70% of websites are built with PHP – Fact Check

PHP is used by 70.2% of websites with a known server-side language (W3Techs, 3 September 2026).

How many websites are using PHP

Part of the reason PHP remains so popular is because of WordPress itself. This content management system (CMS) powers 40% of all the websites on the internet, which makes up a significant part of that 79.2% of sites that use PHP.

Yes, even though PHP’s popularity is shrinking among developers, it still holds the top position among server-side languages. As of early 2025, W3Techs reports that PHP powers 74.5% of all websites with a known server-side programming language.

Each year, we conduct an anonymous survey of self-identified PHP developers and administrators, seeking to track the current and future state of PHP usage throughout the ecosystem. This year, by joining forces with the 2026 State of Open Source Report, we were able to access information about where and how PHP fits into the overall open source ecosystem.

PHP powers more than 75% of websites with a known server-side language, making it the most widely deployed backend technology on the public web in 2026. PHP remains popular because it powers major CMS and eCommerce platforms, offers low hosting ...

PHP runs over 33 million live websites, including some of the most trafficked sites on the planet. WordPress alone accounts for 43% of all websites, and every single one runs on PHP.

I had a quick look at the methodology section, but it’s not clear to me how accurate this data is. Determining whether a site uses PHP can be relatively straightforward (especially with default extensions / if Wordpress is used / etc), but if a site (potentially using a different language) ...

The data shows the claim never matched actual usage numbers. PHP is not dead. It is used by 70.6% of the web’s known server side language share. WordPress alone accounts for over 43% of all websites and 62.1% of PHP sites already run PHP 8.x.