E-commerce

What the WordPress conflict means for businesses

A conflict between WordPress and hosting provider WP Engine may have significant implications for small businesses that rely on the WordPress ecosystem for their online presence.

The dispute escalated last week when WordPress’s co-founder, Matt Mullenweg, accused WP Engine of infringing upon their trademark in an inflammatory blog post entitled “WP Engine is not WordPress“.

WP Engine is, indeed, not affiliated with WordPress.org. However, the paid hosting provider, and others like it, are used by many businesses to build online stores and eCommerce sites using WordPress.org’s infrastructure.

On September 23rd, WordPress’ parent company, Automattic, sent a cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine demanding they cease operations until they establish a licensing relationship with WordPress.org, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. When WP Engine failed to comply, it was banned from WordPress.org.

The move meant that WP Engine customers were unable to update their plugins, leaving millions of websites vulnerable to security risks and potential attacks. Plugin updates are critical for maintaining website functionality, fixing bugs, and protecting against vulnerabilities that hackers frequently exploit.

Though WP Engine took to X.com soon after the ban to announce that it had “deployed a solution” and restored “regular workflow practices” for its 1.5 million global customers, the incident has raised serious concerns about the long-term stability and security of websites hosted on WordPress. 

What does this mean for SMEs?

WordPress makes up 83 per cent of all Australian websites using open-source technologies, and WP Engine is one of the largest hosting providers. Many small businesses rely heavily on both platforms for their day-to-day operations.

When a business’s website is down or vulnerable – including due to conflicts such as this recent one – sales, bookings, and customer relationships can all be negatively impacted. To make matters worse, switching to another website builder or hosting provider often involves time-consuming and expensive migration processes.

The immediate conflict may be over, but it has small-business owners feeling uneasy.

“What happens if this occurs again? What if another hosting provider like WP Engine gets caught in a similar dispute? It puts millions of businesses at risk,” said Annette Welsford, an Australian small-business owner who reached out to ISB.

Welsford, the CEO of Commonsense Marketing, has been using WordPress exclusively for website building for the last decade. Six years ago, she switched to WP Engine due to its speed, security, and good customer support.

She fears the potential for further disputes between WordPress and hosting providers who use the platform.

“What do we all do? Do we stop using hosting companies that support WordPress? Do we stop using plugins that are called ‘WP’ or ‘WordPress’ so that our sites don’t stop being functional and become vulnerable to hacking?” Welsford said.

“We have used many platforms over the years, and WordPress is our firm favourite by far. We have no desire to rebuild all of our customers’ sites to a different platform. And I know our customers will not want to pay for this to be done either.”

Welsford’s concerns reflect the growing unease among small-business owners in a world where websites are critical to both brand identity and revenue streams. Though the conflict between WordPress and WP Engine seems to be resolved for now, a future fall-out could have devastating effects for many businesses around the world.

This story was originally published on Inside Small Business.