Some useless facts that might help you to create an unbelievable “Did you know?” fact about WordPress such as:
The
readme.txtfor the original release of WordPress contained one word – Holder.Herb Miller – December 2020
At 1,979,581 bytes, the
components.jsfile is three times larger than the whole of the first version of WordPress.Herb Miller – December 2020
Figures from Dec 2020
Plugins and Gutenberg blocks
- There are approximately 58,000 plugins. https://wordpress.org/plugins/
- Over 500 curated plugins provide Gutenberg blocks or extend blocks. https://wordpress.org/plugins/browse/blocks/
- There are just over 8,000 themes. Almost half of them are considered to be Popular. https://wordpress.org/themes/
Some other miscellany
- WordPress has been around for over 17 years.
- It is now over 80 times larger than the first version. ( 51 MB vs 0.6 MB ).
- 40% of the delivered code is in JavaScript
.jsfiles. - There are quite a few
.jsfiles that are individually larger than the whole of the first version of WordPress. - The images for the new default theme Twenty Twenty-One total 2 MB.
- WordPress 5.6 has been downloaded over 6 million times. https://wordpress.org/download/counter
- The Classic editor plugins is installed on 5 million sites. https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/
Over 300K sites are using Gutenberg; nearly half of them on the latest v9.5.2. https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/advanced/ - In My Honest Opinion: Themes should not deliver blocks.
Top 19 or so WordPress plugins
All these plugins have been downloaded over 30 million times.
| Plugin name and description | Plugin links | Version, total downloads, last update, tested |
|---|---|---|
| =’wordpress-seo | No info available | |
| Jetpack – WP Security, Backup, Speed, & Growth Improve your WP security with powerful one-click tools like backup, WAF, and malware scan. Includes free tools like stats, CDN and social sharing. |
jetpack home |
16.3.1 514,278,011 October 12, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security Firewall, Malware Scanner, Two Factor Auth, and Comprehensive Security Features, powered by our 24-hour team. Make security a priority with Wordfence. |
wordfence home |
9.0.2 431,376,021 September 30, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection The best anti-spam protection to block spam comments and spam in a contact form. The most trusted antispam solution for WordPress and WooCommerce. |
akismet home |
5.7.2 407,607,784 August 18, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Contact Form 7 Just another contact form plugin. Simple but flexible. |
contact-form-7 home |
6.2.2 428,271,514 October 11, 2026 7.1.3 |
| WooCommerce Everything you need to launch an online store in days and keep it growing for years. From your first sale to millions in revenue, Woo is with you. |
woocommerce home |
11.2.1 469,769,818 October 9, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder The Elementor Website Builder has it all: drag and drop page builder, Atomic Editor, pixel perfect design, global and reusable style systems, mobile r … |
elementor home |
4.3.5 909,347,800 October 13, 2026 7.1.3 |
| MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) The best free Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. See how visitors find and use your website so you can grow your business with powerful analytics. |
google-analytics-for-wordpress home |
11.3.0 281,710,563 September 16, 2026 7.1.3 |
| All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) AIOSEO is the WordPress SEO plugin. Boost SEO rankings with AI SEO tools, schema, meta descriptions, XML sitemaps & rank tracking. |
all-in-one-seo-pack home |
5.0.3 213,093,169 October 7, 2026 7.1.3 |
| WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More The best WordPress contact form plugin. Drag & Drop form builder to create beautiful contact forms, payment forms, & other custom forms. |
wpforms-lite home |
2.0.2.2 361,893,712 October 6, 2026 7.1.3 |
| UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin Backup, restore or migrate your WordPress website to another host or domain. Schedule backups or run manually. Migrate in minutes. |
updraftplus home |
1.26.10 167,936,561 October 15, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 🤩 Make popups & optin forms to get more email newsletter subscribers, leads, and sales – #1 most popular popup builder plugin! 🚀 |
optinmonster home |
2.17.1 134,728,570 August 14, 2026 7.0.7 |
| All-in-One WP Migration and Backup Trusted by 60M+ sites: The gold standard for WordPress migration and backup. Migrate, backup, and restore your WordPress site with one click. |
all-in-one-wp-migration home |
7.112 191,118,304 October 7, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) Easily improve site security with WordPress Hardening, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Login Protection, Vulnerability Detection and SSL certificate. |
really-simple-ssl home |
9.8.3 221,712,911 September 15, 2026 7.1.3 |
| WordPress Importer Import posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, tags and more from a WordPress export file. |
wordpress-importer home |
0.9.6 72,111,294 August 27, 2026 6.8.11 |
| WP Super Cache A very fast caching engine for WordPress that produces static html files. |
wp-super-cache home |
3.1.4 66,473,038 September 30, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Page Builder by SiteOrigin Build responsive page layouts using the widgets you know and love using this simple drag and drop page builder. |
siteorigin-panels home |
2.37.0 59,255,320 October 4, 2026 7.1.3 |
| MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress The #1 Mailchimp plugin for WordPress. Allows you to add a multitude of newsletter sign-up methods to your site. |
mailchimp-for-wp home |
4.14.1 78,474,190 September 16, 2026 7.1.3 |
| Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery The most popular gallery plugin that lets you create galleries and albums in seconds. |
nextgen-gallery home |
4.5.3 46,661,395 October 15, 2026 7.1.3 |
WordPress SEO is the first plugin to reach over 290 million downloads.
Herb Miller, 16th December 2020
References
For more information about plugins see Top 10 WordPress plugins. See also: