I Read the “Official” WordPress in 2025 Report

You may need seen a brand new report printed on the official web site of the WordPress venture – here. I’m emphasizing the phrase “official” as a result of the publication location is sort of strategic, however let’s not get forward of ourselves right here.

Lengthy story quick, whereas the report is filled with some legitimately fascinating CMS trade information, let’s be actual: it’s principally only a piece of enterprise PR designed to get big-company execs comfy dropping seven figures on WordPress tasks. 🤑

The report comes from Human Made, an enterprise WordPress company, and so they assume (…checks notes…) that WordPress is fairly nice! Okay, hardly a shock. (Don’t get me fallacious, although, I additionally assume WordPress is nice – maybe with a bit totally different motives.)

However earlier than we get too snarky, there’s some fascinating information and traits price unpacking right here:

Present me the (CMS) cash!

The CMS sector funding information tells a wild story, in response to Human Made. I didn’t lookup the onerous numbers myself, however from what I can see within the chart:

• 2020: <$100M (pre-hype)
• 2021: $1.5B (peak hype)
• 2022: ~$300M (actuality verify)
• 2023: subsequent to nothing
• 2024: ~$300M

What’s the story right here? This funding rollercoaster completely captures the “headless CMS gold rush” of 2021. VCs appeared to be throwing cash at anybody promising to revolutionize content material administration with a “trendy, API-first strategy.”

Quick ahead to 2024, and that narrative has aged about in addition to your organization’s metaverse technique. The report (kinda gleefully) factors out that many of those next-gen platforms at the moment are scrambling so as to add fundamental content material modifying options that WordPress has had for years.

The AI angle (due to course)

No enterprise report in 2025 can be full with out AI predictions, and this one doesn’t disappoint.

The report envisions WordPress turning into an “clever content material working system” with “multi-agent and LLM-agnostic ecosystem” – direct quotes. If that feels like AI buzzword bingo, nicely…

However right here’s the place it will get fascinating: Whereas proprietary CMS distributors are speeding so as to add ChatGPT-style options, the report argues that WordPress’ open-source nature may allow deeper AI integration. Suppose much less “AI writes your weblog posts” and extra “AI orchestrates your total content material workflow.”

That is traditional enterprise positioning – taking WordPress’ slower, community-driven improvement strategy and spinning it as a function, not a bug. The platform’s “legacy” popularity – lengthy thought of a weak spot – can also be being reframed as battle-tested reliability.

The good headless #drama

Maybe the spiciest a part of the report – and I form of prefer it, I’ve to confess – is its takedown of headless CMS corporations.

“Pure headless strategy merely by no means took off for big advanced websites.”

Plus there have been factors about Contentful’s lowered advert spend and adverse Glassdoor critiques (savage).

And, my favourite, claims headless distributors are “working backwards” so as to add options WordPress already has.

The report’s answer? Shock! A “hybrid strategy” that WordPress simply occurs to be good at. I really feel that this doc criticizes rivals too closely whereas presenting WordPress as the answer to all the pieces all all through.

The report name-drops some spectacular current WordPress adoptions. You’ve most likely seen a few of them earlier than: NASA, Disney, CNN, The New York Put up, Harvard, Amnesty Worldwide.

After all, there’s no realizing how far on the spectrum of “vanilla WordPress → 100% customized construct with WordPress simply offering the core options” these websites are. Plus, the doc claims broad enterprise adoption however solely lists these handful of high-profile examples.

The massive image

Whereas conventional WordPress customers and devs may roll their eyes at one other “enterprise WordPress” pitch, this report wasn’t written for them.

It’s aimed squarely at:

• C-suite execs who want reassurance about WordPress
• IT administrators frightened about their subsequent platform selection
• Digital transformation leaders seeking to lower prices

The doc even ends with the creator’s contact data and a pitch for his or her providers.

So why am I even telling you about it?

Looping again to the beginning, I’m writing about this report primarily as a result of it was printed on the official web site of the WordPress venture. I used to be shocked to see such closely commercialized content material and gross sales pitches inside. This needs to be labeled as an advert or some type of “accomplice content material.”

Right here’s my greatest head-scratcher: 🤔

For a report titled “WordPress in 2025” printed on WordPress’ official web site, it’s surprisingly selective about what “WordPress” means.

You gained’t discover any point out of:

• The state of the WordPress group
• The way forward for WordCamps and occasions
• THE ongoing lawsuit trademark dispute
• The considerably murky scenario round who truly controls wordpress.org – I imply, we all know, however to what extent?
• The broader venture governance points – with this, even a easy, “Hey guys, we truly obtained this beneath management behind the curtains” would have been sufficient – for me at the very least.

So why the omissions?

Effectively, easy…

Enterprise prospects don’t like controversy or uncertainty. It’s a lot simpler to promote WordPress as a cutting-edge enterprise answer if you focus solely on “what’s going nicely” whereas ignoring the generally messy actuality of a large open-source venture.

This could have been titled “WordPress within the Enterprise Sector in 2025” and printed on Human Made’s personal web site. That may have been completely effective. Everyone knows enterprise advertising once we see it. However positioning it as a complete take a look at “WordPress in 2025” feels a bit like calling your organization’s vacation get together the “State of the Universe.”

I suppose I actually have a takeaway lesson right here – though I haven’t deliberate for it:

When studying trade experiences, at all times ask your self what’s not being stated. Typically the omissions inform a extra fascinating story than what made it onto the web page.

Issues to look at for

Let’s see if Human Made can want these into existence:

• Will enterprise WordPress adoption truly speed up in 2025?
• Can the open-source group ship on these AI ecosystem guarantees?
• Will proprietary CMS distributors simply roll over and never reply?

Whereas it’s simple (and enjoyable) to be skeptical of the enterprise PR angle, the report does spotlight some actual traits within the CMS house. Open-source platforms look like gaining floor as corporations tighten their belts. Plus, WordPress’ large ecosystem and new options make it a extra credible enterprise participant than ever (I suppose).

Simply possibly don’t wager your profession on these “100x AI play” predictions fairly but. 🤷‍♂️

What do you assume?

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