WordPress Commerce: Investigating the Theme-and-Plugin Economy and Ecosystem

WordPress users often turn to developer-created premium themes and plugins to customize and enhance their sites. These thriving marketplaces have actually sparked an entirely new economy within the WordPress ecosystem, which offers numerous opportunities for theme and plugin developers around the world.

We analyzed data from theme and plugin marketplaces to:

• track trends in growth and revenue,
• rank the growth of various categories, and
• even map the locations of the top-earning theme and plugin authors.

This ebook goes in-depth, investigating the rapidly evolving theme-and-plugin ecosystem and economy, which attracts top developer talent from around the globe.

“At its core, WordPress is all about the democratization of publishing. It gives everyone a voice on the web,” WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner said. If WordPress is the tool that gives publishers a voice, then WordPress themes and plugins are what give that voice a unique pitch.