 16th July, introducing asynchronous block saving and significantly speeding up content workflows.
A crucial feature was automatic plugin updates, including a rollback feature. This meant that in any unlikely event of the updates causing errors, you can now safely rollback the website to its last known working condition.
This provided a safety net for developers and site owners, making maintenance headaches a thing of the past.
Another highlight was the 58 website accessibility fixes and enhancements in accordance with the WCAG guidelines improving the overall user experience (UI) of your website.
WordPress 6.7 “Rollins” (November 12)
WordPress is known for releasing a brand new theme every year, named after that year.
Similarly, alongside Rollins update on 12th November, the CMS also released the sleek Twenty Twenty-Five Theme (2025), which emphasized design flexibility and cutting-edge typography. It also included 16 bug fixes throughout the Core and Block editor.
Building upon 6.6, the release focused on stabilizing and optimizing the Site Editor, enhancing performance, and addressing bugs.
The main highlight around the Site Editor was the “Zoom-Out” feature, which enabled site owners to literally zoom out and view every section to get a better understanding of content blocks.
WordPress 6.7 also came with faster load times, optimized previews in the data views component, better PHP 8+ support and efficient tag processing in the HTML API.
In addition to this, the update further addressed 65+ accessibility fixes and enhancements including a refined user interface and better keyboard navigation in the Editor.
WordCamp Highlights
Each year, thousands of developers, designers, editors and enthusiasts come together under one roof as part of the ecosystem.
These are organized by the local community put together by users like you. Everyone gets a chance to contribute to the open-source world of innovation.
WordCamps have long been a cornerstone of the WordPress community for learning, networking, and collaboration.
From hosting the first WordCamp back in August 2006 in San Francisco by Matt, WordCamps have now transformed into defining the very definition of giving back to the community by encouraging open source contributions.
With a total of 78 events held in 2024, here are the ones that stole the limelight:
- WordCamp Asia 2024: March 7–9, 2024 at the Taipei International Convention Center in Taipei, Taiwan.
- WordCamp Europe 2024: June 13–15, 2024 in Torino, Italy.
- WordCamp US 2024: September 17–20, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. The spiciest one yet where Matt’s comments triggered the whole WP Engine drama.
Acquisitions Shaping the WP Ecosystem
2024 saw an unprecedented wave of acquisitions that reshaped the WordPress landscape. Automattic, the company behind the open-source solution, also gained a strong foothold by acquiring new companies.
But acquisitions are much more than just buying out another company. Every company specialises in a specific set of services, such as themes, plugins, hosting solutions and more. Every acquisition brings a diverse pool of talent to work on solving problems and eventually creating something even bigger for the WP ecosystem.
Here are the highlights for 2024:
Automattic acquired WPAI (December 10)
For an undisclosed sum, Automattic acquired WPAI, a startup that offers AI solutions for WordPress, just before the year end.
These include CodeWP, which uses AI to develop WP Plugins; AgentWP, an AI assistant; and WP Chat, a chatbot for WordPress-related questions.
Automattic’s acquisition of WPAI also meant that the year 2025 will bring exciting updates in terms of integrating AI into the WP platform. We see it as a major milestone as AI keeps on getting a bigger role in website development.
Awesome Motive acquired BuddyBoss (July 9)
Awesome Motive announced acquisition of BuddyBoss, one of the leading community-building platforms on WordPress.
Pst, we also did a BuddyBoss Review here that you can read to find out its amazing features.
WP Engine acquired Nitropack (July 18)
WP Engine acquired Nitropack, a SaaS solution for improving site speed, Google’s core web vitals, and performance metrics among other things.
CaseProof acquired AccessAlly (April 30)
Caseproof acquired AccessAlly on 30th July, expanding its learning management and membership platforms-based services.
Notable Security Incidents and Swift Patch Updates:
While every major WP release comes with security fixes and patches, the open-source contributors also play a vital role in keeping the platforms safe and secure.
Many cybersecurity incidents and data breaches were noticed by independent contributors that highlighted them on different forums and encouraged plugin and theme developers to come up with fixes.
The following were the most notable ones that took place in 2024:
Hunk Plugin Security Breach (December 12)
There’s a reason why we always say to keep your themes, WordPress CMS and all the plugins updated. Just recently this month, the Hunk Companion plugin got compromised and malicious actors took advantage of this situation.
Affecting more than 10,000 websites, malicious actors were able to get backdoor access to vulnerable websites. Tracked as CVE‑2024‑9707, the bug allowed “unauthenticated attackers to install and activate plugins and execute remote code execution”, a NIST advisory stated.
Version 1.8.5 came with the security patch, but later reports found out that even the 1.8.7 version was vulnerable.
On December 10, Hunk Companion rolled out a new patch with the latest 1.9.0 version update. Thankfully, no major compromises were reported.
Really Simple SSL Security Vulnerability (November 06)
WordFence stated that more than 4,000,000 websites using the Really Simply Security SSL plugin got affected by a critical authentication bypass.
Really Simple SSL is a plugin that installs and activates SSL on WordPress websites. The critical vulnerability allowed fully remote access to the websites, completely locking out the site owners.
As a security provider for WordPress, this discovery was by far one of the most serious vulnerabilities that WordFence reported in more than its 12 years of history.
The Really Simple Plugins released patches for the Pro plugins on November 12, 2024, and for the Free plugin on November 14, 2024, which effectively meant that the vulnerability was addressed within 8 days of discovery.
WPML Remote Code Execution Threat (August 26):
WPML is a popular WordPress plugin with more than 1,000,000 active installations, which allows users to translate their websites into multiple languages.
WordFence stepped in to protect 1 million sites from potential exploitation after one of its contributors reported Remote Code Execution via Twig Server-Side Template Injection vulnerability in WPML.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-6386, impacted all versions of the plugin before 4.6.13. OnTheGoSystems, the team behind WPML, released 4.6.13 with a patch to address the critical vulnerability.
New Launches in the WordPress Ecosystem
If you thought this was it, hang on, there’s a LOT more exciting things happening as we speak. The year 2024 was marked as full of important launches and here are a few of them:
Rapyd Cloud – Jan, 2024
Yes, Rapyd Cloud will turn 1 in early 2025!
Back in January 2024 cofounders Tom Cheddadi and Michael Eisenwasser along with Wes Tatters launched Rapyd Cloud which was born out of a necessity rather than a business idea.
Why? Because BuddyBoss users were constantly complaining about how their hosting platforms couldn’t handle the robust nature of websites, and so they needed a better solution.
And so Rapyd Cloud was a custom made WordPress hosting solution for website owners with dynamic needs.
With 500+ satisfied users now, Rapyd Cloud is fast becoming the go-to solution for users with high demand WordPress websites. With Rapyd Cloud, your websites get a hyperspeed hosting environment, are incredibly secure, and you get 24/7 expert support that goes out of their way to help you.
Give it a try for free and see for yourself why it’s such an incredible solution.
MonsterInsights launched Conversation AI – July, 2024
Reimagining the concept of website analytics and data, MonsterInsights launched a new AI tool on 29th July, 2024, which allowed users to type and ask anything about their website analytics and the tool will share those specific details.
This means that in 2025, there will be more updates on how people can interact naturally with website management tools to understand site analytics in an even easier way.
WooCommerce Updates: Empowering E-commerce
Just like WordPress, WooCommerce also is an essential cornerstone of the open-source contribution. It enables anyone with even limited technical skills to build and run a successful online store. Let’s see what was in the store for us in 2024.
WooCommerce rolled out the premium Brands feature to all of its users on 21st October.
Similar to Categories, website owners can assign brands to stores using the Brand feature by creating as many dedicated brand pages as you like with no additional charges.
In December, WooCommerce also rolled out a much-awaited feature, named COGS, or Cost of Goods Sold function. Without the need of additional plugins, you can now calculate the exact profit margins and make data-driven decisions.
These two features enhanced the e-commerce functionalities of WooCommerce store owners to provide a rich online shopping experience.
Looking Ahead – What to Expect in 2025?
With all the exciting updates in 2024, the future is bright for WordPress enthusiasts. Here are key milestones that you need to keep an eye on:
- WordPress 6.8 – Beta 1 on March 4: Stable release on April 15
- WordPress 6.8 (April 15): Promises enhanced speed and block editor improvements.
- WordPress 6.9: Beta 1 on June 24, stable release on August 5
- WordPress 6.9 (August 5): Expected to introduce groundbreaking e-commerce features.
- WordPress 7.0: Beta 1 on September 30, stable release on November 11
- WordPress 7.0 (November 11): A milestone release to redefine the platform’s capabilities.
- WordCamp Asia 2025: February 20-22
- WordCamp Europe 2025: Basel, Switzerland, 5 – 7 June
- WordCamp US 2025: August 26th – 29th
- Back in Stock Notifications & Shipment Tracking to release in WooCommerce
Here’s to 2025
As we approach 2025 in the coming days, the WP landscape promises to bring even continued evolution built on the 2024 updates.
We will witness better and more refined digital experiences through the integration of AI and bringing automation features related to content creation, website management and UX personalization.
This means that you would be able to generate content based on current trends through the development and integration of new AI-powered plugins.
As we move into 2025, headless WordPress will gain traction due to its ability to unlink front end and back end user interface, allowing for customized website development.
The potential is enormous and the possibilities are endless.
Here’s to a successful 2025!
