Web technologies of the year 2014

Posted by Matthias Gelbmann on 5 January 2015 in News, Adobe DTM, AdRoll, Advertising Networks, Angular, Apache Traffic Server, CDNJS, Content Delivery, Content Management, Debian, Ensighten, Gentoo, GeoTrust, GlobalSign, Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Hosted Libraries, Google Tag Manager, Java, JavaScript Libraries, JQuery, JQuery CDN, Linux, LiteSpeed, Magento, Modernizr, Nginx, Operating Systems, PHP, Pinterest, PopAds, Ruby, Sectigo, Server-side Languages, Shopify, Social Widgets, SSL Certificate Authorities, Symantec Group, Tag Managers, Traffic Analysis Tools, Twitter, Ubuntu, Unix, UpToLike, Web Servers, WordPress, WordPress Jetpack, Yandex.Metrica

To identify the winners in the various web technology categories, we compared the number of sites using a technology on Jan 1, 2014 with the corresponding number on Jan 1, 2015. We use the difference of these numbers, rather than a percentage, because that would favor technologies with a tiny user base at the beginning of the year. As in all our surveys, we restrict the numbers to the top 10 million sites, see technology surveys for more details. Historians amongst our readers may want to compare the results with previous years (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013),

These are the technologies that gained most sites in 2014

Content Management System of the Year

  WordPress  

WordPress is the by far the most popular content management system and has been the fastest growing CMS for the 5th year in a row. Second place goes to Shopify, which could more than double its usage in the last year. Magento, the most popular e-commerce platform, comes third in popularity growth in 2014.

Server-side Programming Language of the Year

  PHP  

PHP is used by 82% of all websites, and although we saw a bit of a saturation in the second half of the year, it was the fastest growing server-side language in 2014, as it has been in the previous 5 years. Ruby comes second due to the popularity of Ruby on Rails, Sinatra and other Ruby-based web technologies. Java comes third, which is a bit of a comeback after declining usage of Java for web development in previous years.

JavaScript Library of the Year

  jQuery  

More than 6 out 10 websites use jQuery, and its usage growths faster that any other JavaScript library. Modernizr moved up to the second rank in that category earlier last year, and is also second in this growth ranking. Third place goes to AngularJS, whose usage has trebled in 2014.

SSL Certificate Authority of the Year

  GlobalSign  

GlobalSign is the SSL Certificate Authority of the year for the 3rd year in a row. GeoTrust, part of the Symantec Group, is second, and Comodo comes in third.

Social Widget of the Year

  Twitter  

The Twitter tweet widget has passed Google +1 in 2014 and is the fastest growing social widget of the year. Second is the new Russian service UpToLike, which started at almost zero last year and has seen spectacular growth. Third is Pinterest, the last year's winner.

Web Server of the Year

  Nginx  

Nginx continues to grow very quickly, and is the web server of the year for the 5th time in a row. The second ranked Apache Traffic Server (not to be confused with the much more popular Apache HTTP Server) has benefited from Yahoo switching most of its sites away from the Yahoo Traffic Server. LiteSpeed has been growing steadily in the last 5 years, and is third in this year's ranking.

Operating System of the Year

  Debian  

Three Linux distributions dominate the operating system of the year ranking, with Debian dethroning Ubuntu after three years and Gentoo coming in third.

JavaScript Content Delivery Network of the Year

  jQuery CDN  

The jQuery CDN benefits from the fast-growing jQuery popularity and becomes the JavaScript content delivery network of the year. Google Hosted Libraries dominate the overall ranking in that category, but come in only second when calculating the growth of the last year. Third-ranked CDNJS has established itself as a strong competitor.

Traffic Analysis Tool of the Year

  Google Analytics  

Google Analytics has re-gained the title in the traffic analysis tools category, after being defeated by Yandex.Metrika last year. WordPress Stats comes in second, benefiting from the fast-growing number of WordPress installations.

Advertising Network of the Year

  Google Ads  

Google Ads, which combines a number of Google advertising services such as AdSense and Doubleclick, is the winner in the advertising network category. The last year's winner AdRoll is second this year. The third-ranked PopAds is a bit of a surprise, as it is only at rank 20 in the overall popularity ranking, but with a very strong growth rate.

Tag Manager of the Year

  Google Tag Manager  

Google dominates also the last of our awards, the tag manager of the year category. Satellite, now owned by Adobe, comes second, and Ensighten comes third in the growth rates of this relatively young type of web technology.

Congratulations to all the awardees for their extraordinary achievements in the last year.

Share this page