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Automattic CEO and WordPress co - creatorMatt Mullenwegunleashed a scathing attack on a rival firm this week , callingWP Enginea “ Crab to WordPress . ”
Mullenweg criticized the party — which has been commercializing the open author WordPress projectsince 2010 — for profiteering without giving much back , while also disenable cardinal feature that make WordPress such a powerful platform in the first place .
For context , WordPress powersmore than 40%of the web , and while any individual or ship’s company is free to take the open source project and run a website themselves , a number of line have form up to sell host serving and technical expertise off the back of it . Theseinclude Automattic , which Mullenweg set up in 2005 to monetise the project he ’d create two years former ; and WP Engine , a managed WordPress hosting provider that has raised nearly $ 300 million in funding over its 14 - twelvemonth history , the volume of which come via a$250 million investment from private fairness business firm Silver Lakein 2018 .
It ’s deserving take note that Automattic has a history in backing WordPress - hosting company , havinginvested in WP Engineitself way back in 2011 , while Mullenweg alsospoke atWP Engine ’s conference just last class . Moreover , Automattic also buy a bulk stake in WordPress - host companionship Pressableback in 2016 , and laterinvested in GridPanetoo .
But speaking this week atWordCamp US 2024 , a WordPress - focused conference support in Portland , Oregon , Mullenweg rive no punches in his unfavorable judgment of WP Engine . have to the stage , Mullenweg readout a posthe had just release to his personal blog , where he points to the discrete “ five for the futurity ” investment pledges made by Automatticand WP Engineto contribute resourcefulness to support the sustained growth of WordPress , with Automatticcontributing3,900 hr per workweek , andWP Enginecontributing just 40 hr .
While he admit that these pattern are just a “ proxy , ” and might not be dead accurate , Mullenweg state that this disparity in contributions is renowned , as both Automattic and WP Engine “ are close to the same size , with receipts in the ballpark of half - a - billion [ dollar ] . ”
Mullenweg has pull down criticism at at least one other liberal - name web innkeeper in the past tense , accusing GoDaddy of profiteer from the open source project without giving anything meaningful back . More specifically , he calledGoDaddy a “ parasitic company ” and an “ experiential menace to WordPress ’ future . ”
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In his latest offence , Mullenweg did n’t hold back at WP Engine ; he extended his criticism to the society ’s main investor .
“ The company [ WP Engine ] is controlled by Silver Lake , a private equity firm with$102 billion in assetsunder management , ” Mullenweg said . “ Silver Lake does n’t give a dang about your clear germ nonpareil , it just wants return on capital . So it ’s at this point that I ask everyone in the WordPress community of interests to go vote with your wallet . Who are you give your money to — someone who ’s proceed to aliment the ecosystem , or someone who ’s going to frack every bit of value out of it until it withers ? ”
In reply to aquestion put forward by an audience memberlater , seeking clearness on whether Mullenweg was asking WordPress user to boycott WP Engine , he said that he hoped every WP Engine customer would keep an eye on his presentation , and when it comes to the sentence when they ’re renewing their contract , they should suppose about their next steps .
“ There ’s some really hungry other host — Hostinger , Bluehost Cloud , Pressable , etc . , that would make love to get that clientele , ” Mullenweg said . “ You might get faster performance even switching to someone else , and migrating has never been easier . That ’s part of the theme of data liberation . It ’s , like , one day of work to tack your site to something else , and I would highly advance you to think about that when your contract rehabilitation comes up , if you ’re presently a customer with WP Engine . ”
‘A cancer to WordPress’
In reply to thebrouhahathatfollowed the lecture , Mullenweg published afollow - up blog office , where he phone WP Engine a “ Cancer the Crab ” to WordPress . “ It ’s important to remember that unchecked , cancer will broadcast , ” he wrote . “ WP Engine is setting a poor monetary standard that others may seem at and think is ok to retroflex . ”
Mullenweg say that WP Engine is profit off the confusion that exists between the WordPress task and the commercial services company WP Engine .
“ It has to be said and duplicate : WP Engine is not WordPress , ” Mullenweg wrote . “ My own female parent was confused and think WP Engine was an official thing . Their stigmatisation , merchandising , advertising , and full promise to client is that they ’re giving you WordPress , but they ’re not . And they ’re profiting off of the mix-up . ”
Mullenweg also said that WP Engine is actively selling an deficient product , because the core WordPress project stores every change that is made to allow exploiter to turn back their content to a previous version — something that WP Engine disables , as perits financial backing page .
While customers can request that revisions be enabled , support only extends to three revisions , which are automatically deleted after 60 days . WP Engine recommend that customer use a “ third - political party editing system ” if they need all-encompassing revision direction . The reason for this , according to Mullenweg , is wide-eyed — saving money .
“ They disable revision because it costs them more money to stack away the story of the changes in the database , and they do n’t require to spend that to protect your content , ” Mullenweg contends . “ It hit to the very heart of what WordPress does , and they shatter it , the integrity of your subject . If you make a mistake , you have no way to get your capacity back , breaking the core promise of what WordPress does , which is supervise and protect your content . ”
This article was updated with additional context on Automattic ’s former investing in rival WordPress - hosting company , admit WP railway locomotive .
