WordPress is an incredible platform for building websites and online stores, and Automattic—along with its CEO, Matt Mullenweg—has made substantial contributions to the open-source ecosystem. However, an unfortunate series of events unfolded following Matt’s decision to target WP Engine. In this article, I share my perspective on the situation and explore what Matt could have done differently to benefit both Automattic and the WordPress community.

What happened?

Well, nobody really knows, but here it is what followed:

• Matt Mullenweg called WP Engine a “cancer”
• Automattic blocked WP Engine from accessing WordPress’s plugin repository and a few other things
• A trademark infringement complain was filled against WPE
• A couple of cease-and-desist letters sent back and fourth between the two companies
• Automattic cloned ACF Pro – a payed plugin developed by WPE
• Court grants WPE preliminary injunction against Automattic

It is very clear that Matt is going after WP Engine and the reason is profits, ego or both. 🙂

While this isn’t confirmed it looks like Matt was perfectly fine with WPE’s business model until they decided to tweak WooCommerce in a way that cuts out Automattic from commissions on sales.

At the end of the day Automattic is paying for the majority of engineering hours that go into WordPress, and related projects, while WPE contributes only a few hours a week and profits millions from it.

A Strategic Problem

I believe there’s a disconnect between WordPress maintainers (including Automattic) and the majority of WordPress developers – a marketing problem rather than a technical one. WordPress’s target audience has not been properly identified and as a result, many of the tools and fatures being built on WordPress don’t serve the majority the user base effectively.

Most WordPress developers – freelancers and small agencies – aren’t necessarily tech-savvy or equipped with the resources to adopt modern, complex development workflows. They often stick to traditional PHP-based methodologies, lacking the time, money, or skills to manage “fancy” setups with modern build tools. Yes, there are larger, highly professional teams using cutting-edge workflows, but those are just a small minority.

Advanced Custom Fields vs Native Blocks

One of WPE’s most successful products is the ACF plugin. Why is that?

While native Gutenberg blocks are undeniably powerful and flexible, the majority of WordPress developers feel overwhelmed and prefer the simplicity of ACF Pro blocks. The latter provides a simple PHP/HTML-based API that aligns far more closely with how they think WordPress should be and their preferred development workflows.

Native blocks, however, require developers to learn React—a significant barrier in itself—and adopt modern build tools like Webpack. This introduces complexity that the core WordPress audience isn’t prepared to handle. Most developers in the ecosystem simply want to tweak a few PHP files and upload them to a server. Many don’t even use version control systems like Git and they certainly don’t want to deal with build pipelines and hook-based deployments.

Going after WP Engine

Instead of the current litigation mess, Automattic could’ve strike at WPE where it would hurt the most, by making their unique selling points obsolete and ensuring that WordPress itself continues to serve its core audience.

If we had all of the ACF Pro functionality in the WP core:

1. It would empower the majority of WordPress developers to continue using and growing the platform without the need to rely on third-party tools.
2. ACF Pro will be made redundant, cutting off one of WPE’s major value propositions.

The fastest way to go after companies such as WPE isn’t through legal battles or PR campaigns, it is by replicating what those companies identified as gaps in the WP ecosystem directly within the core.

Notes from an Employee

Before posting this article I sent it to Matt at Automattic. I also talked to a few people and got the following from an Automattic employee:

You might think that, hell I might think that, but this is what Matt thinks, remember. He sees the other site builders as competition. Look at WordPress.com, it wasn’t until the last few years when you could even pay enough to get plugins. It’s not meant for agencies, he doesn’t want agencies. Hell VIP is an agency and he’s okay with them because contracts start at 6 figures. He wants to be the place people think of to build a site. He wants all that sweet revenue that the bigger companies have.

My theory has been more he wants everyone tithing to his vision to take on those other players by funding core development, despite it not being in their best interests. Because WPE knows that agencies are their market. Matt doesn’t care though.

He’s a narcissist who doesn’t think things thru. They did something to annoy him, maybe Heather rejected his job offer or Lee Whitlinger rolled his eyes at investing in A8C. Who knows!

But he wants to compete with the big dogs, not be held into his own WordPress ecosystem. He’s talked about those other products as competition. But maybe he wants a bigger slice of his current pie so he can energize up to take on the bigger market. Who the f knows how he thinks. He’s lost in his ego.

He’s such a control freak for WP core. Features like Gutenberg are the direction he wants to go.

Hell I literally got in an argument with him a couple times over stuff because (…) he clearly has a vision that clashes with what a good chunk of the community wants.

I honestly don’t even blame companies like WPE for not contributing to core the way he demands, because quite frankly the direction he wants to move is contrary to their business. Do I think everyone should contribute to open source projects they rely on? Definitely. But what if they won’t actually stay what you rely on?

I don’t know where WP is going to go, anyone who says they do is probably delusional, but I know what I’d personally argue for and it’s the overall community breaking with Matt’s vision. He can keep pushing it forward with his hundreds of millions in revenue and VC funding.

I can’t really see how Matt believes that WP.com and WP.org can compete with Squarespace, Wix, Shopify and friends. It’s really not the same offer, not the same type of product. There’s a BIG feature and strategic mismatch there between what WP is and what those services are.

From my POV, it would’ve been easier to just make a new company with it’s own very proprietary and very closed-source CMS rather than to try to bend WordPress into being a SaaS solution.

From a marketing standpoint + looking at what WordPress codebase is – it would make much more sense to go after the agencies – you know, like WP Engine did – the people who know how to code not the people who don’t know how and don’t want to. That’s why I said that the money in WP is on the agencies.

What Automattic Should Focus On

There are several improvements, raging from simple changes to complex re-architecture, that would take WordPress to the next level. Here are my suggestions:

1. Replicate all ACF Pro features in the WordPress Core
   Focus on introducing PHP-only blocks like ACF Pro’s, making block creation accessible for traditional developers without requiring React or complex tooling.
2. Make WordPress fully compatible with SQLite
   Many WordPress websites don’t need the complexity of MySQL. SQLite support would simplify hosting for a significant portion of the ecosystem, especially small-scale websites.
3. Rework the database architecture
   Move away from the current “everything-in-a-single-table” approach, which is notoriously inefficient and hard to scale. A more modern, structured database design would greatly improve performance and maintainability.
4. Include a built-in login CAPTCHA (self-hosted) and two-factor authentication (TOTP)
   Since brute-force attacks are the most popular way to breach WordPress, a fully self-hosted CAPTCHA system and 2FA would strengthen security out of the box.
5. Add native SMTP email support
   The days of relying on sendmail() are long gone, a simple SMTP integration would help users reliably send email without needing third-party plugins or tools.
6. Enhance revision management
   Provide built-in tools to manage, limit, and clean up post revisions. This would prevent bloated databases, increase performance and give users greater control over their content.
7. Remove the site’s domain name and absolute filesystem paths from the database
   Unlike most modern web apps, WordPress website’s URL and filesystem paths in the database. Decoupling this would simplify migrations and make development workflows smoother.
8. Create a WPE “Local-style” local development solution
   Build an official tool to manage local WordPress development, including backups and seamless migrations to WordPress.com or any FTP/MySQL-capable webhost. This would lower the entry barrier for developers and cut off yet another revenue stream from WPE.

I could go on about describing those and other opportunities in detail, add some numbers to show where and how WP could grow, but I believe this is enough for now. The proposed changes would address long-standing challenges, modernize the platform, and make WordPress even more appealing to its core audience while preparing it for future growth.