A conflict between WordPress and hosting provider WP Engine has escalated into a ban. This may have consequences for those who are customers of WP Engine.

WordPress CEO Matt Mullenberg bans WP Engine in a blog post. The conflict between the two parties has been going on for some time. Mullenberg recently called WP Engine a “cancer” because it did not want to participate in the development of the WordPress CMS, prompting the hosting provider to threaten legal action. “WP Engine is not WordPress,” the blog concludes.

The object of the conflict is what the world is often about: money. Automattic, the company that maintains WordPress, believes that WP Engine should pay royalties to use WordPress. Since WP Engine refuses to pay, it is now denied access to WordPress resources for automatic updates, among other things.

Significant consequences

This decision could have serious consequences for companies using WordPress through WP Engine. WP Engine claims to host over 200,000 WordPress websites. The company describes itself as the “number one platform for WordPress”. You can see the irony in this yourself.

Websites hosted by WP Engine risk becoming more vulnerable to vulnerabilities. WP Engine will no longer receive automatic updates via WordPress. This puts WP Engine customers at risk of having unupdated plugins, one of the most common vulnerabilities in WordPress. The hosting provider must now ensure the security of the customers themselves.

WordPress’s decision sparks mixed reactions. In the Reddit WordPress thread, the dispute is a topic at the virtual coffee table, and people are not on the side of Mullenberg and WordPress. Many users believe that WordPress has gone too far by leaving thousands of websites vulnerable. Mullenberg was even described as a “benevolent dictator.”