You may have noticed a new report published on the official WordPress project website – here. I emphasize the word “official” because the place of publication is quite strategic, but let’s not go too far.
Long story short, while the report is full of legitimately interesting information about the CMS industry, let’s be real: it’s mostly just a piece of corporate PR designed to make large business executives feel comfortable losing seven figures on WordPress projects. 🤑
The report comes from Human Made, an enterprise WordPress agency, and they think (…check notes…) that WordPress is pretty awesome! Okay, that’s not really a surprise. (Don’t get me wrong, though, I also think WordPress is awesome – perhaps with slightly different motivations.)
But before you get too sarcastic, there are some interesting data and trends worth analyzing here:
Show Me the Money (CMS)!
THE Financing the CMS sector the data tells a wild story, according to Human Made. I haven’t looked up the numbers myself, but from what I can see in the graph:
- 2020: <$100 million (pre-hype)
- 2021: $1.5 billion (peak hype)
- 2022: ~$300M (reality check)
- 2023: almost nothing
- 2024: ~$300 million
What is the story here? This funding rollercoaster perfectly captures the “headless CMS gold rush” of 2021. Venture capitalists seemed to throw money at anyone who promised to revolutionize content management with a “modern, API-first approach.”
Fast forward to 2024, and this narrative has aged along with your company’s metaverse strategy. The report points out (somewhat gleefully) that many of these next-generation platforms are now scrambling to add the core content editing features that WordPress has had for years.
The AI angle (because of course)
No business report in 2025 would be complete without AI forecasting, and this one does not disappoint.
The report envisions WordPress becoming a “intelligent content operating system” with “multi-agent ecosystem independent of LLM” – direct quotes. If this sounds like trendy AI bingo, well…
But here’s where it gets interesting: As proprietary CMS vendors rush to add ChatGPT-style features, the report claims that the open source nature of WordPress could allow for deeper AI integration. Think less “AI writes your blog posts” and more “AI orchestrates your entire content workflow.”
This is classic business positioning: take WordPress’ slower, community-driven development approach and turn it into a feature, not a bug. The platform’s “legacy” reputation – long considered a weakness – is also being reframed in terms of proven reliability.
The great headless #drama
Perhaps the most interesting part of the report – and I like it, I have to admit – is the removal of headless CMS companies.
“The pure headless approach simply never took off for large, complex sites. »
Additionally, there were points about Contentful’s ad spend reduction and Glassdoor’s negative (wild) reviews.
And, my favorite, claims that headless providers “work backwards” to add features that WordPress already has.
The solution to the report? Surprise! A “hybrid approach” for which WordPress is precisely gifted. I think this document is too harshly critical of competitors while presenting WordPress as the solution to everything.
The report highlights some impressive recent adoptions of WordPress. You’ve probably seen a few of them: NASA, Disney, CNN, The New York Post, Harvard, Amnesty International.
Of course, we don’t know how far the spectrum of “Vanilla WordPress → 100% custom build with WordPress providing just the basic functionality” these sites are. Additionally, the document claims wide adoption by businesses, but only lists these few high-profile examples.
The big picture
While traditional WordPress users and developers might roll their eyes at yet another “enterprise WordPress” pitch, this report wasn’t written for them.
It is directly aimed at:
- C-suite executives who need reassurance on WordPress
- CIOs worry about their next platform choice
- Digital transformation leaders seek to reduce costs
The document even ends with the author’s contact details and an argument for his services.
So why am I telling you about this?
Coming back to the beginning, I am writing about this report mainly because it was published on the official website of the WordPress project. I was surprised to see such heavily marketed content and sales pitches inside. This must be labeled as an advertisement or a form of “partner content”.
Here is my biggest headache: 🤔
For a report titled “WordPress in 2025” published on the official WordPress website, it is surprisingly selective about what “WordPress” means.
You will not find any mention of:
- The State of the WordPress Community
- The future of WordCamps and events
- THE in progress
trialtrademark dispute - The somewhat murky situation as to who actually controls wordpress.org – I mean, we know, but to what extent?
- The broader questions of project governance – with this, even a simple one, “Hey guys, we’ve got the situation behind the curtains under control” that would have been enough – for me at least.
So why these omissions?
Well, it’s simple…
Enterprise customers don’t like controversial or uncertainty. It’s much easier to sell WordPress as a cutting-edge enterprise solution when you only focus on “what’s good” while ignoring the sometimes complicated reality of a massive open source project.
This should have been titled “WordPress in the Business Sector in 2025” and published on the Human Made website. That would have been perfectly fine. We all know business marketing when we see it. But positioning it as a comprehensive overview of “WordPress in 2025” is a bit like calling your company’s Christmas party “the state of the universe.”
I guess I even have a takeaway lesson here – even if I didn’t plan it:
When reading industry reports, always ask yourself what is not being said. Sometimes omissions tell a more interesting story than what appeared on the page.
Things to watch out for
Let’s see if Human Made can wish for these elements to exist:
- Will business adoption of WordPress really accelerate in 2025?
- Can the open source community deliver on the promises of the AI ecosystem?
- Will proprietary CMS providers just turn around and not respond?
While it’s easy (and fun) to be skeptical of the corporate PR angle, the report highlights some real trends in the CMS space. Open source platforms appear to be gaining ground as companies tighten their belts. Plus, WordPress’ massive ecosystem and new features make it a more credible enterprise player than ever (I guess).
Maybe you don’t bet your career on these “100x AI play” predictions just yet. 🤷♂️
What do you think?
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