WordPress dominates because it solves the cost-versus-flexibility problem better than any alternative. The software itself is free, so your budget goes toward hosting ($8–$40/month for shared or managed), a theme ($0–$200 one-time), and developer time if you need custom work. Compare that to proprietary platforms where you're locked into monthly fees that can hit $300+ for enterprise tiers, and migration off the platform means rebuilding from scratch. The plugin ecosystem is the real advantage. Need an event calendar? WooCommerce for eCommerce? Yoast or RankMath for SEO? Gravity Forms for lead capture? All solved without custom code. At Ottawa SEO, we've built everything from local service sites to 50,000-page affiliate operations on WordPress because you can start simple and scale without switching platforms. A basic brochure site might use 5 plugins; a complex membership portal might use 25. Both run on the same core. SEO is another reason. WordPress outputs clean HTML, supports proper heading hierarchy, handles URL structures well, and integrates with schema markup plugins. Google doesn't care what CMS you use, but WordPress makes it easier to do technical SEO correctly without fighting the platform. Permalink customization, XML sitemaps, meta control—all standard. The tradeoffs: WordPress requires maintenance. Core updates every few months, plugin updates weekly, PHP and database management if you're on unmanaged hosting. Security depends on keeping things current and avoiding sketchy plugins. For a 10-page static site that never changes, a site builder like Webflow might be simpler. For anything that needs to grow, integrate with other tools, or get customized down the road, WordPress gives you options without vendor lock-in. We default to WordPress for 80% of projects because clients can find developers anywhere, the community support is massive, and you're not betting your digital asset on a single company's survival. You own the code, you control the hosting, you can move it whenever you want.