The WP Data Dashboard: Monitoring the Ecosystem of WordPress.org Themes
A new website called WP Data Dashboard has been launched, providing a centralized hub for exploring, analyzing, and visualizing data across the WordPress landscape. Created by Munich-based digital agency owner Hendrik Luehrsen, the dashboard tracks the usage of themes with the FSE tag (block themes) using data pulled from the WordPress.org API.
Currently, the WP Data Dashboard is tracking 6,017 themes hosted on WordPress.org with 250 snapshots. It offers statistics and data-based insights for those interested in getting a bird’s-eye view of themes hosted in the official directory.
One of the unique features of the WP Data Dashboard is its “Usage Score.” This score is calculated based on a theme’s active installs versus its total downloads. A high score indicates a theme that is not only frequently downloaded but also actively installed on many sites. On the other hand, if the proportion of active installs to downloads is low, the score undergoes a significant decay, indicating that while the theme may be frequently downloaded, it is not retained by users. This metric provides insight into both the initial appeal of a theme and its lasting utility to users.
Another unique stat provided by the WP Data Dashboard is the “Diversity Score.” This score compares the downloads of a single theme author to the overall theme directory or a specific tag and scales that value from 0 to 100. A high score suggests that downloads are spread across many authors, indicating a diverse and competitive marketplace. Conversely, a low score suggests that a few authors dominate the downloads, indicating less diversity. This metric provides insight into the variety of theme offerings and the balance of power in the theme marketplace.
The Usage Scores can be seen on the List page, which serves as an index of all the themes, as well as on the Tag pages. On the other hand, the Diversity Score is only displayed on the Stats page as a percentage representing the entire WordPress.org ecosystem. The Diversity score increases when the stats are calculated without the default themes, which receive a large number of downloads from the same “WordPress.org” author every year.
In a thread on X, Luehrsen shared some interesting data points he has extracted so far from the WP Data Dashboard. He revealed that the most downloaded themes ever are Twenty Seventeen, Twenty Fifteen, and Astra, with each theme crossing over 10 million downloads. However, only Astra has managed to retain its users and remains one of the most widely used themes. Luehrsen also noted a decline in downloads for the newer default themes, with Twenty Twenty-One receiving only 6 million downloads and Twenty Twenty-Two receiving a mere 3 million.
This decline in downloads for newer default themes might be related to the slow adoption of block themes, which still appears to be stagnating as of October. The number of block theme active installs declined from August to September but is now slowly increasing again.
Luehrsen also highlighted that only 2% of overall theme downloads come from themes tagged as “Full Site Editing.” Considering that these themes are relatively new, this statistic is not surprising.
When asked if he has considered including data for themes like Elementor and Divi, which make up a large segment of the commercial theme market, Luehrsen mentioned that he would like to include external data. However, the compatibility of that data would be limited, making it difficult to compare with WordPress.org-hosted themes.
The WP Data Dashboard is a valuable tool for tracking trends in WordPress.org themes over time. Although it currently focuses on themes, there are plans to add data for plugins in the future. It would be even more helpful if Luehrsen could make some of the calculated data available at a glance, allowing visitors to quickly access key insights such as the 2% of overall theme downloads coming from Full Site Editing tagged themes. As the database adds more information over time, there are numerous possibilities for visualizing the data through graphs and charts.
For those interested in exploring further, the project is hosted on GitHub under a GPL license, allowing anyone to delve into the code or contribute to extending its capabilities.
In conclusion, the WP Data Dashboard is a valuable resource for anyone looking to gain insights into the WordPress.org theme landscape. By tracking and analyzing data, this centralized hub offers a deeper understanding of the themes available and provides a glimpse into trends and patterns within the ecosystem. With future plans to expand its data coverage to include plugins, the WP Data Dashboard holds great potential for becoming an essential tool for developers, designers, and WordPress enthusiasts alike.
