In a recent outburst, Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic and co-founder of WordPress, launched a fierce critique against WP Engine, a rival company. He referred to WP Engine as a “cancer to WordPress”.

Mullenweg expressed his disappointment with WP Engine for exploiting the open-source WordPress project for commercial gains since 2010. He accused the firm of not adequately giving back to the community and disabling fundamental features that make WordPress a dominant platform.

For background, WordPress powers over 40% of the internet. While anyone is free to use this open-source project to run their website, several companies have emerged offering hosting services and technical expertise based on it. These companies include Automattic, founded by Mullenweg in 2005, and WP Engine, a WordPress hosting provider that has raised close to $300 million in funding over its 14-year existence.

At the WordCamp US 2024 conference in Portland, Oregon, Mullenweg didn’t hold back in his condemnation of WP Engine. He read a blog post to the audience, highlighting the stark difference in “five for the future” investment pledges made by Automattic and WP Engine. Automattic contributes 3,900 hours a week, while WP Engine only contributes 40 hours.

Despite admitting that these figures might not be entirely accurate, Mullenweg emphasized the disparity between Automattic and WP Engine’s contributions, considering both have similar sizes and revenues.

Mullenweg has previously criticized other major web hosts, such as GoDaddy for exploiting the open-source project without significant contributions. He referred to GoDaddy as a “parasitic company” and a “threat to WordPress’ future”.

In his recent tirade, Mullenweg didn’t just stop at WP Engine but extended his criticism to the company’s main investor, Silver Lake.

Mullenweg called out Silver Lake, a private equity firm with $102 billion in assets, for caring more about their returns than the open-source ideals. He urged the WordPress community to think carefully about where their money goes – to a company that supports the ecosystem or one that extracts value until it depletes?

Answering a question from the audience about whether he suggests a boycott of WP Engine, Mullenweg expressed his hopes that all WP Engine customers would consider their options when renewing contracts. He mentioned other hosting providers, such as Hostinger, Bluehost Cloud, and Pressable, who would be eager for their business.

Following the controversy, Mullenweg reiterated his criticism of WP Engine in a blog post, accusing them of creating confusion between the WordPress project and the commercial company WP Engine.

Mullenweg also claimed that WP Engine is selling an inferior product, as it disables a core WordPress feature that allows users to restore their content to a previous version.

Customers can request to enable revisions, but WP Engine only covers a limited number of revisions and recommends using a “third-party editing system” for extensive revision management. Mullenweg believes that the company does this to save money.

TechCrunch has reached out to WP Engine for comments and will update this article once we receive a response.