Hi everyone.
This period is probably the worst for me in 10 years of designing themes on Themeforest. I don’t know if the market has gone down or my ability has run out or for some reason I have been left behind.
Maybe i will look for another job, join some company for example 
I wonder how you guys got through the bad times?
Thanks for being here
The market has gone down bad… is not you!
We’ve talked a lot about this already. But still, do you think it’s Envato market itself that’s declining or the entire WordPress ecosystem? Or maybe it’s something global?
WordPress is still popular is nr.1, it might be a decline in WordPress but it should not be so serious to be as bad as it is now…
This is what AI answered…
As of November 2024, WordPress continues to be the leading content management system (CMS), powering approximately 43% of all websites globally.
This dominance has been consistent over the years, with WordPress maintaining a significant lead over its competitors.
While there was a slight decline in market share from an all-time high of 65.2% in January 2022 to 63.1% in July 2023 among websites with a known CMS,
this decrease is relatively minor and does not indicate a significant downward trend.
Looking ahead to 2025, industry analyses suggest that WordPress will maintain its strong position. Its adaptability, extensive plugin ecosystem, and robust community support contribute to its resilience and ongoing popularity. Therefore, there is no substantial evidence to suggest that WordPress will experience a decline in 2025.As of November 2024, WordPress continues to be the leading content management system (CMS), powering approximately 43% of all websites globally.
This dominance has been consistent over the years, with WordPress maintaining a significant lead over its competitors.
While there was a slight decline in market share from an all-time high of 65.2% in January 2022 to 63.1% in July 2023 among websites with a known CMS,
this decrease is relatively minor and does not indicate a significant downward trend.
Looking ahead to 2025, industry analyses suggest that WordPress will maintain its strong position. Its adaptability, extensive plugin ecosystem, and robust community support contribute to its resilience and ongoing popularity. Therefore, there is no substantial evidence to suggest that WordPress will experience a decline in 2025.
There is something wrong here globally, WordPress may still be number one but it has been impossible to send a theme update to wordpress.org and get a response, it has been almost a month and they have not even looked at publishing my theme.
Our skills have not dulled, on the contrary, I can say that I am at the top but it is meaningless, and because I am a bit old, no one responds to my job applications, but I don’t care much anymore because I think I made the right investments with what I earned in the past.
I think you are experiencing what many are.
To be clear I am not an author, I am an IT Implementation Specialist and Security Consultant.
I have seen a steep increase in rather poorly created plugins and themes in various categories, as well as some very well thought through but handicapped (by plugin vendors) versions.
I have had plenty of conversations with my clients who simply did not understand the need, benefit, or potential fallout when it comes to using untrusted sources.
As others have described there is a systematic issue on top of it all. The current situation with WordPress and its Vendor aside, I can support the premise that we are seeing issues on almost every level when it comes to website or application development.
I spend more time on security loopholes in what I deem phenomenal themes and plugins, which are opened by third party vendors. Elementor, Divi, etc. are some of the bigger problems while WpBakery cannot be excluded.
I work with other developers and assist at times in their assessments and had a series of discussions in November of 2023, and raised some concerns based on their standard business practices as AI at the time started making “waves”.
As it stands I had forecasted a decline in clients (has happened), decline in revenue (clients less willing to pay the costs), and in turn in the reduction of purchases and staffing levels.
I want to say don’t despair, but the situation is sadly a reality, we are due for a few years of uncertainty based on global politics, but at the same time the elephant in the room is AI. We have seen improvements and growth on a scale which make the Industrial Revolution seem like a hiccup.
I personally believe most developers who show the care as you do, are worth every penny, but with economic contraction comes the closing of businesses, this in itself will affect most of us.
However what it does bring is the drive for efficiency (and here I don’t talk about AI). Analyse your products, find out if you can make them useful tools on a different level. Websites, themes, plugins before were performing some tasks, but now it is important to see if you can make them be part of actual business processes, and a little warning… That isn’t easy.
But I can guarantee you that most of my clients are looking at trying to make things better in their decision making and operations by providing staff with tools they can use. Forget the AI buzzword. It comes down to discovering who your clients (not the developers or designers) are and provide something else. They will pay for it.
I hope that helps a little, chin up you are doing a great job. Look at alternative revenue streams, and try to avoid too much of the cloud/ai environment.
Philipp