WP Engine and WordPress Conflict: What You Need to Know

Written by Jonny in Technology

Update 30th September 2024: Access to plugin and theme updates on wordpress.org has been temporarily restored by Matt Mullenweg at Automattic. We will continue to monitor the situation with WP Engine as a more permanent solution is found.

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Recently there has been a significant dispute between WP Engine and WordPress.org, which has captured the attention of the web development community and our clients. At the heart of the issue is a conflict between WP Engine, a leading managed WordPress hosting provider, and Automattic, the company behind WordPress, led by its co-founder Matt Mullenweg.

This dispute stems from Automattic’s claim that WP Engine has violated WordPress’ trademark guidelines and failed to sufficiently contribute to the open-source WordPress project. Mullenweg has been particularly vocal, accusing WP Engine of enriching itself at the expense of the WordPress community and calling their behavior damaging to the ecosystem. 

This has resulted in WP Engine hosted websites being banned from accessing core WordPress resources, such as the plugin and theme repositories, and blocked from receiving updates via WordPress.org. These restrictions affect anyone who has a WP Engine hosted website by preventing essential updates to themes, plugins, and the WordPress core itself.

What This Means for 10 Degrees Clients

At 10 Degrees, we understand that this conflict may raise concerns about the security and maintenance of your WordPress websites, especially if you are using WP Engine as your hosting provider. Rest assured, we are closely monitoring the situation and staying up to date with any developments.

In the event that this issue persists into our upcoming maintenance window in October, we have already devised a workaround to ensure your sites remain secure and up-to-date. We will implement alternative methods for applying plugin, theme, and core WordPress updates, so you won’t experience any service disruption or vulnerabilities on your websites.

We will continue to keep you informed if the situation escalates further, and we’re confident that the impact on your sites will be minimal, thanks to the proactive measures we’ve put in place.

Please feel free to reach out to Louise if you have any concerns, and we’ll be happy to discuss your specific setup.

The Author

Jonny Vaughan

Founder & Technical Director of 10 Degrees. Jonny's day to day focus is on determining the best technical solutions for our clients, driving technical innovation and leading our sustainability agenda.

The 10 Degrees Team