WordPress vs. WP Engine Feud: Should You Move Your Site Away from WP Engine?

The WordPress ecosystem is undergoing an unprecedented feud pitting WordPress’s founder Matt Mullenweg, WordPress.org, and WordPress Foundation against WP Engine. WP Engine is a venture capital-backed WordPress hosting company that has seen its business come under threat after Matt Mullenweg called it a “cancer to WordPress”. In this article, we look into the WordPress vs. WP Engine Feud and answer the question of whether you should move your site from WP Engine if you are a customer.

What Caused the WordPress vs. WP Engine Feud?

The #WordPressvWPEngine feud and consequent drama between WordPress and WP Engine started in September this year; when Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, and the owner of Automattic and WordPress.org, called out WP Engine for using the ‘WordPress’ trademark to enrich themselves; without meaningfully contributing back to the WordPress community and it’s open-source development.

Essentially, Matt singled out WP Engine as a “cancer to WordPress” for making “billions” on top of WordPress but doing so little to give back. Matt’s reaction, as per reports, was triggered by a failure in trademark licensing talks between himself and WP Engine.

Matt then went on to call out WP Engine for removing ‘post revisions’ for their entire user base, saying that this broke WordPress’ promise to its users to keep their content safe. In a recent blog post, Matt also called out WP Engine for removing the ‘WordPress News’ dashboard item after things got increasingly heated between the two entities.

WordPress vs. WP Engine: Isn’t WordPress Open-Source?

Yes. WordPress, the content management system (CMS) is open-source and licensed under GPL version 2 which essentially allows anyone to “view, modify, distribute, and edit” its source code.

Theoretically, this means that any individual, company, or entity can make any changes whatsoever to the core WordPress code and use it commercially. In practice, however, the feud between Matt (and his companies) and WP Engine has cast doubt on that.

The Trademarked “WordPress” Term

Until now, what one couldn’t do is use the trademarked term “WordPress” for commercial purposes without approval from Automattic – the company that owns the trademark. Automattic is owned by Matt Mullenweg, as is WordPress.org, the company that provides the functionality behind WordPress’s plugins, themes, and functionalities. Automattic has recently also applied to trademark the terms “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress”.

In simpler terms, there is the WordPress source code – which makes up its crux, normally referred to as “core WordPress” which in itself, is not very functional and relies on WordPress.org. For WordPress to work optimally, it requires plugins, themes, and other assets or resources and these are channeled via WordPress.org.

Understanding What is What in the WP Engine vs. WordPress Feud

It is essential to note that only WordPress’s source code or ‘core WordPress’ is open-source. The plugins, themes, and resources are provided as per their authors/developers’ terms; even as most themes and plugins are also provided as open-source by their developers. Devs do this mostly out of goodwill.

The “WordPress” term, however, is trademarked as we’ve seen, while the connectivity or infrastructural support offered through WordPress.org is proprietary. What this means is that WordPress.org can choose to deny any company, individual, or entity back-end access to WordPress resources, and that’s exactly what Matt and WordPress.org did to WP Engine.

How Matt Mullenweg and WordPress.org Cut Off WP Engine’s Access to Back-End Resources

When things got legal and WP Engine sent a ‘cease-and-desist’ letter to WordPress’s founder Matt and his company Automattic, Matt replied by denying WP Engine back-end access to WordPress.org’s resources. This meant that anyone hosting their site with WP Engine could not update plugins or themes in their site’s back-end (via WordPress.org) and could only do this manually by downloading the plugin/theme from the WordPress repository, and uploading them to their site.

Today in Matt destroys the WordPress community: you can’t add plugins directly from the .org repo if you have a WP Engine site. And I can confirm that this is happening.https://t.co/vRd7jliVsM pic.twitter.com/9XGAtXhUoN

— Jacob Martella (@ViewFromTheBox) September 25, 2024

The ACF Plugin

Matt then kicked it up a notch higher and denied WP Engine the ability to update their popular plugin ‘Advanced Custom Fields’ or ACF. The plugin, which allows developers to easily create custom fields, taxonomies, plugins, and much more (on top of WordPress core) was something a lot of devs and users depended on.

It was also one of the main reasons that a lot of WordPress users hosted their sites on WP Engine, as the company was the one behind the ACF plugin and was maintaining it.

Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, has misused his control of WordPress to interfere with WP Engine customers’ access to https://t.co/ZpKb9q4jPh, asserting that he did so because WP Engine filed litigation against https://t.co/erlNmkIol2. This simply is not true. Our Cease &…

— WP Engine (@wpengine) September 26, 2024

What does the Advanced Custom Field (ACF) Plugin Do?

ACF provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for creating back-end edit screens, which are essential to anyone trying to develop themes, plugins, etc. Instead of creating a custom field directly in PHP code, devs could access an interface allowing them to create several custom fields in a fraction of the time.

WordPress vs. WP Engine Drama: A Legal Battle

Following their initial legal exchanges, Matt allowed WP Engine access to WordPress.org momentarily – for about 3 days – before restricting it again. During this period, WP Engine made some changes to the wording on its website; saying that it is not owned, affiliated with, or endorsed by WordPress, WordPress Foundation, or WooCommerce. WooCommerce is another company owned by WordPress, which deals with creating e-commerce websites.

Automattic also made changes to its Trademark Policy and even singled out WPEngine saying that a lot of people would mistake ‘WordPress Engine’ as a company that is endorsed or associated with WordPress itself. And by WordPress here we mean Automattic, the company that owns the “WordPress” trademark. It also implies the WordPress Foundation, which is a foundation owned by Matt that supports the open-source WordPress core (CMS) project.

Automattic also owns “WooCommerce” and the “Woo” trademarks and all these companies and trademarks are essentially owned by Matt Mullenweg. Quite confusing but that’s how it is.

In response to WP Engine’s ‘cease-and-desist’ letter – which was addressed to Matt directly and his companies – Matt replied by sending a ‘cease-and-desist’ letter from his company Automattic to WP Engine. Here’s a video from ‘WPTuts’ explaining more.

Things then went a notch higher with WPEngine going to a California Court where they asked that their access to WordPress.org be reinstated. They claimed that the WordPress.org restrictions posed “material harm” to their business. A legal scuffle between the two then followed, when WP Engine sought to have the court speed up the timing of the hearing of the case.

In response to that request,  Matt and Automattic wrote to the court saying that the crux of the issue was not WP Engine’s business; but that they used the “WordPress” brand and trademark to make billions in profit, without meaningfully contributing to the WordPress open-source project.

Matt later accused WP Engine of capitalizing on “confusion” as most people would confuse the company’s brand as “WordPress Engine”, which implicitly could imply that they are associated with WordPress.

The judge finally decided that the case would be heard on November 26th.

I hope you are with me… It’s quite the mindbender.

Is WP Engine Wrong to Use the Abbreviation “WP”?

The thing is,… the abbreviation “WP” is not trademarked by Automattic or any of the other of Matt Mullenweg companies. Even so, WP is definitely used to abbreviate the trademarked “WordPress” term; and over time, it has become accepted as an acronym for WordPress. As a result, the brand term “WP Engine” is accepted and understood to mean “WordPress Engine”.

Looking at it this way, you start seeing where Matt is coming from. Note also that WordPress Foundation is a non-profit while Automattic is a for-profit organization. So, despite the open-source core WordPress, Matt does have economic and philanthropic interests tied to WordPress.

The Silver Lake Issue and Matt’s Legal Challenge to Possible Copyright Infringement

WP Engine was acquired by a venture capital firm, Silver Lake earlier this year, at around the same time Automattic and Matt were looking to more keenly scrutinize the use of their trademarked “WordPress” term commercially – by third parties. Watch the video below for more on Matt’s and WordPress’s point of view.

Matt and Automattic had warned since late last year that they would start to mount legal challenges against possible trademark infringements of the WordPress term and brand. This came to pass around June/July this year, with the company pursuing possible infringements via the courts.

In the background, Matt was also speaking to WP Engine, trying to craft a licensing deal with them. He allegedly wanted WP Engine to pay 8% of its profits to acquire the licensing rights to use the “WordPress” term commercially.

When these talks hit a snag, Matt then started his onslaught against WP Engine, understandably out of frustration as he felt they were just “stringing us along”, as he said. This onslaught is now what has escalated the issue up to where it is now.

Our View: Are Matt Mullenweg’s Claims Against WP Engine Justified?

When you work on something for so long and give a big part of your life to it, it is often the case that you become very attached. My journey creating this site, for instance, over a 5-year period has seen me face a lot of challenges. In that strife, I became more and more attached to this site and its development, its content, maintenance, and so on.

I think Matt feels the same way about WordPress. To him, it is his ‘baby’, and I feel he is being this protective because he truly cherishes it and knows how much hard work and dedication it took for him (and the entire WordPress Community) to get it to where it is today.

For WP Engine, now backed by a venture capitalist, to make billions off his creation (open-source or not) while restricting some core functionalities (such as the ability to have and rely on post revisions) for WordPress users – without contributing meaningfully to the WP open-source project – then it must feel like a betrayal.

Do Post Revisions Matter in WordPress?

You may wonder what the fuss is all about in terms of post revisions but they are crucial. When writing or editing a post, I am more at ease knowing that, in the background, WordPress is saving my edits and in case of anything – be it a power outage or a connection breakdown – I can go back to a revision and still get a previous or more recent version of my post.

Taking away this safety net, for me, is unacceptable. You should know that WP Engine does have the option for users to allow up to 3 revisions, but only when a user contacts support. The thinking behind this post-revisions restriction, Matt says, is that the revisions slow down sites.

Indeed, having too many post revisions (that have piled up over time) in your WordPress database can slow down your site. You can read more about that in our ‘How to Speed Up a WordPress Site for Technical and Non-Technical Users’ post but, in my view, it is better if the revisions are enabled by default; and when I have written a post and feel it is satisfactory, I (as a user) can choose to remove them from the database.

If post revisions are disabled by default, as WP Engine does, then if I made a mistake or pressed the wrong keys and accidentally deleted the entire post, I would have nothing to go back to; forcing me to start over from scratch. That is quite painful and annoying, and denies users the freedom to choose how to handle post-revisions.

Why Post Revisions Matter in WordPress CMS

It takes a lot of work for a single blog post to come to life: you have to type it first – advisably elsewhere – bring it over to the WordPress Dashboard, add headings, links, images, and anything else you want on the post, read everything through and/or look at a preview, and then go on to post it. In some cases, you will even need to save a draft on WordPress, and wait for an editor to go over it and make edits to the post.

Not having revisions to rely on if anything went wrong (anywhere in this process) would be a huge injustice, as Matt pointed out. Matt suggested that WP Engine could be blocking revisions to “avoid the costs of storing this data” – for the numerous sites that use their service – and for a company making billions on top of WordPress to do that would be nothing short of despicable. Especially, since they are not keen to contribute to open-source WordPress, something that even Google does.

Should WP Engine Be Forced to Contribute to WordPress?

No. WP Engine should not be forced to contribute to WordPress’ open-source project. No one should. Morally speaking, however, it speaks volumes that they choose not to. I mean, if I were a company making money on Wildlife in Kenya, for instance, why wouldn’t I contribute to wildlife and ecosystem conservation, which is the vehicle for my business?

Why does it have to take an uproar from Matt and the WordPress Foundation for WP Engine to seriously think of contributing to WordPress open-source? Doesn’t that show that all they care about is profits – and not the actual technology or community their business is based on?

I mean, if you were making billions on YouTube, wouldn’t you want YouTube to flourish and be better for everyone?

Should You Move Your Site Away from WP Engine?

If you asked me whether to move your site away from WP Engine a month ago, I’d tell you there’s no need to overreact. But now, I’d say you are better off moving your site away from WP Engine. Here’s why:

Issues with WordPress Resources

First, updating themes and plugins with the WordPress.org restriction in place is bound to be hell. Imagine having 10 sites and having to download 20 plugins for each of them – from the WordPress repository – and then having to upload all the plugins to all the sites manually. You’d have to download and install plugins 200 times in that case, if you are not using multisite. This would be too cumbersome and really not worth staying at WP Engine, a service that you actually pay for.

Lost Trust

WP Engine’s decision to remove the ‘WordPress News’ data card (or box) from sites’ dashboards – to hide Matt’s and Automattic’s news posts from their users – was very distasteful, in my view. It showed that WP Engine knew they were doing something wrong and didn’t want their users to have access to information that goes against their point of view. Needless to say, this goes against the trust of their users and you can imagine if, next time, they decided to block an update for a plugin that was competing with one of their own.

Consequently, I would not continue trusting WP Engine to host my website, especially if it is something I rely on for my daily income. I’d find a better host and move my site somewhere where I have more freedom and control; over what’s enabled on my site as per what my needs are.

You Cannot Make Hay Without the Sun

Another reason I would move my site away from WP Engine, if they were my hosts today, is simply knowing that “you cannot make hay without the sun”. Yes, we will go through all this #WPDrama and legal battles but at the end of the day, as a WordPress user, I should know that I cannot successfully run a business (make hay) without the sun (WordPress.org resources). It’s as simple as that.

A Lack of Goodwill

All WordPress users need easy, unrestricted, and seamless access to plugins and theme updates, and the ability to access the rich open-source code – and platform improvements – that the entire WordPress community develops and creates. The mere fact that a company such as WP Engine doesn’t want to contribute whilst – at the same time – blocking user access to some features is enough reason, I think, for them to be undeserving of my trust or my money.

WP Engine’s actions are the most blatant indication of a lack of goodwill; especially since they would rather fight the companies and founders of the technology they rely on, rather than contribute meaningfully. This shows that they had no intention of contributing to the WP open-source project in the first place, or even do so in the future.

WP Engine Alternatives: What WordPress Hosts Do I Recommend?

I have been on WordPress for about 5 years and used most of its features and capabilities. I am grateful for the openness, flexibility, and access I get on WordPress and the fact that I get it for free. I – for one- would not wish to see WordPress locked up under a subscription or paywall and that’s why I think any WP Engine user should move away rather than wait and be part of a sinking ship.

For Flexibility, Options, and Reliability: Cloudways

In my experience, to get the utmost flexibility, freedom, and functionality while using WordPress, you should move your site to Cloudways Cloud Hosting.
Cloudways gives you a myriad of one-click options and features, meaning that you can immerse yourself in full, total control of everything going on in your site. From the get-go, you have access to and can tweak anything from FTP access, SSH access, WP database, backups, SSL certificates, PHP settings and values, domain management, and so much more.

You can get a 20% Cloudways Discount by using our promo code ‘MANIAINC‘. We may get a commission when you do or when you get a Cloudways plan via one of our links.

All these features you’ll get for a reasonable price, and with a very intuitive and user-friendly interface. You will also get the flexibility to host your site(s) on numerous cloud servers from providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, Linode, Vultr, and Digital Ocean.

Cloudways’ payment system is also Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and you only pay for what you use, calculated on an hourly basis. Cloudways also supports WooCommerce, and when you start a new WordPress or WooCommerce app, it comes preloaded with MalCare security, and with support from their global CDN.

Should I Move Away from WordPress Completely?

I have hosted my sites on numerous hosting companies, but I always find that Cloudways is the most flexible. I have also moved away from WordPress in the past – and tried both Substack and Ghost CMS – but no other CMS will give you the openness, freedom, and accessibility to create, as WordPress does.

12 years ago when I announced @Ghost, I got the most criticism for this line of my original blog post:

“No corporate arm of the law. Ghost would be free as in Mozilla, not as in Automattic … Every decision made would be about improving the software, not the bottom line.”…

— John O’Nolan (@JohnONolan) September 27, 2024

You will also not find any other CMS with as much community support (from a wide range of web development professionals and companies) or extensive support documentation (and forums) like WordPress.

Why Cloudways?

In many ways, Cloudways is to web hosts what WordPress is to CMSs. Now, you might say, this guy has a vested interest but I recommend Cloudways because it’s what I use. I have worked and developed my sites on it for years and it seldom lets me down. Even more, whenever there is an issue, I can rely on their 24/7 support to help me sort it.

You can start a free 3-day trial of Cloudways and check it out. We may earn a commission.

For Shared Hosting and Non-Resource Intensive Websites: DreamHost

I would also recommend that you check out DreamHost, another hosting company I have used and loved. They offer reasonable pricing, have very well-detailed support documentation, and good customer support.

I would also recommend them if you are looking for shared hosting or your use case is non-resource intensive.

That is not to say that they cannot handle big websites. They are more than capable but do offer a very good service overall, especially on the shared hosting side of things, in my experience.

You can get a huge Cyber Friday discount from Dreamhost. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Be sure to also check out our guide on choosing the right web host, to ensure you make the right choice for your budget.

Summing Up: Will the WordPress vs. WP Engine Feud Have a Ripple Effect on Other Hosts?

A lot of people have shared concerns that the WordPress vs. WP Engine feud could have knock-on ripple effects on other hosts (and the entire WP community) but I disagree. Yes, companies and individuals using the WordPress trademark for commercial purposes will need to pay up – and will probably need an official license from Automattic moving forward.

The only danger I see in this is that it may set a precedent where Automattic determines who the most successful WordPress host will be, and I am very sure that’s the idea behind their own hosting company, Pressable.

WordPress’s founder, Matt Mullenweg is obviously disillusioned by the huge success stories of companies like WP Engine, and I am sure he’s making efforts to not only undercut them commercially but also claw back some of that business for his own companies.

What else would explain an Automattic tracker for websites leaving WP Engine?

Regardless of what his motivations really are, I wouldn’t stick around on WP Engine to find out. It is better to cut your losses and move your site away from WP Engine as early as now, rather than wait to be locked into WP Engine by a court development (for instance) or more resource restrictions.

Cloudways offers the best overall WP Engine alternative and they have a seamless migration plugin to help move your site along – with just a single click. Thank me later. 😉

You can watch the video below for a breakdown of what has transpired between WordPress and WP Engine. Courtesy of Michael Tunnel.