The WordPress and WP Engine Dispute

Updated March 4, 2025

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What It Means To Your Hosted Website

You may have heard about the ongoing legal dispute between Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, and WP Engine. Since we provide website hosting services — using the WP Engine hosting environment — we’ve seen firsthand the impact of Automattic’s dispute and blocking of routine WordPress core and plugin updates. We want to provide some background information and clarity on how this situation is evolving.

What’s the Dispute Between Automattic and WP Engine?

A few weeks ago (Q3 2024), a legal dispute began between Automattic and WP Engine concerning the use of WordPress trademarks. Automattic claims that WP Engine’s use of the WordPress name in its branding and services crosses trademark boundaries. Additionally, Automattic has raised concerns about WP Engine’s revenue from WordPress-hosted plans and is pushing for a share of that revenue.

Key points of the conflict:

• Trademark Enforcement: Automattic, the overseer of the WordPress brand, argues that WP Engine’s branding infringes on its trademark rights.
• Revenue Dispute: Automattic has requested a portion of WP Engine’s revenue from services associated with WordPress hosting.
• Open-Source Philosophy: The dispute also highlights Automattic’s commitment to preserving the open-source nature of WordPress, which they feel may be at odds with WP Engine’s commercial approach.

How Does This Affect Your Website?

For websites hosted on WP Engine, this dispute could impact your hosting environment. However, the legal proceedings do not immediately impact your site’s core functionalities—such as speed, security, and uptime. WP Engine remains fully operational. However, we have seen hiccups in theme and plugin updates. For our clients, we are actively working through these disruptions so there has been zero impact on functionality and security.

What’s most important to know:

• No Immediate Changes
  WP Engine has been given time to resolve the legal issues, meaning there will be no sudden changes to your hosting or services in the short term.
• Website Management

For our hosted clients, we continue to manage all aspects of their WP Engine WordPress site, including keeping the WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated. For those readers who aren’t yet clients, we can help you navigate these issues. 

• Website Security
  We communicate regularly with WP Engine support to ensure that any changes they make are smoothly integrated into your hosting environment without disruption. If adjustments are necessary in the future, we will handle them as part of our regular management services.
• The Bigger Picture: WordPress, Open-Source, & Commercial Services

This legal dispute goes beyond trademarks. It touches on a larger conversation about how open-source software like WordPress interacts with commercial service providers like WP Engine. Automattic is seeking to protect WordPress’s free and open-source ethos, while WP Engine is focused on delivering high-value, premium hosting solutions for businesses. Open-source software also relies upon users to support the community by sharing and making improvements for the benefit of all. 

The Bigger Picture: WordPress, Open-Source, and Commercial Services

This legal dispute goes beyond trademarks and revenue—it reflects a larger conversation about how open-source software, like WordPress, interacts with commercial service providers. In a recent blog post by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, he emphasized the importance of alignment with the open-source values that WordPress was built on. In fact, Mullenweg revealed that Automattic’s own employees were asked to make a choice: to align with these core principles or step away. This decision reinforces the seriousness with which Automattic approaches its commitment to open-source values.

At the core of this dispute is Automattic’s determination to ensure that companies using WordPress commercially do so in a way that aligns with its open-source nature. By challenging WP Engine, Automattic is actively “walking the talk” and showing that they are willing to hold not only external partners but also their own organization accountable to these ideals. This alignment demonstrates their dedication to preserving WordPress’s integrity and ensuring that all stakeholders stay true to the platform’s foundational values.

Hosting With Us

We expect this situation to evolve. Both Automattic and WP Engine are likely to reach a resolution that maintains the balance between open-source values and commercial innovation. 

Regardless of the outcome, our priority is to ensure our clients’ sites remain fast, secure, and functional. As your digital marketing and hosting partner, we are fully committed to managing your website and keeping it optimized. We’ll continue to handle all updates to the WordPress core, themes, and plugins, and ensure that your site is unaffected by any disruptions in the WordPress-WP Engine relationship. If you’re not yet a Spectrum client, reach out so we can help you.

We’ll continue to monitor the situation closely and update you if any significant changes occur. We’re here to support you and ensure your online presence remains strong.