Automattic vs WP Engine: A Fight for Dominance

The Protagonists

The current dispute between Automattic and WP Engine over WordPress, which started in September 2024, reflects deeper tensions in the open-source ecosystem that WordPress has long embodied.

Both companies are major players in the WordPress space, but they represent different visions of its future and have clashed over several issues in recent years.

At the heart of the conflict is a question of control and contribution. Matt Mullenweg, who founded Automattic and is a co-creator of WordPress, is often seen as the father of the WordPress ecosystem.

Two Sides to Every Argument

Automattic owns WordPress.com and contributes heavily to developing the free, open-source WordPress software.

WP Engine, on the other hand, is a managed hosting provider focused on premium, enterprise-level WordPress services. It doesn’t contribute to WordPress core like Automattic does, yet it builds its business on top of the platform.

The friction between these two companies came into sharper focus in recent years due to several key developments.

Automatic has been vocal in advocating for more contributions to WordPress from companies that profit from its ecosystem, implying that companies like WP Engine are benefiting without giving back enough.

Mullenweg has spoken about how Automattic invests heavily in WordPress's core development while other companies “free-ride” on open-source software.

This argument revolves around the idea of reciprocity. If you build a business on WordPress, you should also contribute to its development, something Automattic does through financial and code contributions.

However, WP Engine sees things differently. As a company serving higher-end WordPress users, they argue that their innovation and infrastructure investments add value to the WordPress ecosystem in a way that goes beyond core code contributions.

WP Engine has developed its own tools, plugins, and platforms on top of WordPress, which it argues expands the platform's capabilities, especially for enterprise-level customers. In their view, these innovations are their way of contributing to WordPress, even if they aren’t directly contributing code to the WordPress core.

What complicates this dispute further is the blurred line between WordPress.org, the free open-source software, and WordPress.com, Automattic’s commercial platform. Mullenweg’s dual role as the leader of both Automattic and the WordPress open-source project raises questions about the balance of power.

Critics argue that Automattic sometimes mixes WordPress.org’s interests with its commercial goals, making it difficult for other companies to compete fairly in the ecosystem.

In addition, there have been more specific points of conflict, such as plugin marketplaces and acquisition strategies. WP Engine acquired Flywheel, another WordPress hosting company, and launched its version of a plugin marketplace.

Automattic has also been acquiring companies in the WordPress space, and some see these moves as part of a broader competition for dominance within the WordPress ecosystem. Each company is trying to carve out a bigger market share while ensuring they maintain influence over the platform’s future direction.

The debate between Automattic and WP Engine concerns the future of WordPress and open-source software. Automattic champions the traditional open-source ethos of collaboration, contribution, and shared responsibility, while WP Engine emphasises the role of innovation and commercialisation in driving growth and success.

Both companies play essential roles in the ecosystem. Still, their differing approaches highlight the tension between maintaining a genuinely open, community-driven project and the realities of businesses building profitable models on top of that project.

In Summary

The broader question for WordPress and other open-source platforms is how to balance these competing interests. As more companies build profitable businesses on top of open-source projects, the challenge comes with ensuring that the ecosystem remains healthy and sustainable.

Too much commercial influence could stifle innovation and the collaborative spirit of open-source projects. Still, these projects might not attract the resources necessary for long-term growth and success without commercialisation.

Ultimately, the ongoing spate between Automattic and WP Engine reflects the growing pains of a platform that started as a small, community-driven project and has now become the backbone of a multi-billion-dollar industry.

It’s a reminder that as open-source projects evolve, the power, contribution, and control balance can become increasingly complex. Both Automattic and WP Engine are key players in this space, and the future of WordPress will likely be shaped by how these companies navigate their differences while continuing to innovate within the open-source framework.

For WordPress users and developers, this tension is a valuable lesson in the trade-offs that come with growth and success in the open-source world. How this ongoing struggle is resolved could have significant implications for the platform’s future, the businesses built around it, and the open-source ethos itself.

The Latest Developments

On Matt’s blog on October 12th, he announced that 159 Automattic employees were given handsome severance pay for those who did not want to continue to work for Automatic and no longer wanted to stay.

In addition, Matt has made all the employees who chose to stay co-owners of Automattic by granting them each 200 A12 shares of Automattic.

It doesn’t look like it will be over anytime soon, but I hope it is resolved amicably and Automattic, WP Engine, and WordPress can return to doing what they do best.

Paul.