Is WordPress still worth it in 2026? The honest pros and cons

“Why don’t you use WordPress?”

A client asked me this last week. She’d been doing her research before getting in touch – reading articles, asking friends – and WordPress kept coming up as the go-to option. Everyone seemed to recommend it. So why wasn’t I?

It’s a fair question. And honestly, the answer isn’t “WordPress is bad.” It’s more nuanced than that.

The WordPress paradox

Here’s the thing about WordPress in 2026: it powers about 43% of all websites. That’s an astonishing number. It’s been the dominant platform for over a decade, and there’s a reason for that.

But that dominance has also created some problems.

Because WordPress is so popular, it’s become the number one target for hackers. It’s not that WordPress itself is insecure – it’s that if you’re a hacker and you find one vulnerability, you’ve potentially got access to nearly half the websites on the internet. The return on investment is obvious.

This means WordPress sites require constant vigilance. Updates every week. Security plugins. Monitoring. It’s not difficult work, but it is ongoing work. And if you forget – or if a plugin you’re using hasn’t been updated – you’re at risk.

When WordPress still makes sense

I’m not here to bash WordPress. For certain situations, it’s genuinely the right choice:

You want to manage everything yourself. WordPress’s admin panel is familiar to millions of people. If you’ve used it before, or if you have staff who have, there’s almost no learning curve. You can update content, add pages, write blog posts – all without touching any code.

You need something very specific that a plugin already does. There are over 60,000 plugins for WordPress. Whatever weird, niche functionality you need, someone’s probably built it.

You’re on an extremely tight budget and have time to learn. WordPress itself is free. Hosting can be cheap. If you’re willing to put in the hours to learn the system and maintain it yourself, you can get a functional website for very little money upfront.

The problems nobody talks about

Here’s what those “WordPress is great!” articles don’t mention:

Plugin bloat is real. Most WordPress sites I’ve inherited have 20-30 plugins installed. Each one adds weight. Each one is a potential security risk. Each one needs updating.

Speed requires effort. Out of the box, WordPress is not fast. Getting good performance means caching plugins, image optimisation, potentially a CDN, database optimisation… It’s all solvable, but it’s work. Modern alternatives are fast by default.

The “full site editing” transition is messy. WordPress has been moving toward block-based editing (Gutenberg) for years now. It’s still not quite there.

What I use instead (and why)

For most of the sites I build now, I use modern tools that didn’t exist – or weren’t mature enough – even a few years ago.

Headless CMS platforms like Prepr.io and Keystatic. These separate where you manage content from how it’s displayed. The editing experience is clean and focused.

Static site generators and modern frameworks. Sites built this way don’t need a database running every time someone visits. They’re just files served directly. Faster, more secure, cheaper to host.

So… is WordPress worth it in 2026?

It depends on your specific situation. WordPress makes sense if you need the plugin ecosystem or already know the system well. Modern alternatives make sense if speed, security, and low maintenance are priorities.

For most small businesses I work with – the ones who just want a professional site that works, brings in enquiries, and doesn’t need babysitting – the modern approach wins.

If you’re weighing up whether to go with WordPress or something more modern for your business site, I’m happy to talk through the options. Sometimes WordPress genuinely is the right call. Sometimes it’s not. The only way to know is to look at your specific situation. Get in touch and we’ll figure it out together.