Championing Open-Source: Big Human’s Take on WordPress vs. WP Engine
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There’s a battle raging on in the open-source community. Since September 2024, WordPress and WP Engine have been embroiled in a public dispute over trademark infringement and open-source violations. The pending outcome has broader implications for the entire digital ecosystem.
Read on for our take on the WordPress vs. WP Engine conflict — with insights from Big Human’s director of engineering, David Hudson.
The WordPress vs. WP Engine Conflict, Explained
Before we dive into our opinion, here’s a TL;DR of the WordPress vs. WP Engine conflict.
WP Engine, a hosting platform for WordPress websites, recently took legal action against WordPress, an open-source content management system, by sending a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic, WordPress’s parent company. The letter was a response to a blog by WordPress founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg, who also heads Automattic. Mullenweg’s blog called WP Engine “a cancer to WordPress” and condemned the platform for disabling users' access to their posts’ revision history — a key feature that upholds WordPress’s commitment to protecting user data. The blog also criticized WP Engine and its investor, Silver Lake, for insufficient contributions to the open-source community, arguing WP Engine prioritizes profit over supporting open-source projects.
Though WP Engine asked Mullenweg to retract his comments, Automattic countered with its own cease-and-desist letter. Automattic denounced the platform for misleading users into believing the platform is an official WordPress service; still, WP Engine defended its use of the WordPress trademark under fair use laws. The platform also alleged Mullenweg vowed to take a “scorched earth nuclear approach” unless WP Engine agreed to pay to use the WordPress trademark.
Pending the legal conflict, WordPress initially blocked WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org resources (including automatic security updates), affecting around 40 percent of websites. After WP Engine formally sued Automattic and Mullenweg for abuse of power, 159 employees who did not agree with Mullenweg’s actions left WordPress with a nine-month severance package. But the offer came with a caveat: Those who took the severance would forfeit access to the WordPress.org community.
At the end of October, Mullenweg and Automattic filed a motion to dismiss WP Engine’s allegations, contending that the platform's damages were self-inflicted. In response, WP Engine submitted documents referencing Mullenweg’s remarks about the platform’s business losses.
Big Human’s Stance: Advocating for Open Source
“We should really prize the open-source community above all things.”
- David Hudson, Big Human director of engineering
Though Mullenweg clarified the legal conflict centers around trademark infringement, there’s a larger issue at play: the integrity of open source. At its core, the open-source method is a “for everyone” ecosystem; it purposely makes source code publicly available, allowing anyone to explore, alter, and distribute it as they’d like.
This freedom guides WordPress. It was built to democratize publishing, offering its open-source software to everyone online. The WordPress Foundation, a non-profit organization, protects the software’s intellectual property and ensures free access to its projects; in parallel, the WordPress Project's collaborative development work safeguards WordPress as an open-source platform. That’s what makes WordPress such a community-driven system — and “the most popular CMS on the planet,” says Hudson.
WordPress has always welcomed crowdsourced plug-ins and even encouraged them. Like many other WordPress hosting platforms, WP Engine created plug-ins specifically for WP Engine-hosted websites (built on WordPress’s open-source code, mind you). It was initially a good thing — until WP Engine required users to rely on its plug-ins for their websites to function properly. “This is where it starts to get a little icky,” Hudson says.
Let’s say you want to move your website from WP Engine to another platform, whatever your reason may be. Because of the proprietary plug-ins you’ve integrated, transferring your site to a different platform and finding replacement plug-ins for its functionalities will be a painstaking process. There’s even a risk your website won’t function at all. That’s how WP Engine locks users in, making it extremely difficult to leave the platform without significant downtime or loss of functionality. Then, it took away one of the most basic user data protections: WordPress’s revision history. “WordPress hates stuff like that,” says Hudson. “WordPress is all about an open community.”
Though you can install pay-to-use plug-ins from other providers on your WordPress site, they’re features on top of WordPress’s open source. They never take over the service itself and don’t purposely make it hard to switch to other plug-ins. WP Engine essentially takes open-source code that engineers built with “good, positive intentions” and uses it in a way that’s “antithetical to the open-source community philosophy,” Hudson says. By discouraging users from leaving its platform and exploiting WordPress’s collectively maintained source code, WP Engine puts its bottom line over the fundamental values of transparency and user autonomy that open-source software stands for.
WP Engine is a for-profit company. Automattic is also a for-profit company, but the WordPress CMS is not. Monetizing open source can sometimes be a good thing; it can incentivize innovation and even fund other open-source projects. We live in a capitalist society with a free market that supports competition and profit-making, so however you keep your lights on is (almost) fair game. Nonetheless, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the open-source ecosystem. “I think, personally, it’s great to capitalize on open source,” Hudson says. “But you should not step on its throat to do so.”
Mullenweg’s response was extreme, and we don’t condone how he and Automattic have handled the situation — as both a for-profit creative agency and open-source proponent. (Blocking WP Engine’s access to WordPress’s services contradicts Mullenweg’s own beliefs.) That said, when you take away the emotion and focus solely on the issue, he’s just advocating for the open-source community. Automattic is candid about generating revenue through other ventures in its portfolio, but it doesn’t modify open-source software to pressure users to pay for access. “Anybody who uses the open-source community for monetary gain by force is making a mistake,” Hudson says. “It damages open-source.”
The digital landscape was built on open-source technologies, and without them, “the internet would not be anywhere, even remotely, as cool as it is right now,” adds Hudson. “That’s why we should really prize the open-source community above all things.” Open source fosters innovation, accessibility, and collaboration. It democratizes technology and inspires diverse contributions, allowing anyone and everyone (especially beginner engineers) to learn and benefit from its shared knowledge.
By promoting ethical values in software development, the open-source community also emphasizes transparency and user rights, ensuring technology is used for the public good rather than solely for profit. Anything that goes against that erodes our digital landscape and threatens positive societal impact. The open-source philosophy is the one altruistic touchstone we have on the internet, and, as Hudson says, that should always “be more important than the dollar.”
The WordPress vs. WP Engine Resolution: Our Predictions
“WP Engine wouldn’t exist without WordPress, so I don’t think it can realistically maintain any type of war with WordPress.”
The WordPress vs. WP Engine conflict is a classic case of “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” crossed with a game of chicken. The first one to flinch? WP Engine — because it cares about its profits. While it’s unlikely the platform will shut down (too many users rely on it), continuing the battle will hurt WP Engine’s business in the long term. Even if WP Engine builds its own CMS, there’s no way it’ll catch up to WordPress. “WP Engine wouldn’t exist without WordPress, so I don’t think it can realistically maintain any type of war with WordPress,” says Hudson.
We’re not legal experts, but from our perspective, WP Engine doesn’t stand much of a chance in the trademark dispute. If the platform loses, it signifies a colossal misstep. To rectify it, WP Engine would have to substantially reconstruct its business practices and move far away from the WordPress brand (“more than would have been necessary if WP Engine had done it correctly in the first place,” Hudson says).
If WP Engine prevails, it still made WordPress its enemy, and the platform “is just not big enough or strong enough to overcome the WordPress community,” says Hudson. “WordPress is too powerful.” WordPress will find more ways to hinder WP Engine if it chooses to — and it already has. Will WordPress continue to do so at the expense of WP Engine users? The jury’s still out on that one. Either way, it’ll be a humbling lesson for WP Engine, a company that’s gotten too big for its britches.
The best path forward for WP Engine is to align with WordPress and rebuild its relationship with the open-source community. “If they’re smart, they’ll let that stuff go and work together,” Hudson says. A collaboration between the two could be mutually beneficial, re-solidifying WordPress as an open-source champion and potentially increasing WP Engine’s revenue. At the very least, WP Engine would have WordPress’s support as a prime provider.
How Big Human is Helping Clients Navigate the WordPress vs. WP Engine Conflict
As the WordPress vs. WP Engine battle rages on, Big Human advises clients to take a wait-and-see approach. If the court rules in WordPress’s favor, WP Engine might merely be required to simplify the process of leaving its platform, minimizing users’ migration costs. If the lawsuit drags on for over a few months, users should start planning their exit or adapt their business strategies to account for the conflict.
Should the outcome result in the latter, Big Human will likely stop hosting sites on WP Engine and no longer suggest it to our clients (unless they specifically request it). As WordPress experts, this helps us protect our clients’ interests and prevent potential issues the situation may continue to bring. Our commitment to providing our clients with the best solutions means we’ll keep a close eye on WordPress vs. WP Engine developments and adjust our recommendations accordingly.
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