Web Technologies of the Year 2017

Summary: We compiled the list of web technologies that saw the largest increase in usage in the last year.

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.

Result 2017 1. WordPress

2. Shopify

3. Squarespace

Winners of previous years 2017 WordPress

2016 WordPress

2015 WordPress

2014 WordPress

2013 WordPress

2012 WordPress

2011 WordPress

2010 WordPress

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.

Result 2017 1. PHP

2. JavaScript

3. Python

Winners of previous years 2017 PHP

2016 PHP

2015 Java

2014 PHP

2013 PHP

2012 PHP

2011 PHP

2010 PHP

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.

Result 2017 1. Bootstrap

2. jQuery

3. Modernizr

Winners of previous years 2017 Bootstrap

2016 Bootstrap

2015 jQuery

2014 jQuery

2013 jQuery

2012 jQuery

2011 jQuery

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.

Result 2017 1. IdenTrust

2. DigiCert Group

3. Comodo

Winners of previous years 2017 IdenTrust

2016 Comodo

2015 Comodo

2014 GlobalSign

2013 GlobalSign

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.

Result 2017 1. AddToAny

2. WhatsApp

Winners of previous years 2017 AddToAny

2016 VKontakte

2015 Twitter

2014 Twitter

2013 Pinterest

2012 Facebook

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.

Result 2017 1. CDNJS

2. jsDelivr

3. jQuery CDN

Winners of previous years 2017 CDNJS

2016 CDNJS

2015 Google Hosted Libraries

2014 jQuery CDN

2013 jQuery CDN

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.

Result 2017 1. WordPress Jetpack

2. Yandex.Metrika

3. Heap

Winners of previous years 2017 WordPress Jetpack

2016 Google Analytics

2015 Google Analytics

2014 Google Analytics

2013 Yandex.Metrika

2012 Google Analytics

2011 Google Analytics

2010 Google Analytics

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.

Result 2017 1. Amazon Associates

2. MGID

3. ONE by AOL

Winners of previous years 2017 Amazon Associates

2016 PopAds

2015 Google Ads

2014 Google Ads

2013 AdRoll

2012 DoubleClick

2011 Google AdSense

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.

Result 2017 1. Google Tag Manager

2. Adobe DTM

3. Tealium

Winners of previous years 2017 Google Tag Manager

2016 Google Tag Manager

2015 Google Tag Manager

2014 Google Tag Manager

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.

Result 2017 1. Nginx

2. LiteSpeed

3. Node.js

Winners of previous years 2017 Nginx

2016 Nginx

2015 Nginx

2014 Nginx

2013 Nginx

2012 Nginx

2011 Nginx

2010 Nginx

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.

Result 2017 1. Ubuntu

2. CentOS

3. NetBSD

Winners of previous years 2017 Ubuntu

2016 Ubuntu

2015 Ubuntu

2014 Debian

2013 Ubuntu

2012 Ubuntu

2011 Ubuntu

2010 Windows

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.

Result 2017 1. GoDaddy Group

2. Amazon

3. Google

Winners of previous years 2017 GoDaddy Group

2016 Amazon

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%.

Result 2017 1. CloudFlare

2. Amazon CloudFront

3. Fastly

Winners of previous years 2017 CloudFlare

2016 CloudFlare



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



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2 comments

Great!

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

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

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