In 2023, we launched the first-ever ACF annual survey, marking a significant milestone in our efforts to understand and support our user community. This initiative was designed to gather insights into how users are leveraging ACF to build WordPress sites, and to guide our development efforts accordingly. Now, with the completion of our second annual survey, we are excited to share the latest findings and trends that will help shape ACF’s roadmap.
The 2024 survey builds upon the foundation established last year, providing a deeper understanding of user preferences, development practices, and emerging trends within the WordPress ecosystem. With a strong response from our user base, this year’s survey offers a fresh perspective on how ACF users are adapting to the latest advancements in WordPress.
Below, we look into some of the key findings from the 2024 survey, highlighting the most significant trends, user behaviors, and feature usage. We are grateful for the participation and feedback from our community, which is instrumental in guiding the evolution of ACF. Let’s dive into the results and explore how our users are shaping the future of WordPress site development.
Results
What best describes your role with using ACF?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| Developer/Engineer |
973 |
76.48% |
| Business Owner |
115 |
9.05% |
| Designer |
109 |
8.46% |
| Editor/Marketer |
27 |
2.23% |
| Other |
46 |
3.78% |
| TOTAL |
1,270 |
|
“Developer/Engineer” was the most common role among our survey respondents in 2023, and we saw that again in 2024. However, the percentage has declined somewhat since last year. At that time, 81.24% or respondents described their role this way, compared to 76.48% in 2024. All of the other roles increased slightly from their 2023 levels, including in the “Other” category. As last year, many of the responses in the “Other” category were combinations of other roles, such as “Developer/Designer” and “Designer/Business Owner/Developer.”
Which of the following best describes how often you use ACF when building WordPress sites?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| I use ACF for all of my sites |
900 |
70.87% |
| I use ACF for some of my sites |
370 |
29.13% |
Which of the following best describes your work?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| I work at an agency |
592 |
46.44% |
| I am a freelancer |
455 |
35.53% |
| I work at a brand |
170 |
14.95% |
| Other |
64 |
4.08% |
How many developers work at your company?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| Sole developer |
100 |
12.72% |
| 1 – 3 |
437 |
52.72% |
| 4 – 10 |
183 |
22.31% |
| 11 – 20 |
41 |
5.32% |
| More than 20 |
55 |
6.94% |
| TOTAL |
816 |
|
How many sites do you maintain ongoing client support for in a given month?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| 0 – 10 |
341 |
32.87% |
| 11 – 50 |
447 |
42.52% |
| 51 – 200 |
212 |
20.11% |
| 201 – 500 |
34 |
3.21% |
| More than 500 sites |
12 |
1.29% |
What types of WordPress sites are you typically building?
| Answer |
# |
| Classic WordPress – PHP templates with the block editor disabled |
644 |
| Block based using a block theme |
382 |
| Full site editing theme with the block editor |
252 |
| Hybrid – Some FSE, some block editor, some classic |
655 |
| Page Builder sites, using a page builder |
497 |
| Headless WordPress sites |
160 |
| Other |
80 |
Respondents were encouraged to select all applicable answers for this question, so the number or replies shown above is greater than the number of people who participated in the survey this year.
“Classic WordPress” was the single most popular answer in 2023, with 56.28% of respondents indicating they built sites this way. The 2024 survey, however, saw this decline to 49.31%.
The most popular answer in 2024 was “Hybrid”, with 50.15% of respondents indicating they’ve built sites this way, compared to 38.70% in 2023.
Other answers showed less dramatic shifts year over year, with “Block based,” “Full site editing,” and “Headless” all showing small decreases from the 2023 survey. “Page Builder sites” increased slightly, from 33.23% in 2023 to 38.06% this year.
How would you rate your most recent support experience with ACF?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| 1 – Not at all helpful |
20 |
4.23% |
| 2 |
21 |
4.44% |
| 3 |
89 |
18.82% |
| 4 |
132 |
27.91% |
| 5 – Very helpful |
211 |
44.61% |
How important is ACF to your development workflow?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| 1 – Not at all important |
8 |
0.76% |
| 2 |
20 |
1.89% |
| 3 |
96 |
9.08% |
| 4 |
182 |
17.22% |
| 5 – Very important |
751 |
71.05% |
| TOTAL |
1,057 |
|
How do you typically use the block editor for your sites?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| Building custom blocks with ACF Blocks |
449 |
56.55% |
| Building custom blocks with React |
32 |
4.28% |
| Using WordPress native blocks |
229 |
28.27% |
| Other |
88 |
10.89% |
| TOTAL |
798 |
|
Unpacking the “Other” category reveals that usage of ACF Blocks is more widespread than it would appear from the raw numbers. An additional 26 respondents indicated they use ACF Blocks, often in combination with WordPress native blocks, custom blocks built with React, or both. This puts the overall usage of ACF Blocks at 59.52%.
Which third-party ACF plugins have you used?
| Answer |
# |
| ACF Extended |
325 |
| Advanced Custom Fields: Gravity Forms Add-on |
258 |
| ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO |
226 |
| ACF: Better Search |
229 |
| ACF to REST API |
167 |
| Advanced Custom Fields: Table Field |
127 |
| ACF Field For Contact Form 7 |
62 |
| ACF Quick Edit Fields |
74 |
| ACF Columns |
73 |
| ACF Theme Code Pro |
80 |
| ACF Options Page Admin |
77 |
| ACF Custom Database Tables |
67 |
| Advanced Forms Pro |
71 |
| Advanced Custom Fields: Nav Menu Field |
62 |
| ACF Photo Gallery Field |
49 |
| ACF Options For Polylang |
62 |
| ACF Post-2-Post |
55 |
| ACF RGBA Color Picker |
48 |
| ACF qTranslate |
204 |
| Frontend Admin by DynamiApps |
12 |
How often do you use the following ACF fields?
For this question, we asked ACF users to rank how often they used each field (Never, Sometimes, Frequently, or Always). The table below shows the results of the “Always” score for each field, ranked by number of respondents.
| Field |
# |
% |
| Text |
777 |
79.20% |
| Text Area |
629 |
64.51% |
| Image |
560 |
58.33% |
| Repeater |
473 |
49.84% |
| WYSIWYG Editor |
452 |
47.43% |
| Options Pages |
387 |
38.28% |
| Link |
362 |
38.59% |
| True / False |
354 |
37.38% |
| Number |
353 |
36.81% |
| Select |
342 |
36.04% |
| URL |
340 |
35.56% |
| Checkbox |
313 |
32.81% |
| JSON Field Group Sync |
305 |
31.06% |
| Email |
303 |
31.83% |
| Radio Button |
294 |
30.85% |
| Field Conditional Logic |
278 |
27.72% |
| Post Types Registration |
278 |
27.52% |
| Flexible Content |
251 |
26.82% |
| Post Object |
236 |
25.19% |
| Group |
225 |
24.06% |
| Tab |
223 |
23.90% |
| File |
219 |
21.83% |
| Taxonomy Registration |
219 |
21.83% |
| Taxonomy |
188 |
19.83% |
| Button Group |
184 |
19.78% |
| Relationship |
177 |
18.91% |
| Page Link |
169 |
18.17% |
| Clone |
164 |
17.58% |
| Gallery |
154 |
16.35% |
| Message |
114 |
12.28% |
| Accordion |
107 |
11.46% |
| Date Picker |
105 |
11.15% |
| oEmbed |
88 |
9.61% |
| Date Time Picker |
84 |
8.97% |
| Range |
76 |
8.20% |
| Color Picker |
76 |
8.20% |
| Time Picker |
67 |
7.20% |
| REST API |
59 |
6.06% |
| User |
51 |
5.54% |
| ACF Shortcode |
51 |
5.54% |
| Google Map |
48 |
5.17% |
| Password |
46 |
5.00% |
| Icon Picker |
34 |
3.66% |
| Fields on Classic Widgets |
31 |
3.15% |
| ACF Forms |
24 |
2.49% |
Which page builder do you typically use?
| Answer |
# |
| Elementor |
171 |
| Divi |
61 |
| Bricks Builder |
89 |
| Beaver Builder |
42 |
| WPBakery |
33 |
| Oxygen |
13 |
| Breakdance |
17 |
| Avada Builder |
6 |
| Other |
61 |
The page builder results are very similar to the numbers uncovered in 2023 results, with Elementor showing a commanding lead. In relative terms, there was very little change in most of the results. However, Bricks Builder has increased its share substantially, from 60 respondents in 2023 to 89 in 2024. This is even more impressive when you consider that fewer people overall completed the survey this year. For example, while Elementor is still in the lead with 171 responses, it scored 298 in 2023.
How long have you been using ACF?
| Answers |
# |
% |
| 0 – 6 months |
26 |
2.25% |
| 6 months – 1 year |
36 |
3.12% |
| 1 – 3 years |
135 |
11.71% |
| 3 – 5 years |
343 |
29.75% |
| Since its early days and beyond |
613 |
53.17% |
| TOTAL |
1,153 |
100% |
How comfortable are you with updating your WordPress site with the latest ACF version?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| 1 – Very uncomfortable |
11 |
1.03% |
| 2 |
18 |
1.69% |
| 3 |
70 |
6.57% |
| 4 |
162 |
15.20% |
| 5 – Very comfortable |
805 |
75.52% |
How likely are you to continue building sites with WordPress?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| 1- Very unlikely |
12 |
0.94% |
| 2 |
17 |
1.33% |
| 3 |
57 |
4.47% |
| 4 |
202 |
16% |
| 5- Very likely |
982 |
77.25% |
At the time the survey was conducted, respondents were generally enthusiastic about WordPress, with 77.25% saying they were “very likely” to continue using it to build sites This is not a huge change from 2023, when 76.28% of respondents gave this answer. In general, the answers to this question haven’t changed much since 2023.
Do you typically use version control in your site development?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| Yes |
637 |
60.26% |
| No |
420 |
39.74% |
| TOTAL |
1,057 |
|
Do you currently work on any WordPress multisites?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| Yes |
503 |
39.61% |
| No |
767 |
60.39% |
| TOTAL |
1,270 |
|
Do you use Composer for your site builds to manage dependencies?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| Yes |
241 |
22.80% |
| No |
816 |
77.20% |
| TOTAL |
1,057 |
|
What tool do you typically use for local site development?
| Answer |
# |
% |
| Local |
463 |
43.80% |
| I don’t use a tool for local development |
175 |
16.56% |
| Other (please specify) |
165 |
15.52% |
| MAMP |
140 |
13.25% |
| Docker |
69 |
6.53% |
| Valet |
29 |
2.74% |
| Studio |
10 |
0.95% |
| Vagrant |
7 |
0.66% |
| TOTAL |
1068 |
|
Which of the following deployment methods do you use? Select all that apply.
| Answer |
# |
| FTP |
599 |
| Git Push on WP Engine |
165 |
| WP Migrate |
254 |
| All-in-One WP Migration |
250 |
| GitHub Action |
211 |
| Bitbucket pipelines |
96 |
| Local MagicSync |
54 |
| Other |
231 |
| None – I work directly in a site environment |
163 |
| Duplicator |
121 |
| WPvivid |
61 |
| Migrate Guru |
29 |
