Core Web Vitals (CWV) have been introduced as a set of important metrics when it comes to the performance of a particular site in search engine optimization (SEO) and performance analytics. However, in recent years even the leading content management systems (CMS) have lost some of their positions in Core Web Vitals, which is also unsurprising. WordPress, the leader of the web, with its huge number of users, is not very comfortable with competitors. This article takes the dip in 2025 Core Web Vitals Challenge as WordPress competes with other best-performing sites for the most superior performance in the market.
What are Core Web Vitals and Why It Matters?
I just want to mention that before discussing the rankings, we should realize what Core Web Vitals mean. They are a series of performance measures that Google initiated in order to gauge the experience that the user gets with sites. They mainly concentrate on the following points:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Discerns the time it takes to become visible the largest content element (normally large picture or block of text) on the screen.
- First Input Delay (FID): It is a measure of the speed at which a user response (such as a click or a tap) is registered by a web site.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Evaluates the visual stability of the page and makes sure that the elements on the page do not jump around unpredictably as they get loaded.
To achieve good scores in Core Web Vitals, a site has to have these thresholds. Such low performance might result in the decrease of ranks in Google search and affect organic traffic and user engagement.
The Core Web Vitals Ranking of 2025
In June 2025, the Core Web Vitals Technology Report presented certain rather unexpected trends. Rankings are generated by the percentage of each CMS with websites that pass Google Core Web Vitals thresholds, and also by Interaction to Next Paint (INP) scores, which rank how snappily a web page visually changes after a user takes an action.
The best Core Web Vitals score: Duda
Largely utilized by agencies and web specialists, Duda is ranked first among the websites according to Core Web Vitals list in the year 2025. After reaching an amazing 83.63 percent of all websites on Duda scoring well in measures of CWV, the web application remains a powerful solution to the ever-so-critical aspect of user experience performance and speed.
In addition to that, Duda rather has a high score in Interaction to Next Paint (INP) to be ranked in the second position. This makes it clear that not only does Duda load fast, but it also offers smooth and responsive experience to those visiting the site.
CMS Shopify
Shopify, a platform that is mainly famous as an e-commerce platform, takes the second place with 75.22 percent of its websites passing CWV. It is an impressive accomplishment considering the amount of JavaScript and graphics most sites that do e-business need to operate effectively and considering that such sites are quite complicated. Shopify has addressed these performance issues, and therefore it is a fantastic solution to the businesses that want to enjoy good user experience and want to take care of powerful online stores.
Shopify scores well too, taking the third position with 89.07% of the websites exposing a nice score. This illustrates that shopify is capable of offering high loading speed websites and reactivity in the process of interacting with the user which are important in e-commerce success.
Rank CMS Core Web Vitals: Wix #3
Wix is one of the most favorite website builders that occupies third place in CWV performance. Having 70.76 percent of its total sites that pass the CWV test, Wix is demonstrating the fact that it can provide good user experience even though it is user friendly. Wix is particularly appealing to the owners of small businesses, as well as to people, who desire to create their websites without advanced understanding of technology.
Wix is in 4th place with 86.82 percent of websites reporting a good score, in terms of INP. Although it is not the best position, it denotes a responsive site performance that is satisfying the expectations of users.
CMS Rank #4: Squarespace
Squarespace, which has beautiful templates and an intuitive interface, reaches fourth in Core Web Vitals, and 67.66 percent of the sites on it are above the performance standards. Nevertheless, it is especially strong in one regard, INP. Squarespace leads the ranking in INP, with 95.85 percent of the websites providing very good responsiveness. That is to say that users have an efficient and seamless encounter with the Squarespace websites thereby making it dominate the subject of user experience.
Drupal #5 ranked CMS:
A powerful and adaptable CMS in Drupal takes up the fifth position with 59.07 per cent of websites passing the recommended levels on Core Web Vitals. This score is below top solutions such as Duda or Shopify, although it is impressive, given that it is a CMS that people usually prefer when setting up complex websites.
Nevertheless, Drupal falls short in INP with the lowest result of 85.5 percent of sites performing well in this metric. This brings forth an avenue of performance deficiency on the interactive components of websites on Drupal.
WordPress: Best CMS
WordPress which has the most substantial market share is left dead last in the 2025 Core Web Vitals ranking and just 43. 44 percent of sites using WordPress meet CWV parameters. It is a stagnation in WordPress performance as there are no significant changes in its CWV scores during the year.
WordPress sites are general purpose and customizable, with a plethora of options available to them in terms of both plugins and themes, however bloated code and extreme use of the plugins system often hobble the performance of WordPress sites. Although WordPress is already huge in popularity, the fact that the platform cannot make performance adjustments to its Core Web Vitals is an issue that should not be dismissed.
WordPress places number five in the INP level and has a 85.89 percent of websites that met the INP rule. This is not that bad but when put in comparison to other CMS foundations such as Squarespace and Shopify, it is still evident that WordPress still has a lot to improve on when presenting the user with a smooth experience.
The Core Web Vitals Challenge
Because the performance of WordPress is consistently getting worse, regarding Core Web Vitals, other platforms are gaining the advantage. Duda, Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace are 100 times faster, especially to people who would like to focus on speed and responsiveness. Such platforms have ensured that their features and technologies are optimized to enhance quality users experiences that is very important in the current competitive digital world.
WordPress, however, is one of the most popular platforms most businesses choose, simply because of all of the above, making it very flexible, with a large collection of plugins, and a large support system. But its performance thing is turning to be a serious challenge to the users who want perfect performance. Not more than 43.44 percent of WordPress sites pass CWV requirements which is a poor representation of its sustainability in the long run as far as users who want to use blog pages are concerned.
Scores on INP: A Neglected Measure
CWV scores could be considered, to an extent, but the INP (Interaction to Next Paint) value is purely another way of getting an understanding of the user experience. A quick loading site may be good, however when it comes to interaction with the site and the user feels that the site is being slow, the user may soon become frustrated.
The success of Squarespace in its INP market speaks best about its orientation to offer excellent user experience. Squarespace has 95.85 of its locations scoring well INP and this example proves that responsiveness and speed of interaction are significant factors as well and not only load time.
WordPress in the Future
WordPress will have to deal with its performance weaknesses in case it does not want to lose its competitiveness. Although one cannot refute the popularity and flexibility of WordPress, the platform should enhance its Core Web Vitals scores, in case it wishes to remain the popular CMS platform that people use to build websites. Improving the code practices, effective dealing with plugins and enhancing the hosting could help WordPress to bridge the gap with the competitive performance.
Conclusion: What 2025 Core Web Vitals Landscape Looks Like
On the Core Web Vitals ranking by 2025, there are crucial lessons. Duda, Shopify, Squarespace get to the front of the line and prove that it is necessary to put speed, responsiveness, and user experience on the map. Although WordPress remains predominant, it is trailing in the CWV and INP departments, which poses a challenge to the people who desire to emphasis on the location speed and the interactiveness of the site at hand.
The level of competition already as well as the level of competition that is to be encountered becomes great; there is need to ensure that content management systems will continually improve to cater to the increased expectations by the users and the search engines as well. The situation with Core Web Vitals is not yet resolved with the 2025 deadline approaching, and the ranking will most likely change with the further development of technology. However, at this point, it is evident that the platforms such as Duda and Shopify precondition performance levels in the digital realm.
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