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HTMX vs WordPress

Security & risk comparison · Updated October 2026

How does HTMX compare to WordPress on security, AI-readiness, and total cost of ownership? We scored both across 7 dimensions using NVD/NIST CVE data, GitHub metrics, and our census of the Tranco top 100,000.

Key finding

HTMX scores 79/100 overall versus WordPress's 44/100. HTMX has 1 total CVEs compared to WordPress's 11334, giving it a smaller vulnerability surface. (Source: WebPulse framework scoring, NIST NVD and CISA KEV, updated October 2026)

Who actually runs HTMX and WordPress

Share of sites with an identified platform, from WebPulse's scan of the Tranco top 100,000 and our Common Crawl census.

WhereHTMXWordPress
Top 1,000 0.0% (0) 23.3% (50)
Top 10,000 0.5% (14) 29.0% (743)
Top 100,000 0.4% (107) 37.4% (10,368)
Wider web0.1%74.3%

Highest-ranked sites on HTMX

  1. actu.fr#1,298
  2. ssstik.io#1,447
  3. freedesktop.org#3,290
  4. codeberg.org#3,719
  5. ollama.com#4,226

Highest-ranked sites on WordPress

  1. wordpress.org#48
  2. wordpress.com#100
  3. bit.ly#117
  4. criteo.com#132
  5. gravatar.com#154

Detected from each homepage's HTML, headers and cookies in September 2026. Methodology

79
HTMX
Modern · JAVASCRIPT
vs
44
WordPress
Legacy · PHP
Dimension-by-dimension breakdown
security HTMX
95
22
HTMX
WordPress
performance Tie
65
65
HTMX
WordPress
ecosystem HTMX
80
55
HTMX
WordPress
ai readiness HTMX
78
35
HTMX
WordPress
developer experience HTMX
75
50
HTMX
WordPress
market trajectory WordPress
55
75
HTMX
WordPress
cost of ownership HTMX
90
35
HTMX
WordPress
Security details
Metric HTMX WordPress
Total CVEs 1 11334
Critical CVEs 0 387
Exploited (KEV) 0 23
CVEs last year 0 4200
Avg CVSS 2.0 6.1
Security score 95/100 22/100
Recommended
HTMX

HTMX scores 79/100. Verdict: Recommended.

Caution
WordPress

WordPress scores 45/100. Consider migrating to: astro, nextjs, hugo.

Alternatives: astro, nextjs, hugo

Quick facts
HTMX
Category: Frontend_lib
Language: JAVASCRIPT
First release: 2020
Generation: Modern
Trend: Rising
Market share: 0.1%
WordPress
Category: Cms
Language: PHP
First release: 2003
Generation: Legacy
Trend: Declining
Market share: 43.0%
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More comparisons
HTMX vs Next.js HTMX vs Drupal HTMX vs React HTMX vs Angular HTMX vs Django HTMX vs Laravel HTMX vs Vue.js HTMX vs Astro HTMX vs Hugo HTMX vs SvelteKit HTMX vs Rails WordPress vs Next.js WordPress vs Drupal WordPress vs React WordPress vs Angular WordPress vs Django WordPress vs Laravel WordPress vs Vue.js WordPress vs Astro WordPress vs Hugo WordPress vs SvelteKit WordPress vs Rails

Data sourced from NVD/NIST CVE database, GitHub API, and WebPulse framework scanner. Scores calculated using a 7-dimension model covering security, performance, ecosystem health, AI-readiness, developer experience, market trajectory, and cost of ownership. Updated October 2026.