25 Most Successful WordPress Businesses and Companies Today

WordPress has grown to become one of the most popular content management systems in the world, powering over 30% of all websites on the internet. The open source nature of WordPress has allowed a thriving ecosystem of businesses and companies to develop around it, offering various products and services. In this post, we‘ll take a look at 25 of the most successful WordPress-focused companies operating today.

1. Automattic

Founded in 2005 by Matt Mullenweg, Automattic is the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, Akismet, and other popular WordPress products. Some key facts:

  • WordPress.com serves over 409 million people across more than 15 billion pageviews per month.
  • WooCommerce powers over 30% of all online stores with various extensions and themes.
  • Jetpack has over 5 million active installs and offers important functionality like backups and security.

Valued at over $3 billion, Automattic has undoubtedly been one of the biggest WordPress success stories.

2. WP Engine

Founded in 2010, WP Engine is the world‘s most popular managed WordPress hosting provider. They make it easy to launch and scale WordPress websites quickly and securely.

  • Hosts over 500,000 sites including major brands and publications.
  • Received over $350 million in funding and is valued at over $1 billion.
  • Acquired StudioPress, makers of the Genesis framework, in 2018.

WP Engine has cemented itself as a leader in managed WordPress hosting through its speed, security, and reliability.

3. Elegant Themes

Founded in 2008, Elegant Themes offers premium WordPress themes, plugins, and resources. Their flagship Divi theme and builder plugin have been hugely successful.

  • Divi is actively used on over 800,000 websites.
  • Elegant Themes has served over 500,000 customers since inception.
  • Other popular products include Bloom, Monarch, and Extra.

Elegant Themes has built a substantial community and following among WordPress users with its quality themes and plugins.

4. WooCommerce

Acquired by Automattic in 2015, WooCommerce is the most used open source eCommerce platform.

  • Powers over 30% of all online stores with 5+ million active installs.
  • Drives over $10 billion in revenue annually.
  • Offers hundreds of extensions and integrations.

WooCommerce has dominated the WordPress eCommerce space through its flexibility, customization options, and passionate community.

5. Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the largest and most recommended web hosting providers for WordPress.

  • Officially recommended by WordPress.org.
  • Powers over 2 million WordPress sites.
  • Owned by Endurance International Group, along with other WP-focused brands.

With affordable and reliable WordPress hosting plans, Bluehost makes it easy for users to get started with WordPress.

6. ThemeIsle

Founded in 2010, ThemeIsle is a top WordPress theme and plugin company. Some of their popular products include:

  • Neve theme – used on over 300,000 sites.
  • Otter Blocks – Gutenberg page builder with 100,000+ installs.
  • Optimole – Image optimization tool with 500,000 sites.

ThemeIsle has consistently produced high-quality WordPress products that have appealed to a wide audience.

7. WPForms

Created by Awesome Motive, WPForms is the most beginner-friendly WordPress form builder plugin.

  • Active on over 1 million websites.
  • Integrates with all top page builders and themes.
  • Offers 100+ form templates and addons.

WPForms has gained popularity for its easy drag and drop form building and extensive features.

8. Sucuri

Founded in 2010, Sucuri offers security products and services for WordPress sites.

  • Sucuri firewall protects over 2 million sites.
  • SiteCheck scanner is used on 500,000+ sites.
  • Acquired by GoDaddy in 2018 for $124 million.

Sucuri has established itself as one of the premier cybersecurity brands in WordPress through its firewall technology and malware removal services.

9. Pagely

Pagely pioneered managed WordPress hosting designed specifically for enterprises.

  • WordPress.com VIP partner since 2010.
  • Hosts major brands like Microsoft, Sony, etc.
  • Raised $15 million in funding over 4 rounds.

Pagely serves some of the largest WordPress implementations in the world with its enterprise-grade infrastructure and support.

10. iThemes

iThemes is the company behind the BackupBuddy all-in-one WordPress backup plugin.

  • Over 1 million active BackupBuddy installs.
  • Acquired by Liquid Web in 2017 for $35 million.
  • Other products include iThemes Security and Sync.

Since 2009, iThemes has provided WordPress users with essential site security and backup functionality through top-rated plugins.

11. Kinsta

Launched in 2014, Kinsta is a managed WordPress hosting provider focused on speed and security.

  • Created custom caching and CDN technologies.
  • Hosts over 90,000 sites in 20 locations worldwide.
  • Raised $30 million in funding to date.

Kinsta has quickly emerged as a leading managed WordPress host through strong engineering and devops capabilities.

12. CodeinWP

CodeinWP is the company behind TemplateMonster, the largest website templates marketplace.

  • Founded in 2002, predating WordPress itself.
  • Over 8,500 WordPress themes and plugins created.
  • Extended products into SaaS and web development.

CodeinWP has leveraged its long operating history and theme development skills to transition successfully into WordPress.

13. InMotion Hosting

InMotion is an official WordPress recommended hosting provider since 2005.

  • Custom-optimized WordPress hosting plans.
  • Hosting infrastructure in 20 data centers globally.
  • Won several awards for its customer service.

As one of the earliest entrants, InMotion has successfully focused its hosting services on WordPress users over the years.

14. SiteGround

SiteGround provides managed WordPress hosting that optimizes for speed and security.

  • Started in 2004, offering WordPress hosting since 2008.
  • Hosts over 2 million websites globally.
  • Sponsors numerous WordPress events and groups.

SiteGround has built a reputation around its optimized WordPress infrastructure and great customer support.

15. Liquid Web

Liquid Web is a managed hosting provider catering to SMBs and enterprises.

  • Features out-of-the-box WordPress-optimized cloud hosting plans.
  • Manages over 30,000 servers with 450 employees.
  • Known for stellar customer support and uptime.

Liquid Web provides WordPress users with fully-managed, high-performance cloud infrastructure and support.

16. Closte

Founded in 2015, Closte is the company behind WPAllImport, the #1 WordPress import plugin.

  • WPAllImport has over 700,000 active installs.
  • Also created the WP Event Manager and WP Ultimate CSV Importer plugins.
  • Bootstrapped to over $5 million in revenue.

Closte‘s import/export plugins have become essential for WordPress sites dealing with large volumes of content.

17. RocketGenius

RocketGenius creates highly rated WordPress plugins like Gravity Forms and WP Rocket.

  • Gravity Forms is the top premium WordPress form builder.
  • WP Rocket speeds up WordPress sites with advanced caching.
  • Founded in 2008 and bootstrapped since then.

RocketGenius has had continued success by focusing on quality and customer experience.

18. cPanel

cPanel is an industry-leading web hosting control panel that makes WordPress easy to manage.

  • Integrated 1-click WordPress installation since 2008.
  • Used by over 70,000 hosting providers globally.
  • Founded in 1997 and IPO‘d in 2021.

With automatic WordPress integration, cPanel has helped hosts deliver WordPress sites easily to millions of end users.

19. StudioPress

Acquired by WP Engine in 2018, StudioPress is the company behind the Genesis WordPress theme framework.

  • Genesis framework powers over 1 million sites.
  • Added dozens of premium themes on top of Genesis core.
  • Sells theme builder plugin Genesis Pro for customization.

By consistently improving Genesis to adapt to new technologies, StudioPress maintains dominance in the WordPress framework space.

20. CodinGame

CodinGame develops educational games to teach programming and tech skills.

  • Founded in 2014 and grew to 6 million users.
  • Added WordPress-specific games like Infinite WordPress and CSS Garden.
  • Raised $5 million from venture capital investors.

CodinGame is bringing unique innovation to technical skill development in WordPress and other platforms.

21. WPMU DEV

WPMU DEV offers managed WordPress hosting, plugins, analytics, and support in one platform.

  • Founded in 2009, served over 750,000 customers.
  • Developed Smush image optimization plugin.
  • Known for the community and support forum.

WPMU DEV bundles important WordPress services together in a unified dashboard.

22. ServMask

ServMask focuses on data migration plugins for WordPress and other platforms.

  • Created WP Migrate DB Pro used by over 1 million sites.
  • Also developed plugins for migrating to specific hosts.
  • Founded in 2011 and fully self-funded.

ServMask recognized the major pain point of migrating WordPress sites and created leading solutions.

23. Freemius

Freemius helps WordPress plugin developers effectively monetize their work.

  • Provides full membership plugin framework.
  • Over 10,000 plugins use Freemius equating to millions in revenue.
  • Founded in 2014 and raised $2 million seed funding.

Freemius has enabled thousands of developers to prosper by selling premium WordPress plugins.

24. GiveWP

GiveWP offers a suite of powerful WordPress fundraising plugins.

  • Flagship Give donation plugin active on 20,000+ sites.
  • Processes over $350 million in annual donations.
  • Lead by web pioneer Paul Clifford since 2012.

GiveWP has driven the standard for accepting payments and fundraising with WordPress.

25. Easy Digital Downloads

Created by Pippin Williamson and Sandhills Development, Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a WordPress eCommerce plugin for selling digital products.

  • Downloaded over 5 million times.
  • Powers over 20,000 online stores.
  • Integrates with WordPress.org and WooCommerce.

EDD brings eCommerce functionality purpose-built for selling digital goods like ebooks, audio, and video with WordPress.

Conclusion

This list highlights some of the most successful and influential companies that have sprouted up around WordPress over the years. From web hosting providers enabling millions of WordPress sites, to theme and plugin developers producing key functionality, to innovative startups pushing the ecosystem forward – the opportunities surrounding WordPress continue to expand and thrive. For new companies looking to tap into the world of WordPress, there is still much room for growth across hosting, development, security, analytics, and beyond.

Written by Jason Striegel

C/C++, Java, Python, Linux developer for 18 years, A-Tech enthusiast love to share some useful tech hacks.