WordPress core version currency by site popularity tier (Sept 2026)
| Tier | Newest 3 releases | 3+ releases behind | 2+ major versions behind | CWV pass, current | Sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10K | 78.2% | 21.8% | 3.4% | 71.6% | 326 |
| Top 100K | 82.4% | 17.6% | 3.8% | 59.2% | 3,630 |
| Top 1M | 81.2% | 18.8% | 4.2% | 44.9% | 56,586 |
| All top 1M | 81.3% | 18.7% | 4.1% | 46.0% | 60,542 |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, HTTP Archive and CrUX, Sept 2026. Homepages exposing a WordPress version; tiers are exclusive.
Summary
WordPress ships a new major release a few times a year, and each one brings security fixes, editor changes and performance work. Staying current is the first line of any WordPress maintenance plan. So how many popular WordPress sites actually do?
We checked the WordPress version on every top 1M homepage that exposes one. Of 60,542 such homepages, 81.3% run one of the three newest releases, 7.1, 7.0 or 6.9. The other 18.7%, or 11,344 sites, are three or more releases behind, and 2,500 of them are still on WordPress 5.x or earlier.
What we measured
We looked at the September 2026 HTTP Archive crawl of the top 1M sites by Chrome traffic, mobile homepages only. For each WordPress homepage we read the version it exposes and ranked it against the newest release seen on at least 30 sites.
Many sites hide their version, so they are left out of the version counts. Speed figures come from Chrome UX Report (CrUX) field data, at the 75th percentile, for the homepages that have it.
Most sites run a recent release
81.3% of the 60,542 version-exposing WordPress homepages run 7.1, 7.0 or 6.9. The newest release, 7.1, alone runs on 56.6% of them (34,242 sites). 7.0 has 15.9% (9,620) and 6.9 has 8.8% (5,336).
Behind that sits a long tail. 6.8 still runs on 5.9% of sites (3,592) and 6.7 on 2.4%, and everything older adds up to 10.4%. In total, 18.7% of version-exposing homepages are three or more releases behind, and 4.1% are two or more major versions behind, still on 5.x or earlier.
By default, automatic updates keep sites patched within their release line, but they do not move a site to a new major version. Sites in the long tail are likely ones nobody is actively updating.
18.7%
Share of top 1M WordPress homepages exposing a version that run a release three or more versions behind the newest.
Half of WordPress sites hide their version
Only 53.2% of the 113,804 top 1M WordPress homepages expose a version at all. Hiding the version is a common hardening step, often done by a security or optimization plugin, and the share is similar across popularity tiers: 51.2% of 637 top 10K WordPress sites, 50.8% of 7,139 top 100K sites and 53.4% of 106,028 sites in the rest of the top 1M.
That means every figure in this study describes the sites that show their version. We cannot tell how current the hidden sites are, so the results should not be read as a share of all WordPress sites. This count looks for the version in more places than the generator meta tag, so it runs slightly higher than the count in our WordPress version exposure study.
Popular sites and stores update a bit more
Top 100K sites are slightly more current: 82.4% of 3,630 version-exposing homepages run one of the three newest releases. The top 10K group is smaller and a little behind, at 78.2% of 326 homepages, and the rest of the top 1M sits at 81.2% of 56,586.
WordPress stores are more up to date on core than other WordPress sites. 85.8% of 13,225 version-exposing WooCommerce homepages run 7.1, 7.0 or 6.9, against 80.0% of 47,317 WordPress homepages without a store. A site that takes payments likely has more reason to keep someone responsible for updates.
Being current does not make a site fast
Updating WordPress core is necessary maintenance, but it is not a speed fix on its own. 46.0% of 43,469 current-release homepages with CrUX data pass Core Web Vitals, against 44.9% of 9,750 older-release homepages. A gap of about one point is too small to credit to the version.
The pass rate tracks popularity far more than version. Among current-release homepages, 71.6% of top 10K sites pass, 59.2% of top 100K sites and 44.9% of the rest of the top 1M. Speed on WordPress usually depends more on theme, plugins, hosting and images, which core updates do not change.
What this means for your site
Check which version you run under Dashboard > Updates. If you are three or more releases behind, schedule the update: back up first, test on a staging copy, update plugins and your theme, then update core. Sites still on 5.x need extra care, because older themes and plugins may not support current PHP and WordPress versions.
Treat updates as a routine rather than a project. A monthly maintenance window that covers core, plugins, themes and a quick visual check keeps a site in the 81.3% instead of the long tail, and leaves time to look at the speed work that updates alone do not cover.
Sources
- WordPress.org release archive: https://wordpress.org/download/releases/
- HTTP Archive crawl of the top 1M sites, September 2026, mobile homepages
- Chrome UX Report (CrUX) documentation, Google: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/crux
Embed this research
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/wordpress-version-statistics">WordPress Version Statistics 2026: 18.7% Run Old Releases - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of WordPress sites are out of date?
Of 60,542 top 1M WordPress homepages that expose a version, 18.7% (11,344) run a release three or more versions behind the newest, and 4.1% are still on WordPress 5.x or earlier. 81.3% run 7.1, 7.0 or 6.9.
What is the most used WordPress version in 2026?
WordPress 7.1, the newest release, runs on 56.6% of version-exposing top 1M WordPress homepages. 7.0 has 15.9%, 6.9 has 8.8% and 6.8 has 5.9%.
Does updating WordPress make a site faster?
Not by itself. 46.0% of current-release WordPress homepages pass Core Web Vitals against 44.9% of older-release homepages. Theme, plugins, hosting and images usually matter more for speed than the core version.
Regular core, plugin and theme updates, tested on staging first, keep a site current without surprise breakages. Need help with this? See our WordPress support services.