Yes, WordPress is still worth it in 2026 for some businesses, but it’s no longer the automatic choice for a small business website. It’s the right tool if you need a lot of content, specific plugins, or full control. For a simple site that just needs to bring in enquiries, it’s often more upkeep than it’s worth.
It’s still hugely popular. According to W3Techs, WordPress runs around four in ten of all websites. But its share has started to slip, and the reasons are worth knowing before you choose it.
What WordPress is still good at
- Blogs and content-heavy sites. If you’ll publish often, WordPress’s editor and categories are built for it.
- Plugins for almost anything. Bookings, memberships, courses, shops, forms. If it exists, someone’s made a plugin.
- You own it. WordPress itself is free and open source. You can move your site to any host, and nobody can switch it off.
- Lots of people know it. If your designer disappears, finding someone else to work on it is easy.
Where it causes problems
Updates never stop
WordPress, your theme and every plugin need regular updates. Skip them and the site becomes a security risk. Run them and, now and again, something breaks. Either you do this every month, or you pay someone to.
Security
Because it’s so popular, WordPress is the most targeted system on the web. Most hacked WordPress sites are hacked through an out-of-date plugin or a weak password, not WordPress itself. It’s manageable, but it needs managing.
Speed
A plain WordPress site can be fast. A typical one, with a heavy theme and twenty plugins, often isn’t. See how to speed up your website for why.
It’s easy to build badly
Anyone can install WordPress and a theme in an afternoon. That’s a strength, but it also means a lot of small business WordPress sites are slow, bloated and hard to change.
The alternatives
| Option | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Content-heavy sites, specific plugins, full control | Updates, security and speed need ongoing care |
| Wix or Squarespace | Doing it yourself, quickly | Monthly fees, and you can’t move the site to another host |
| Custom-built site | Fast, simple sites that rarely change structure | Changes usually go through your developer |
| Shopify | Online shops | Monthly fees and app costs add up |
If you’re weighing up the two most common choices, I’ve compared them in Wix or WordPress?
So should you use it?
WordPress makes sense if:
- You’ll publish articles or news regularly
- You need a particular plugin, like a membership area
- You want to manage the site yourself and don’t mind updates
- You have, or will pay for, someone to maintain it
It’s probably not worth it if:
- Your site is five pages that rarely change
- You don’t want to think about updates or security
- Speed on phones matters to you more than features
The best platform is the one that does what you need with the least upkeep.
Already on WordPress?
You don’t need to move just because it’s WordPress. Keep it updated, remove plugins you don’t use, keep regular backups, and check its speed. If it’s slow, hard to change or keeps breaking, that’s the time to consider rebuilding. If it keeps breaking or has been hacked, that’s what website rescue is for, and if you’d like WordPress done properly, here’s how I build WordPress sites.
Not sure how your current site is doing? The free website check tests its speed and phone performance with Google’s own tools, whatever it’s built on.
