The State of Web Vitals

WordPress script loading attributes and the Core Web Vitals

89.1% of audited sites (56,414) still execute render-blocking synchronous scripts and drop to 75% good LCP (1.8s median), compared to 76% good LCP on sites using async (92.0%) and 76% on ES modules (14.1%).

Field data PhoneDesktopAll Scope All sites October 2026 edition · Desktop field outcomes · WordPress sites only
WordPress Scoped to 63,295 sites out of 203,892 analyzed (cms) Compare with all sites →
LCP Loading INP Interaction

14.1% of WordPress sites use ES module scripts script loading strategy, and 76% of those sites have a good LCP, against 76% of all WordPress sites.

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · WordPress: 63,295 crawled sites · 17,005 with desktop field data · 63,282 sites with script loading strategyBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
1

Core Web Vitals pass rate

Sites with ES module scripts script loading strategy have a good LCP most often: 76%, against 76% of all WordPress sites. Sites with deferred scripts script loading have it least often, at 72%.

SitesGood, needs improvement, poor LCPMedian
All WordPress sites17,00576%1.7s
ES module (<script type="module">) 14.1%2,76676%1.7s
Inline <script> blocks 99.9%16,99976%1.7s
Async (<script async>) 92.0%16,32276%1.7s
Dynamic / script-injected 90.4%15,08875%1.8s
Render-blocking (<script src>) 89.1%15,04075%1.8s
Deferred (<script defer>) 53.0%10,34472%1.9s
Legacy fallback (<script nomodule>) 0.1%1759%1.9s
GoodNeeds improvementPoorSites: with Chrome field data
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · WordPress: 63,295 crawled sites · 17,005 with desktop field data · 63,282 sites with script loading strategyBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
2

Script loading strategy usage

Inline scripts is the most used: 99.9% of WordPress sites. ES module scripts is 14.1% of WordPress sites.

Sites using each option (sites can use more than one) 63,282 sites
Inline <script> blocks 99.9% Async (<script async>) 92.0% Dynamic / script-injected 90.4% Render-blocking (<script src>) 89.1% Deferred (<script defer>) 53.0%
Inline <script> blocks 99.9% Async (<script async>) 92.0% Dynamic / script-injected 90.4% Render-blocking (<script src>) 89.1% Deferred (<script defer>) 53.0% ES module (<script type="module">) 14.1% Legacy fallback (<script nomodule>) 0.1%
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · WordPress: 63,295 crawled sites · 17,005 with desktop field data · 63,282 sites with script loading strategyBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
3

LCP phase breakdown by script loading attribute

Across the four LCP sub-parts in Chrome's field data, the largest gap between ES module scripts and deferred scripts sits in time to first byte (TTFB): 961 ms median for ES module scripts against 1095 ms for deferred scripts. Overall median field LCP is 1.7s for ES module scripts (TTFB 961 ms, load delay 276 ms, load duration 130 ms, render delay 219 ms) versus 1.9s for deferred scripts.

Median LCP phase breakdown (Chrome field p75) Load delay Median LCP
WordPress sites with script loading strategy 11,803999 ms289 ms219 ms289 mslab 330 ms1.8s
ES module (<script type="module">) 1,979961 ms276 ms219 ms276 mslab 323 ms1.7s
Inline <script> blocks 11,799999 ms289 ms219 ms289 mslab 331 ms1.8s
Deferred (<script defer>) 7,3621095 ms290 ms229 ms290 mslab 329 ms1.9s
Async (<script async>) 11,3931001 ms290 ms220 ms290 mslab 332 ms1.8s
Dynamic / script-injected 10,4951005 ms291 ms217 ms291 mslab 338 ms1.8s
Render-blocking (<script src>) 10,4731016 ms297 ms219 ms297 mslab 343 ms1.8s
TTFB Resource load delay Resource load time Element render delay
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · WordPress: 63,295 crawled sites · 17,005 with desktop field data · 63,282 sites with script loading strategyBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
4

Script loading strategy per framework

Vue sets the script loading strategy to ES module scripts on 82% of its sites, and 75% of Vue sites have a good LCP, against 76% of all sites. jQuery sets the script loading strategy to inline scripts on 100% of its sites, and 75% of jQuery sites have a good LCP.

FrameworkScript loading strategy on its sitesGood LCP
WordPress sites with script loading strategy 63,282 sitesInline <script> blocks 100%Async (<script async>) 92%Dynamic / script-injected 90%Render-blocking (<script src>) 89%Deferred (<script defer>) 53%ES module (<script type="module">) 14%76%
Alpine 380 sitesInline <script> blocks 100%Async (<script async>) 98%Dynamic / script-injected 87%Render-blocking (<script src>) 83%Deferred (<script defer>) 73%ES module (<script type="module">) 23%82%
jQuery 60,313 sitesInline <script> blocks 100%Async (<script async>) 93%Render-blocking (<script src>) 91%Dynamic / script-injected 91%Deferred (<script defer>) 54%ES module (<script type="module">) 14%75%
Vue 4,844 sitesInline <script> blocks 100%Render-blocking (<script src>) 95%Dynamic / script-injected 91%Async (<script async>) 88%ES module (<script type="module">) 82%Deferred (<script defer>) 47%75%
React 2,233 sitesInline <script> blocks 100%Async (<script async>) 92%Dynamic / script-injected 91%Render-blocking (<script src>) 89%Deferred (<script defer>) 71%ES module (<script type="module">) 20%66%
Inline <script> blocks Async (<script async>) Dynamic / script-injected Render-blocking (<script src>) Deferred (<script defer>) ES module (<script type="module">) Legacy fallback (<script nomodule>)
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · WordPress: 63,295 crawled sites · 17,005 with desktop field data · 63,282 sites with script loading strategyBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
5

Script loading attributes or the framework

Does the framework explain the script loading strategy difference?

On jQuery, 75% of sites with ES module scripts script loading strategy have a good LCP, against 75% of jQuery sites with inline scripts. Within jQuery, sites with ES module scripts and inline scripts have a good LCP about equally often. On Vue, 77% of sites with ES module scripts script loading strategy have a good LCP, against 75% of Vue sites with inline scripts. Within Vue, sites with ES module scripts and inline scripts have a good LCP about equally often.

How synchronous blocking <script> tags halt the HTML parser before LCP

When the HTML parser hits a synchronous <script src> tag without async, defer, or type="module", it must pause DOM construction, wait for the network download, and execute the script before painting. Across 56,414 sites (89.1%) with render-blocking scripts, good LCP drops to 75% (1.8s median). Sites loading scripts with async (92.0%), defer (53.0%), or type="module" (14.1%) reach 76%, 72%, and 76% good LCP.

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · WordPress: 63,295 crawled sites · 17,005 with desktop field data · 63,282 sites with script loading strategyBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
6

Understanding script loading attributes

Register theme and plugin scripts with strategy => defer or async via wp_register_script() (WordPress 6.3+), and move legacy jQuery dependencies out of the critical rendering path. On WordPress, 89.1% of sites still ship render-blocking scripts (75% good LCP) while 14.1% use ES modules (76% good LCP).

Go fix it async vs defer → 14 methods to defer JavaScript → Head vs footer JavaScript →
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · WordPress: 63,295 crawled sites · 17,005 with desktop field data · 63,282 sites with script loading strategyBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
Related signals Cookies per site → Uses @import → DOM size → Images per page → By Arjen Karel · 63,295 crawled WordPress sites (17,005 with desktop Chrome field data, 63,282 sites with script loading strategy, October 2026) · How we measured