Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg unleashed a scathing assault on a rival agency this week, calling WP Engine a “most cancers to WordPress.”
Mullenweg criticized the corporate — which has been commercializing the open supply WordPress mission since 2010 — for profiteering with out giving a lot again, whereas additionally disabling key options that make WordPress such a robust platform within the first place.
For context, WordPress powers greater than 40% of the net, and whereas any particular person or firm is free to take the open supply mission and run an internet site themselves, a variety of companies have sprung as much as promote internet hosting companies and technical experience off the again of it. These embrace Automattic, which Mullenweg arrange in 2005 to monetize the mission he’d created two years earlier; and WP Engine, a managed WordPress internet hosting supplier that has raised practically $300 million in funding over its 14-year historical past, the majority of which got here through a $250 million funding from personal fairness agency Silver Lake in 2018.
Talking this week at WordCamp US 2024, a WordPress-focused convention held in Portland, Oregon, Mullenweg pulled no punches in his criticism of WP Engine. Taking to the stage, Mullenweg learn out a put up he had simply printed to his private weblog, the place he factors to the distinct “5 for the long run” funding pledges made by Automattic and WP Engine, with the former contributing 3,900 hours per week, and the latter contributing simply 40 hours.
Whereas he acknowledged that these figures are only a “proxy,” and may not be completely correct, Mullenweg mentioned that this disparity in contributions is notable, as each Automattic and WP Engine “are roughly the identical dimension, with income within the ballpark of half-a-billion [dollars].”
Mullenweg has levelled criticism at not less than one different big-name net host previously, accusing GoDaddy of profiteering from the open supply mission with out giving something significant again — extra particularly, he known as GoDaddy a “parasitic firm” and an “existential menace to WordPress’ future”.
In his newest offensive, Mullenweg didn’t cease at WP Engine, he prolonged his criticism to the corporate’s predominant investor.
“The corporate [WP Engine] is managed by Silver Lake, a non-public fairness agency with $102 billion in belongings underneath administration,” Mullenweg mentioned. “Silver Lake doesn’t give a dang about your open supply beliefs, it simply needs return on capital. So it’s at this level that I ask everybody within the WordPress group to go vote along with your pockets. Who’re you giving your cash to — somebody who’s going to nourish the ecosystem, or somebody who’s going to frack each little bit of worth out of it till it withers?”
In response to a query submitted by an viewers member later, asking for readability on whether or not Mullenweg was asking WordPress customers to boycott WP Engine, he mentioned that he hoped each WP Engine buyer would watch his presentation, and in relation to the time after they’re renewing their contracts, they need to take into consideration their subsequent steps.
“There’s some actually hungry different hosts — Hostinger, Bluehost Cloud, Pressable, and so forth, that will like to get that enterprise,” Mullenweg mentioned. “You may get quicker efficiency even switching to another person, and migrating has by no means been simpler. That’s a part of the concept of information liberation. It’s, like, in the future of labor to modify your website to one thing else, and I’d extremely encourage you to consider that when your contract renewal comes up, should you’re at present a buyer with WP Engine.”
‘A most cancers to WordPress’
In response to the brouhaha that adopted the discuss, Mullenweg printed a observe up weblog put up, the place he calls WP Engine a “most cancers” to WordPress. “It’s essential to do not forget that unchecked, most cancers will unfold,” he wrote. “WP Engine is setting a poor customary that others might take a look at and assume is okay to duplicate.”
Mullenweg mentioned that WP Engine is profiting off the confusion that exists between the WordPress mission and the business companies firm WP Engine.
“It needs to be mentioned and repeated: WP Engine will not be WordPress,” Mullenweg wrote. “My very own mom was confused and thought WP Engine was an official factor. Their branding, advertising and marketing, promoting, and full promise to prospects is that they’re providing you with WordPress, however they’re not. They usually’re profiting off of the confusion.”
Mullenweg additionally mentioned that WP Engine is actively promoting an inferior product, as a result of the core WordPress mission shops each change that’s made to permit customers to revert their content material to a earlier model — one thing that WP Engine disables, as per its assist web page.
Whereas prospects can request that revisions be enabled, assist solely extends to 3 revisions, that are robotically deleted after 60 days. WP Engine recommends that prospects use a “third-party modifying system” in the event that they want intensive revision administration. The explanation for this, in keeping with Mullenweg, is straightforward — saving cash.
“They disable revisions as a result of it prices them extra money to retailer the historical past of the modifications within the database, they usually don’t need to spend that to guard your content material,” Mullenweg contends. “It strikes to the very coronary heart of what WordPress does, they usually shatter it, the integrity of your content material. In the event you make a mistake, you don’t have any strategy to get your content material again, breaking the core promise of what WordPress does, which is handle and shield your content material.”
TechCrunch has reached out to WP Engine for remark, and can replace right here once we hear again.