Technology Stack Trends 2026: What 957,000 Websites Actually Run
What technologies is the web actually built on? Not what Hacker News says. Not what Stack Overflow surveys report. What do nearly a million real, live websites reveal about the infrastructure layer of the internet?
We used LLMSE's technology detection system to scan 957,134 domains, identifying web servers from HTTP response headers and applications/CMS platforms from HTML fingerprints. The result is a snapshot of the web's technology stack as it exists today — not as developers wish it existed.
The Numbers
Our detection identified 1,230,556 server-level detections and 1,206,026 application-level detections across 957K domains. Many sites run multiple technologies (a WordPress site on nginx with jQuery, for example), so the total detections exceed the domain count.
We detected 2,512 unique server signatures and 323 distinct application/CMS fingerprints — though the vast majority of traffic concentrates in a surprisingly small number of technologies.
Web Servers: Cloudflare Has Overtaken nginx
The web server landscape has shifted. Cloudflare's reverse proxy — which masks the origin server — now appears in more HTTP response headers than any other server technology:
| Rank | Server | Domains | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloudflare | 384,716 | 31.3% |
| 2 | nginx | 300,802 | 24.4% |
| 3 | Apache | 215,176 | 17.5% |
| 4 | GitHub Pages | 81,401 | 6.6% |
| 5 | LiteSpeed | 53,135 | 4.3% |
| 6 | OpenResty | 27,512 | 2.2% |
| 7 | IIS | 22,554 | 1.8% |
| 8 | Amazon S3 | 19,632 | 1.6% |
| 9 | Vercel | 13,762 | 1.1% |
| 10 | Squarespace | 11,011 | 0.9% |
A few things stand out:
Cloudflare's 31.3% does not mean one-third of the web runs Cloudflare as its origin server. Cloudflare is a reverse proxy that sits in front of the real server. Many of these sites are actually nginx or Apache behind the scenes. What the number tells us is that nearly one-third of websites route traffic through Cloudflare's network — a remarkable infrastructure concentration.
nginx (24.4%) and Apache (17.5%) remain the workhorses. Combined, they serve 42% of detected origins. But the gap is widening: nginx leads Apache by 85,000 domains. Apache's share has been declining for over a decade, and our data confirms the trend continues.
GitHub Pages at 6.6% is unexpectedly high. Over 81,000 domains serve content from GitHub's infrastructure — a testament to the scale of open-source project sites, developer portfolios, and documentation hosted on the platform.
LiteSpeed (4.3%) has carved a real niche as the performance-focused alternative. Its adoption is concentrated in shared hosting environments where it replaces Apache with a drop-in compatible but faster server.
IIS at 1.8% marks a steep decline. Microsoft's web server, once a dominant force when Windows Server powered enterprise intranets, now accounts for fewer domains than GitHub Pages.
CMS and Application Platforms
The application layer tells a different story. Here, one platform dominates so thoroughly that every other technology is fighting for the remaining scraps:
| Rank | Platform | Domains | Share | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WordPress | 453,394 | 37.6% | CMS |
| 2 | Medium | 141,029 | 11.7% | Blogging Platform |
| 3 | jQuery | 104,840 | 8.7% | JS Library |
| 4 | Adobe Experience Manager | 52,398 | 4.3% | Enterprise CMS |
| 5 | Ember.js | 47,068 | 3.9% | JS Framework |
| 6 | Google Analytics | 46,243 | 3.8% | Analytics |
| 7 | Drupal | 25,189 | 2.1% | CMS |
| 8 | Bootstrap | 16,705 | 1.4% | CSS Framework |
| 9 | Jekyll | 15,881 | 1.3% | Static Generator |
| 10 | Next.js | 15,110 | 1.3% | JS Framework |
WordPress at 37.6% of all detected applications is dominant but not surprising. What's notable is the absolute count: 453,394 domains. For context, that's more than the next 10 platforms combined. WordPress is the web's operating system for content.
Medium (141,029) reflects the scale of custom-domain Medium publications. These are blogs and publications hosted on Medium's infrastructure but served under the owner's domain.
Ember.js (47,068) at #5 warrants explanation. This figure is inflated by Medium itself, which is built on Ember.js — so every custom-domain Medium site carries Ember fingerprints. The actual number of independently chosen Ember.js projects is far lower.
Adobe Experience Manager (52,398) shows the enterprise CMS market's scale. AEM sites are typically large organizations — banks, healthcare systems, retailers — with significant web budgets. The per-site investment in AEM dwarfs that of any other platform in this list.
The CMS Market: WordPress vs. Everyone
Narrowing to traditional CMS platforms (excluding blogging services, JS libraries, and analytics):
| Rank | CMS | Domains | CMS Market Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WordPress | 453,394 | 85.0% |
| 2 | Drupal | 25,189 | 4.7% |
| 3 | MediaWiki | 9,096 | 1.7% |
| 4 | TYPO3 | 8,195 | 1.5% |
| 5 | Plone | 7,159 | 1.3% |
| 6 | Joomla | 6,256 | 1.2% |
| 7 | Contentful | 6,099 | 1.1% |
| 8 | Prismic | 5,503 | 1.0% |
WordPress holds 85% of the CMS market in our dataset. The remaining 15% is fragmented across dozens of platforms, none exceeding 5%.
Drupal (4.7%) holds the clear #2 position, driven by government, education, and enterprise adoption. Its complexity is a barrier for small sites but a feature for large organizations needing granular content workflows.
The headless CMS wave is visible: Contentful (6,099) and Prismic (5,503) together account for 2.1% — not yet a threat to WordPress but growing as developers decouple front-end from back-end.
JavaScript Frameworks: The React Ecosystem Leads
The JavaScript framework landscape in 2026, measured by detectable deployments:
| Rank | Framework | Domains | Framework Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Next.js | 15,110 | 25.8% |
| 2 | React (standalone) | 9,543 | 16.3% |
| 3 | Astro | 9,664 | 16.5% |
| 4 | Fresh | 6,806 | 11.6% |
| 5 | Angular | 6,505 | 11.1% |
| 6 | Vue.js | 4,008 | 6.8% |
| 7 | Nuxt.js | 3,896 | 6.7% |
| 8 | Gatsby | 1,915 | 3.3% |
| 9 | Remix | 378 | 0.6% |
| 10 | Svelte | 181 | 0.3% |
Note: Ember.js (47,068) excluded from this comparison as its count is dominated by Medium's platform. Framework share percentages are calculated from the remaining 58,006 detections.
The React ecosystem — Next.js (25.8%) plus standalone React (16.3%) — accounts for 42.1% of the framework market. If you're building a JavaScript application in 2026, React is the default choice. Next.js's dominance over standalone React also signals a clear trend: developers are choosing meta-frameworks over raw library usage.
Astro (16.5%) is the surprise. A framework that shipped its 1.0 in 2022 has already reached nearly 10,000 detected deployments. Astro's island architecture — shipping zero JavaScript by default and hydrating only interactive components — has resonated with developers building content-heavy sites.
Fresh (11.6%) is the Deno-native framework from the Deno team. At 6,806 domains it has established a meaningful footprint, primarily in the Deno ecosystem.
Angular (11.1%) vs. Vue.js (6.8%) shows a clear gap. Angular's enterprise adoption keeps it in the game, but Vue.js's combined ecosystem (Vue + Nuxt = 13.5%) narrows the difference when you count the meta-framework.
Svelte (181 domains) is conspicuously small. Despite enormous developer enthusiasm and excellent DX, Svelte's real-world deployment footprint is a fraction of its competitors'. This may reflect detection difficulty (SvelteKit compiles away framework traces) more than actual usage — but it's a data point that contrasts with survey-based popularity rankings.
Static Site Generators: Jekyll Still Leads
The static site generator market, driven largely by documentation, blogs, and developer sites:
| Rank | Generator | Domains | SSG Market Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jekyll | 15,881 | 37.5% |
| 2 | Astro | 9,664 | 22.8% |
| 3 | Hugo | 8,421 | 19.9% |
| 4 | Hexo | 4,388 | 10.4% |
| 5 | Gatsby | 1,915 | 4.5% |
| 6 | MkDocs | 724 | 1.7% |
| 7 | Pelican | 636 | 1.5% |
| 8 | Docusaurus | 554 | 1.3% |
Jekyll (37.5%) still leads, boosted by GitHub Pages' native Jekyll support. Every Jekyll site on GitHub Pages gets free hosting and deployment — a distribution advantage no other generator matches.
Astro (22.8%) and Hugo (19.9%) are the modern contenders. Hugo's Go-based build speed and Astro's zero-JS-by-default philosophy attract different segments: Hugo for speed-obsessed developers, Astro for those who want component-based authoring without client-side JavaScript.
Hexo (10.4%) has a strong presence in Asian developer communities, particularly China, Japan, and Korea.
E-Commerce Platforms
The detectable e-commerce landscape:
| Rank | Platform | Domains | E-comm Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shopify | 13,870 | 58.0% |
| 2 | Magento | 4,473 | 18.7% |
| 3 | OpenCart | 3,470 | 14.5% |
| 4 | PrestaShop | 1,215 | 5.1% |
| 5 | WooCommerce | 622 | 2.6% |
| 6 | BigCommerce | 235 | 1.0% |
Shopify (58%) dominates hosted e-commerce. Its templating system makes detection straightforward, so this number is reliable.
WooCommerce at only 622 domains seems low given that it's estimated to power millions of stores. The explanation: WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, and our detector flags the site as WordPress rather than WooCommerce unless WooCommerce-specific fingerprints are present in the homepage HTML. The actual WooCommerce install base is vastly larger than this detection figure.
Website Builders: A Three-Way Race
The visual website builder market:
| Rank | Builder | Domains |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Squarespace | 11,607 |
| 2 | Webflow | 9,850 |
| 3 | Tilda | 9,845 |
| 4 | Wix | 1,458 |
Squarespace, Webflow, and Tilda are nearly tied, each around 10,000 domains. This is a more competitive market than most developers realize.
Tilda (9,845) at virtual parity with Webflow deserves attention. The Russian-origin builder has a strong presence in European and CIS markets and offers a distinctive block-based design approach.
Wix at 1,458 is far below its actual market share. Like WooCommerce, this reflects detection methodology: many Wix sites use custom domains that route through Wix's infrastructure without leaving obvious HTML fingerprints on the homepage.
Hosting Platforms
Where developers deploy:
| Rank | Platform | Domains |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GitHub Pages | 81,401 |
| 2 | Amazon S3 | 19,632 |
| 3 | Vercel | 13,762 |
| 4 | Netlify | 7,164 |
| 5 | Framer | 2,065 |
GitHub Pages (81,401) is by far the largest deployment platform by domain count. The combination of free hosting, git-based deployment, and custom domain support has made it the default for open-source projects, documentation, and developer portfolios.
Vercel (13,762) has nearly twice Netlify's footprint (7,164). Both platforms target the same developer audience, but Vercel's tight integration with Next.js gives it a framework-driven distribution advantage.
Framer (2,065) is emerging as the designer's deployment platform, combining design tools with hosting.
What the Data Reveals
1. The Infrastructure Layer is Consolidating
Three companies — Cloudflare, nginx (F5), and Apache — handle 73% of web server traffic. Cloudflare alone fronts 31%. This concentration creates systemic risk — and it's not theoretical.
In November 2025, a bot management configuration error at Cloudflare paralyzed roughly 20% of global internet traffic for up to six hours, taking down X, ChatGPT, Spotify, Discord, Zoom, and dozens of other major platforms. Three weeks later, in December 2025, a WAF rule change triggered a latent bug that caused 28% of all HTTP traffic through Cloudflare to return 500 errors — hitting LinkedIn, Substack, Canva, and Coinbase. Most recently, in February 2026, an API cleanup bug withdrew 25% of all customer-owned IP prefixes from the internet for six hours.
The pattern is consistent: configuration changes propagate globally and instantly, turning routine operations into internet-wide incidents. When a single provider fronts nearly one-third of websites, its operational errors become everyone's problem.
2. WordPress is the Web's Default
At 453,000 domains (85% of the CMS market), WordPress is less a technology choice and more a gravity well. The "WordPress vs. everything else" framing is misleading — it's really "WordPress, and then a dozen alternatives each with 1-5% share."
3. The Meta-Framework Era Has Arrived
Next.js (15,110) outnumbers standalone React (9,543). Nuxt.js (3,896) is nearly as large as Vue.js (4,008). Developers are choosing opinionated meta-frameworks over raw libraries. The "bring your own architecture" era is fading.
4. Astro is the Fastest-Growing Framework
At 9,664 domains, Astro has reached parity with standalone React deployments — remarkable for a framework that shipped 1.0 in August 2022. Its content-first, zero-JS-by-default approach fills a gap that neither React nor Vue addressed well.
5. Detection is Not Usage
Several technologies — WooCommerce, Wix, Svelte, Express.js — show far lower numbers than industry estimates suggest. This reflects detection methodology limitations, not actual market share. Technologies that compile away their fingerprints or serve dynamic content via APIs are systematically undercounted by HTML-based detection.
Methodology
This report analyzed HTTP response headers and HTML content for 957,134 domains in LLMSE's classification database as of February 25, 2026. Server technologies were identified from Server, X-Powered-By, and similar HTTP headers. Application technologies were identified from HTML meta tags, script sources, CSS class patterns, generator tags, and other fingerprints.
Detection is limited to what's observable from a single homepage request. Sites behind CDN reverse proxies (Cloudflare, Fastly) may mask their origin server. Client-side-rendered applications may not expose framework fingerprints in the initial HTML response. Multi-technology sites are counted once per detected technology.
Total unique server signatures: 2,512. Total unique application fingerprints: 323. Many detections are low-frequency variants or custom headers.
Explore the Data
Browse technology distributions on LLMSE's technology index. Filter domains by server, CMS, or framework using server: and app: filters in advanced search. The full REST API provides programmatic access to classification data including detected technologies.
This analysis was conducted using LLMSE, which has classified over 1.4 million websites across SEO, EEAT, WCAG accessibility, readability, and GARM brand safety dimensions. All data reflects the database as of February 2026. To analyze your own site, visit llmse.ai/classify.