And just like *that* we find ourselves at the tail end of another year.
It seems that everything, from AI to cybersecurity, has been moving at a breakneck pace.
So, let’s take a breather to look back at the year we’ve had in WordPress website hosting—and then turn our gaze towards what’s ahead. 👀
WordPress in the Press
WordPress continues to be the most popular CMS (content management system) around the world.
- Out of all the websites that use a known CMS, 42.8% of those sites use WordPress. (source)
- 25.33% of the top 10,000 websites are powered by WordPress. (source)
- WordPress communities organized 48 WordCamp events around the globe in 2026 alone. (past and upcoming events)
- WordPress is taking its turn in leading the Open Website Alliance, which brings together dev community organizations to advocate for open source and share practices that benefit their projects.
Written by the Geeks
Why Humans + Machines Are a Hosting Dream Team
Stellar web hosting isn’t about choosing humans or machines to get the job done—it’s about leveraging both to get the best results.
UptimeRobot: Your Website’s 24/7 Lookout
By using UptimeRobot, we combine the tirelessness of machines with human ingenuity so we can have eyes on your website 24/7.
Site Speed That’s Solid
From utilizing Solid State Drives to CDN delivery, CodeGeek + WP Engine website hosting helps make sure your site speed is super solid.
Hosting News Roundup
1 – At the beginning of this year, HostingAdvice.com compiled the top four trends that experts said would determine web hosting in 2026, with AI playing a big role. (They were right!)
2 – WP Engine took home two TITAN awards, one recognizing exceptional customer experience and another for its Outstanding Diversity & Inclusion Program.
3 – GoDaddy is losing ground as the most favored Domain Registrar, with Namecheap, Cloudflare, and Hostinger pulling ahead.
Critical Plugin Updates
What are critical plugin updates?
Critical plugin updates are updates to WordPress plugins that must be addressed ASAP to prevent hackers from gaining access to your site.
How many updates were addressed in 2026?
In 2026 alone, CodeGeek remedied more than 252 critical plugin updates on our clients websites! Learn more about critical plugin updates and what makes them so, well, critical.
What’s Ahead For 2027? 🔮
When we peer into our coding crystal balls, we’re not surprised by what we see when it comes to two big hosting trends forecasted for 2027.
1. AI-driven automation
According to cPanel, 53% of those surveyed expect AI-driven automation to have the biggest impact on the hosting industry.
Hosting providers will increasingly use AI to predict performance issues, automatically allocate server resources, detect security threats, and resolve potential problems before they happen.
2. Access to knowledgeable humans
As hosting tech gets smarter, faster, and more automated, having real-deal humans looking after our websites will remain just as valuable.
Gartner surveyed 3,566 customers and found that although people are more comfortable with AI-assisted services, 87% still believe that having the option to reach a human is essential.
While this study was more broadly about GenAI, it does point to a pattern indicating that we cannot take the humans out of human interactions. 🤓
Hosting+ ✨ AI Optimization Plans
Speaking of AI, did you know CodeGeek offers AI Optimization (AIO) plans?
Our AIO Plans help make your business more discoverable in AI search results.
Thank you for another wonderful year of hosting your website with us. 🧡
CodeGeek
Image credits: Nathan Anderson on Unsplash (featured), CodeGeek (all other images)