Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a “cancer to WordPress” and says it profits off confusion between the WordPress project and commercial services
Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg unleashed a scathing attack on a rival firm this week, calling WP Engine a “cancer to WordPress.”
TechCrunchPaul Sawers
Context & Ripple Effects
The dispute centers on who may commercially benefit from the WordPress name and ecosystem, and whether customers can clearly distinguish the open project from paid services. It quickly moved beyond rhetoric: WP Engine sought a retraction through a cease-and-desist letter, while Mullenweg later said Automattic had pursued a licensing arrangement with the company.
The episode also exposed a governance problem around assets associated with WordPress. Mullenweg’s later assertion that WordPress.org belongs to him personally made the boundary between the project, its public infrastructure, and Automattic a central issue in the conflict.
First-order effects
The public attack puts WP Engine’s branding and relationship to the WordPress ecosystem under immediate scrutiny, while making Automattic and Mullenweg the visible enforcers of that distinction.
It turns a commercial disagreement into a reputational and legal-risk dispute for both sides, as reflected in WP Engine’s subsequent demand for a retraction.
Second-order effects
Hosting providers and other businesses built around WordPress have a stronger incentive to clarify their use of WordPress-related names and describe their commercial affiliation precisely.
The dispute shifts attention toward licensing as a lever over ecosystem participants, after Mullenweg said Automattic had long sought a licensing deal with WP Engine.
Third-order effects
If conflicts over naming, access, and commercial participation persist, WordPress’s open ecosystem may face sustained pressure for clearer separation between project governance and companies that monetize adjacent services.
The later lawsuit suggests these disputes can move from community norms to courts, where control over shared infrastructure and brand identity may be tested more formally.
The trend: This is one data point in the growing tension between open-source projects’ community identity and the commercial companies that capture value around them.
“WP Engine has misleading branding and provides butchered WordPress with revisions disabled” - owner of hosting called WordPress, that doesn't allow to install plugins https://wordpress.org/...
The increasing stranglehold that WPEngine have over the WordPress ecosystem is worrying. ACF has become very expensive since they bought it, and new features are few and far between. https://wordpress.org/...
The enshitification at WP Engine is real. I was never a fan just because it's so expensive although I did try it because they gave away free sites to people at a WordCamp or some other event I attended back in the day. I'm so glad Matt wrote this.
What Lee Witinger and Silver Lake ($102B PE firm: @silverlake_news) are doing with @wpengine is morally wrong and abhorrent. Every open source founder should watch them closely and if they do not reverse this behavior through ACTION, never work with them! https://wordpress.org/..…
Following the blog by @photomatt, we've decided to remove @wpengine from our hosting lists on @select_wp for now, and we'll add it again after a thorough check. We'll also check if any other hosting is also doing the same. https://wordpress.org/... #wordpress #wphosting
Setting aside feelings about Automattic for a moment. I am glad @photomatt as lead of @WordPress is taking a stand against free riders or about the commons we take for granted. We need this conversation dare I say. And I do believe a lot of good will eventually come out of it
Someone made a brilliant suggestion: Use the commercial trademark license to start a new hosting brand called WordPress Engine, match all the pricing and offerings of WPE. Spend millions on marketing WordPress Engine to get customers; start a conference (RE{CODE}), WordPress
The community flips out over @PhotoMatt's post: “What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress, it's something that they've chopped up, hacked, butchered to look like WordPress, but actually they're giving you a cheap knock-off and charging you more for it” https://wordpress.org/...