Is WordPress Still Worth It in 2026? (AI vs WordPress)

So people build AI with websites now. Why does WordPress still exist? I mean, we can make a fully custom website in like 20 minutes with AI coding tools like cloud code. What's the point in dealing with something like WordPress and its themes and plugins. For those of you who don't know, WordPress has dominated the internet for the last 30 years. It's basically a tool that lets you build and manage a website without writing any code. You can pick a theme, add your content. They have tons of plugins to do all the things you might want to do on a website. It's been around since 2003. And actually WordPress powers 43% of the internet. Let me repeat that half, almost half 43% of the internet is run on WordPress. So I had to ask myself now with these AI coding tools, is WordPress dead? Is there a point of still using it? Again, there are tons of AI coding tools out there. This is cloud code and I just said, build this website that does this and in about 15 minutes or so had this website built. And this is the type of stuff that I use every single day. I mean, this is my reality. Now I get a new client here on my, you know, local web design business. I throw it into cloud code. It's fast, it's flexible. Honestly, it's pretty amazing. So I was skeptical when I read an article that saying WordPress still has relevance today. It's like, why, why would you want it? And again, important question. Cause again, you count up all the websites on the internet. 43% are on WordPress, including ones that don't even use a content management system. A content management system is basically where the client can go in and edit the text themselves. But when you look at content management systems, WordPress is about 60%, Shopify is 5%, Wix is 4%. I mean nothing's even close to WordPress and the numbers are down, but WordPress seems to still be going strong. Even after these AI tools are taking a foothold. So I decided I'm going to pretend I'm coming new to a website, install WordPress, see how it compares to using something like cloud code. So I decided to go with Bluehost for setting this up. Again, Bluehost has been WordPress's recommended hosting partner for like 20 years. Okay. And they put it right on their homepage, WordPress hosting in minutes. So I created an account. I'm going to do add website. I'm going to add a WordPress website and then this gets going and we'll see how long this takes to install WordPress and how we're set up. So it took about 45 seconds and WordPress is installed. So I'm going to do this site creator and we're just going to say, we'll just do my business, James Pelton web design. Again, if you're wanting a local website or a website for your business, let me know. I'll build it for you. I build websites for local businesses, site logo. Let's just create with AI. Anytime I can create with AI, I'm going to do it. So not bad. Actually, this one's pretty simple. I'm going to go with this one. I could generate more, but I'm going to set that as my site logo. Go to next, building your website. Then they ask to tailor the experience. So I'm going to say I'm, well, I'm going to say I'm intermediate. All right. Then they kind of get say which one is your favorite template kind of to start with. I'm going to use this one. That one looks kind of cool. Okay. And there's a few things I would want a little bit different. So I'm going to go to select and customize. So first thing, I don't really want a background image here with this text. It's kind of weird to do that. So I'm just going to click there. I can go to replace open media library. They have a bunch of images that I can already use. This one's optimized already. So let me, let me try that. So honestly, not bad. And just right out of the gate, I could, you know, customize this a little bit, make it a little bit better based on what I'm looking for. But the first thing that I noticed is if you're a non tech person or a, you know, non AI coder, I'm an AI coder, but for non AI coders, for non tech people, this process was way easier. If I said, go use cloud code to make a website, a lot of you would stop at open terminal, you know, and again, if I'm using cloud code, I have to kind of understand, okay, how do I get this website hosted? How do I get it out there? Bluehost takes care of that in just one click, one click, two minutes. And that's what it took. And I have a website out there. They have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. I mean, there's so many WordPress themes out there. There's a lot of free ones. There's some, you know, more premium ones that you can pay for. But again, if you're not looking to kind of design this yourself, you're not looking to code it yourself. You don't want to mess around with the AI. This is a great option. Two clicks you're set up. And of course, WordPress has tons of plugins. So again, if you don't want to code in like taking payments, a contact us form, all that WordPress takes care of all of that for you. This is kind of what I forgot about WordPress is the ecosystem is massive. It's so big. So you need an online store. It's there set up for you. Need a booking system. There's a plugin. There's a plugin for anything, anything that's on the internet. There is a WordPress plugin for, and sometimes even with Claude code, if I want to integrate some of that stuff, it takes a little bit of finagling. That's a, that's a real word, right? So I'm pricing super reasonable as well. Actually it says three 99 per month on their website and that includes a free domain for the first year. Actually, if you use my link below, you get for a dollar 99 per month. So I mean, it's two bucks a month and you get a free domain name. The domain name itself is going to probably be end up being more than two bucks a month. So kind of my verdict is WordPress dead, not even close. There's too much on the internet already on it for it to leave. They're going to keep adapting to stay, you know, on top and stay with the current trends. I think if you are a seasoned developer who, you know, loves Claude code probably makes more sense to use something like that. But if you're not a tech person, but if you're not a tech person, you're wanting an easy content management system out there. You're wanting to be able to edit the website very easily. WordPress makes a lot of sense. Super easy to install. Tons of plugins, tons of themes. Bluehost makes it really easy. One click, two minutes, two bucks a month. Kind of seems like a no brainer. So that's my honest take on where WordPress is at right now. Let me know in the comments what you think what's been your experience with WordPress over the years. You prefer AI coding tools or sticking with something like WordPress. Let me know links all down below. God bless you guys. And have a great rest of your day.