Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a ‘cancer to WordPress’ and urges community to switch providers

Sep 23, 2024

Matt Mullenweg criticized WP Engine, calling it a 'cancer to WordPress,' urging users to switch providers due to profit-driven practices undermining WordPress.

Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine a ‘cancer to WordPress’ and urges community to switch providers

: Matt Mullenweg, Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator, called WP Engine a 'cancer to WordPress,' criticizing their profit-driven approach and limited contributions. Mullenweg urged the WordPress community to consider other hosting providers, highlighting the disparity in contributions between Automattic and WP Engine. He accused WP Engine of disabling key features to save costs, compromising WordPress's core functionality. The scathing critique extended to WP Engine's main investor, Silver Lake, for prioritizing returns over open source ideals.

At WordCamp US 2024 in Portland, Oregon, Matt Mullenweg, Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator, delivered a harsh critique of WP Engine, calling it a 'cancer to WordPress.' He pointed out the disparity in contributions between WP Engine and Automattic, underscoring that both companies are of a similar size and revenue but significantly differ in their commitment to the community.

Mullenweg extended his criticism to WP Engine’s main investor, Silver Lake, accusing them of prioritizing financial returns over supporting open source values. He urged the WordPress community to reconsider their choice of hosting providers, suggesting alternatives like Hostinger, Bluehost Cloud, and Pressable, which could offer better performance and easier migration.

Additionally, Mullenweg emphasized that WP Engine disables crucial WordPress features like content revision history to cut costs, undermining the platform's integrity. He argued that such practices profit from users' confusion and compromise the core promise of WordPress, which is to manage and protect content effectively.