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WP Engine Banned from Using WordPress.org Resources

The dispute between Automattic and WP Engine has intensified. Both companies have issued Cease and Desist orders to each other, leading WP Engine to remove the news feed from the WordPress admin dashboard. In response, WordPress.org has now banned WP Engine from utilizing any of its resources.

The WordPress.org statement read: “Pending their legal claims and litigation against WordPress.org, WP Engine no longer has free access to WordPress.org’s resources. WP Engine wants to control your WordPress experience, they need to run their own user login system, update servers, plugin directory, theme directory, pattern directory, block directory, translations, photo directory, job board, meetups, conferences, bug tracker, forums, Slack, Ping-o-matic, and showcase. Their servers can no longer access our servers for free.”

The statement continued: “The reason WordPress sites don’t get hacked as much anymore is we work with hosts to block vulnerabilities at the network layer, WP Engine will need to replicate that security research on their own. Why should WordPress.org provide these services to WP Engine for free, given their attacks on us?”

The announcement also reiterated what was shared in the WP Engine is not WordPress article. “WP Engine is free to offer their hacked up, bastardized simulacra of WordPress’s GPL code to their customers, and they can experience WordPress as WP Engine envisions it, with them getting all of the profits and providing all of the services.”

For those wondering about Flywheel, Matt has clarified that Flywheel also would be affected as WP Engine had acquired Flywheel in 2019.

The new status page on WP Engine explains: “There is currently no impact on the performance, reliability or security of your site nor does it impact your ability to make updates to your code or content. We know how important this is for you and we are actively developing a remediation for this issue.”

Meanwhile, Automattic-owned Pressable has a new page.  The WordPress community is not happy with these events. Several people have come forward to offer help to those caught in the crossfire.

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37 Comments

37 Comments

  • Author
    Posts
    • Ryan Hellyer
      September 26, 2024 at 3:26 AMView in Forum

      I think the folks at WP Engine and Automattic just need to hug it out.

      Reply
    • Gaurav Tiwari
      September 26, 2024 at 12:13 PMView in Forum

      “WordPress.org has now banned WP Engine from utilizing any of its resources.”

      Here “WordPress.org” means who? I see just one name popping up every single time.

      Reply
    • Stuart
      September 26, 2024 at 12:14 PMView in Forum

      Matt Mullenweg needs to go. This is too far.

      Reply
      • sachin nambiar
        September 27, 2024 at 8:54 AMView in Forum

        Matt has spear headed wordpress in a completely obnoxious direction. He is trying to be this messiah but really wants everything for himself. Remember the High Septon in GOT? WordPress has been steadily taking out everything else from the market and tying it to their own servers. First it was Gutenberg which went against the grain of separating code and design and antagonising Elementor for it. Now this feud with WPEngine.

        So now they own woocommerce, the main extension store associated with woocommerce and same with wordpress. Whats to say they will simply stop sharing the extension store tomorrow with any other hosting providers thereby completely monopolising it.

        I dont judge him for his actions, but his holier than thou projection is really off the mark. Basically he is afraid a parallel universe might exist which feeds off his baby. I get his emotion.

        Reply
    • Fisher
      September 26, 2024 at 12:14 PMView in Forum

      I never heard of Matt Mullenweg until last night. I don’t care (much) about open source and camps. I disabled the dashboard news long ago. I have a little mom and pop WooCommerce shop hosted at WPEngine, who have been great for years. Guess how I feel today.

      Reply
    • Nick
      September 26, 2024 at 12:14 PMView in Forum

      Any word if/how this might affect ACF updates going forward, now that WP Engine owns It?

      Reply
    • Toko Daring
      September 26, 2024 at 12:14 PMView in Forum

      I like what pressable does. If i’am a WP Engine user, i’ll grab it fast, wkwkwkwkwk

      Reply
    • Lo duLalit
      September 26, 2024 at 12:15 PMView in Forum

      While WordPress is a community-driven platform, it seems that WP Engine’s commercial interests are overshadowing our collective voice. We should be regarded as ‘WordPress users’ rather than ‘WP Engine customers.’

      Additionally, WP Tavern should maintain journalistic objectivity by providing balanced coverage of news, including the recent ‘WP Engine Cease and Desist’ controversy. If the tavern fails to offer a comprehensive perspective, it might be more beneficial for us to seek WordPress-related news from other sources.

      Reply
    • Li-An
      September 26, 2024 at 12:16 PMView in Forum

      It’s hard to see what benefit WP engine and users will get from this kind of war.

      Reply
    • John Thomas
      September 26, 2024 at 12:16 PMView in Forum

      How can we trust the reporting of WP Tavern if it’s owned by Matt Mulleneeg?

      Reply
      • Jyolsna
        September 26, 2024 at 1:26 PMView in Forum

        I understand your concern. But if you go through my articles, you will see that I always try to cover both sides and highlight a range of opinions. And if you feel I’ve overlooked any important points, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

        (Till today, Matt has never asked me to cover or omit any news.)

        Reply
        • Corey Salzano
          September 27, 2024 at 8:55 AMView in Forum

          Hi Jyolsna! I appreciate your posts. Two days ago, you wrote, “But Automattic is willing to amicably resolve this matter, including through a licensing relationship for use of its trademarks.”

          This was days after Matt said WP Engine is a “cancer to WordPress.” I would not characterize the keynote or blog posts on Matt’s personal site as amicable. Thanks for reading.

          Reply
    • Bsch
      September 26, 2024 at 12:17 PMView in Forum

      If this is true, WordPress as an open source platform is dead. I have no trust in ‘leaders’ who throws Elon-tantrums and have developed some supreme leader complex.

      Reply
      • Eugene
        September 29, 2024 at 7:55 AMView in Forum

        Elon Musk is irrelevant in this conversation and raising him is a distraction. WordPress.org is supposed to be open source and not controlled by one individual. For a leader who promotes the open source ethos to turn around and attack a company and remove its access is a betrayal of the WordPress philosophy. There are other ways to solve these alleged problems than a power move that shows the community-led vision to be a farce. Unless this decision is walked back with a major apology, it’s a new day for WordPress users, and alternatives are suddenly more credible. Today it’s WP Engine, tomorrow, who knows.

        Reply
    • D. Mail
      September 26, 2024 at 12:18 PMView in Forum

      This is getting rediculous and out of control. Automattic should be ashamed of themselves. And i am not hosting my website at any of them.

      Reply
    • Dionisio
      September 27, 2024 at 8:49 AMView in Forum

      Great news WP engine is just a cancer. Must be eradicated

      Reply
    • Echo
      September 27, 2024 at 8:50 AMView in Forum

      Matt’s coming after you next WP Tavern. Anyone with WP in their company name

      Reply
    • Joe Njenga
      September 27, 2024 at 8:50 AMView in Forum

      It’s disheartening to see the escalating dispute between Automattic and WP Engine reaching a point where clients are caught in the crossfire.

      As someone hosting with WP Engine, this situation is becoming increasingly concerning.

      The restrictions imposed by WordPress.org not only strain the relationship between these companies but also directly impact the functionality and security of our clients’ websites.

      This legal tussle disrupts that synergy, potentially compromising site performance and leaving us vulnerable to security risks.

      It’s getting out of hand, and the focus seems to have shifted away from serving the users’ best interests.

      Both parties need to prioritize their customers and find a resolution that doesn’t leave us bearing the brunt of their disagreements.

      Reply
    • Jason
      September 27, 2024 at 8:52 AMView in Forum

      Wix, Weebly and Shopify must be loving this.

      Reply
    • NdnaJnz
      September 27, 2024 at 8:52 AMView in Forum

      AutoMATTic should be careful what they do next; they could very suddenly be looking at “just a few thousand” lawsuits from Flywheel + WP Engine WordPress users and developers.

      I’ve seen Matt speak several times, and I am actually shocked at what he has said and done in the past few days. And while I am not aware of a timeline prior to WordCamp regarding this, from the outside looking in, it seems like Matt’s actions were taken without warning. And I understand “without warning” may not be entirely correct, but I don’t know. However, for likely 99% of Flywheel+WP Engine customers/users/devs, it was without warning. At the moment, there are workarounds at least for installing or updating plugins. But, if Matt were to take any further steps, watch out.

      P.S. I am a Flywheel user/dev with 17 client sites, have been with Fly for 9 years and have only 1 minor-negative issue in that time. And interestingly, I met and spoke with Fly’s founders at the last WordCamp SF at UCSF Mission Bay campus (WordPress’s 10th anniv.) Fun times. Can’t we all just get along, people?

      Reply
    • Oliver @ WebMatros
      September 27, 2024 at 8:53 AMView in Forum

      Wow. Just now came across this debacle. Or dispute.

      On one hand I can see where “WordPress.org” (or rather, Automattic / Matt) is coming from.

      On the other, this instantly reminded me of how Matt Mullenweg handled the disagreement about the GPL licence, in the “Thesis theme-creator Chris Pearson vs Matt Mullenweg” . I recall Matt registering/acquiring a domain (thesis.com) only to mock Chris’ Thesis project. And it cost Matt something like 10.000 or 50.000 USD, if I recall correctly (which I probably don’t – but I don’t have time to look it up).

      That seemed like a Elon’esque, child-like over-reaction.

      And this, “banning” WP Engine, seems to be a response rooted in the same behavior.

      It happens at the expense of WP Engine’s users. Who are, after all: WORDPRESS USERS.

      It risks alienating other vendors – fragmenting the WordPress community. And it’s not as if we need more fragmenting, after the Gutenberg, block editor, FSE bonanza… 🥹

      Cos who wants to be the next “WP Engine” / target of Automattic?

      Reply
    • Anto P Joseph
      September 27, 2024 at 8:54 AMView in Forum

      Long back, I have worked on wordpress (hosting side). And found these communities and meetups were the most alive and healthier than many of the tech meets.

      Wordpress is an FOSS and ayone can customize it and use it. We know nothing is perfect in this world and always have room for improvement. From WP ENGINES point of view, most of their users may not need or can be satisfied with 3 revisions. If so, what’s the problem? We all tweak the things to suit our tastes. From reels, what I know is Only Ferrari doesn’t like tweaks.😀

      RHEL, CENTOS, UBUNTU are being used to host PORN and other illegal things. It doesn’t mea n redhat or canonical created these for porn purpose or hosting provider’s sole purpose is it.
      Why not the end customer decide, what they need the most? Aren’t we all depending and working for them?(Yes, we are working for Money as well, :P) I feel like WordPress taking away the freedom of users. Know it or not, wpengine itself is a user.
      And yes, if automattic was providing some free hosting or /requests/pluginsfor large enterprises, that’s a mistake. Why not monetize it? Especially the bigger fishes who make more requests!

      Even WP-ENGINE can provide users an option to choose how many revisions to keep during purchase and bill them accordingly.
      AFAIK, anything unlimited is going to get misused/overutilized.

      These are nothing, we have bigger problems in this world. WP or WPE didn’t kill or hurst anyone.

      Ending my comments before I fall asleep.

      Reply
    • Sarah
      September 27, 2024 at 8:55 AMView in Forum

      Please do not link to twitter/x.com posts. Content here is only visible to those with an account and logged in. It is effectively paywalled content now. At least provide a screenshot.

      Reply
    • Yugi
      October 3, 2024 at 2:17 PMView in Forum

      This sets a precedent for protecting the WordPress ecosystem from exploitative practices.WordPress takes a stand against exploitation, setting a precedent for ecosystem protection.

      Reply
    • Aabad
      October 3, 2024 at 2:18 PMView in Forum

      Wow, this is a significant move! WP Engine’s ban from using WordPress.org resources really shakes things up. It’s a reminder of the importance of community standards in open-source projects. I’m curious to see how this will affect their services and the overall ecosystem. What are your thoughts on the implications for other hosting providers?”

      Reply
    • Pierre Zarokian
      October 6, 2024 at 12:23 PMView in Forum

      A trademark dispute needs to be handled in court not by extortion. Matt is in so much trouble. He needs to grow up and handle this legally, not how a child would do.

      Reply
    • Michael Edwin
      December 18, 2024 at 7:43 AMView in Forum

      Matt has compromised the entire WP ecosystem with this very, very bad decision. My Govt clients who never liked WP now have all the justification in the world to no longer allow WP (they prefer Drupal). Furthermore, it has pushed people who didn’t use or particularly like WPE to side with them. The only winners here will be Wix, Shopify and others as businesses flee from WP to more stable offerings.

      Reply
    • John Thomas
      January 2, 2025 at 10:27 PMView in Forum

      How can we trust the reporting of WP Tavern if it’s owned by Matt Mullenweg?

      Reply
    • Marc
      January 2, 2025 at 10:27 PMView in Forum

      So now the WP Engine customers will be punished. Not a good move Matt.

      Reply
    • John
      January 2, 2025 at 10:27 PMView in Forum

      Matt is trying to protect and secure WordPress for the future. Why do you want the
      person who created and grew WordPress to leave?!

      Reply
    • Cutting Edger
      January 2, 2025 at 10:28 PMView in Forum

      This is a significant development! It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts WP Engine users. Thanks for keeping us updated on the situation!

      Reply
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