Web Technologies of the Year 2017

Posted by Matthias Gelbmann on 3 January 2018 in News, AddToAny, Adobe DTM, Advertising Networks, Amazon, Amazon Associates, Amazon CloudFront, Bootstrap, CDNJS, CentOS, Cloudflare, Content Delivery, Content Management, DigiCert Group, Fastly, GoDaddy Group, Google, Google Tag Manager, Heap, IdenTrust, JavaScript, JavaScript Libraries, JQuery, JQuery CDN, JsDelivr, LiteSpeed, MGID, Modernizr, NetBSD, Nginx, Node.js, Operating Systems, PHP, Python, Reverse Proxies, Sectigo, Server-side Languages, Shopify, Social Widgets, Squarespace, SSL Certificate Authorities, Tag Managers, Tealium, Traffic Analysis Tools, Ubuntu, Web Hosting, Web Servers, WhatsApp, WordPress, WordPress Jetpack, Yahoo Advertising, Yandex.Metrica

To identify the winners in the various web technology categories, we compared the number of sites using a technology on January 1st, 2017 with the corresponding number on January 1st, 2018. 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.

These are the technologies that gained most sites in 2017

Content Management System of the Year 2017

  WordPress  

Another great year for WordPress, now used by 29.2% of all websites, up from 5.6% eight years ago. It is the fastest growing content management system for the 8th year in a row. Runners-up are Shopify and Squarespace, both increasing their user base by more than 40% in 2017.

Server-side Programming Language of the Year 2017

  PHP  

PHP is used by 83.1% of all websites, up from 72.5% eight years ago. PHP won the Programming Language of the Year title seven times in the last eight years. JavaScript is the second-fastest growing language just like in the last two years. Python gained some ground last year and is used by 0.2% of all websites.

JavaScript Library of the Year 2017

  Bootstrap  

Bootstrap is now used by 16.5% of all websites, growing faster than any other library for the second year in a row. jQuery is the most used JavaScript library by far and its usage is still growing, albeit a bit slower than Bootstrap. Modernizr is third, repeating last year's result.

SSL Certificate Authority of the Year 2017

  IdenTrust  

IdenTrust, which is often used as root certificate for Let's Encrypt, is the fastest growing certificate authority, now used by 14.8% of all websites. DigiCert Group comes in second due to its acquisition of the SSL CA business of Symantec. Comodo, the last years winner, had another good year despite fierce competition.

Social Widget of the Year 2017

  AddToAny  

AddToAny, now used by 1% of all websites, became the fastest growing social widget for the first time. Runner-up is the WhatsApp share button, climbing into the top 10 social widgets in 2017.

JavaScript Content Delivery Network of the Year 2017

  CDNJS  

CDNJS is the fastest growing JavaScript content delivery network for the second time. It is now used by 6% of the web, up from 0.04% five years ago. jsDelivr comes in second this year, after a 3rd rank last year. jQuery CDN is third, due to the popularity of jQuery.

Traffic Analysis Tool of the Year 2017

  WordPress Jetpack  

WordPress Jetpack is the fastest growing traffic analysis tool for the first time, due to the popularity of WordPress. Yandex.Metrika, a former winner, is second this year, whereas Heap as third in that category is a little surprise.

Advertising Network of the Year 2017

  Amazon Associates  

Amazon Associates is now used by 1% of all websites, which makes it the fastest growing advertising network of 2017. MGID had a very strong year, growing its user base by 21.6% in 2017. ONE by AOL was growing last year mainly by integrating AOL's formerly independent Adtech brand.

Tag Manager of the Year 2017

  Google Tag Manager  

The tag management market is completely dominated by Google Tag Manager, now used by 8.5% of the web, winning this category for the 4th time in a row. Adobe DTM, comes in second just like last year, and Tealium had a strong year, coming in third.

Web Server of the Year 2017

  Nginx  

Nginx is the web server of the year for the 8th year in a row. 36.4% of all sites use Nginx, up from 3.9% eight years ago. LiteSpeed keeps growing steadily throughout the years, increasing its user base by 30.8% in the last year. Node.js is third, after a second place last year.

Operating System of the Year 2017

  Ubuntu 

Ubuntu is the web operating system of the year, winning that title for the sixth time in the last seven years. It is used now by 14.4% of the web, clearly the most popular Linux distribution. Second this year is CentOS, and a surprising third is NetBSD.

Web Hosting Provider of the Year 2017

  GoDaddy Group  

GoDaddy Group is the fastest growing web hosting provider of the year, primarily due to its acquisition of Host Europe. The last year's winner Amazon is second with a very strong organic growth, just like Google as third.

Reverse Proxy Provider of the Year 2017

  CloudFlare  

CloudFlare keeps being the dominating content delivery network provider, used by 6.6% of all websites, up from 3.9% two years ago. Second-ranked Amazon CloudFront, increased its user base by 78% in 2017, and third-ranked Fastly even by 84.1%.

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

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2 comments

Paprika on 7 June 2018

Great!

It would be very interesting to know which control panel is the most used with hosting: cPanel vs Plesk.

Reply by author Matthias Gelbmann on 12 June 2018

Thank you for that proposal. We will have a look at that.