--- title: WordPress vs. the Man Who Built It | daily.dev description: A long-form narrative traces WordPress's rise from a 2003 fork of b2/cafelog to powering roughly 40% of the web, then details the 2024 conflict between Matt... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/wordpress-vs-the-man-who-built-it-yjnjoun1z twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: WordPress vs. the Man Who Built It | daily.dev og:description: A long-form narrative traces WordPress's rise from a 2003 fork of b2/cafelog to powering roughly 40% of the web, then details the 2024 conflict between Matt... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/wordpress-vs-the-man-who-built-it-yjnjoun1z og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/yJnjOun1z.png og:image:alt: WordPress vs. the Man Who Built It og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # WordPress vs. the Man Who Built It **[Coding with Lewis](https://daily.dev/sources/codingwithlewis)** · 34 min read · 5 upvotes · 5 comments ## Summary A long-form narrative traces WordPress's rise from a 2003 fork of b2/cafelog to powering roughly 40% of the web, then details the 2024 conflict between Matt Mullenweg/Automattic and WP Engine (backed by Silver Lake). Covers the WordCamp US keynote calling WP Engine a 'cancer', the cease-and-desist exchanges, wordpress.org banning WP Engine, the forced fork of Advanced Custom Fields into Secure Custom Fields, employee resignations (including Naoko Takano), a federal injunction forcing Automattic to restore access, declining WordPress market share, Automattic's falling valuation, and parallels to Redis, Terraform, and Elasticsearch relicensing disputes. Frames the episode as an ongoing tension between open-source ideals and commercial pressure. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did wordpress.org fork the Advanced Custom Fields plugin into Secure Custom Fields? wordpress.org forcibly forked the ACF plugin, which was owned by WP Engine and running on over 2 million active sites, renaming it Secure Custom Fields and taking over the official plugin directory listing during the Automattic-WP Engine dispute. Anyone still pulling updates from wordpress.org woke up with a different maintainer's plugin installed without their consent, causing agencies to spend weekends on unscheduled emergency maintenance. _Teams relying on WordPress plugin updates follow ecosystem disputes like this one on daily.dev before they hit production._ ### What happened when a federal judge ruled on the WP Engine versus Automattic lawsuit? A federal judge granted WP Engine a preliminary injunction roughly three months after Matt Mullenweg's WordCamp US keynote, ordering Automattic to restore wordpress.org access, drop the required affiliation checkbox login, and reinstate the original Advanced Custom Fields plugin, all within 72 hours. Automattic complied but stated it considered the move temporary pending further court proceedings. _Developers weighing platform-risk in their WordPress stack track legal fallout like this on daily.dev._ ### How much has WordPress's market share changed since the Automattic and WP Engine dispute began? WordPress's share of websites fell from 43% in December 2025 to 41.5% roughly seven months later, marking six consecutive quarters of decline. Automattic's own valuation dropped from $85 per share during its 2021 funding round to $27.74 per share by June 30, 2025, though the decline is attributed more to competition from Shopify, Wix, and shrinking demand for written content than to the dispute itself. _Anyone deciding between WordPress and alternative CMS platforms can watch adoption trends like these on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@henbomb** · 4 upvotes > I agree that WP is cancer, it limits you hard on customization, it auto updates and breaks your whole site unexpectedly, SEO is outdated and sucks. Could go on all day spouting how bad it is. **@emircajic** · 0 upvotes > This reminds me of Microsoft vs. Linus Torvalds "cancering" each other. **@dragonifr** · 0 upvotes > am i the only one who hates wordpress? **@carsonstricker** · 0 upvotes > Using his own language, Matt Mullenweg is a cancer to WordPress and should resign immediately. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Who’s Left to Build WordPress?](https://daily.dev/posts/who-s-left-to-build-wordpress--qt60p0ff4) · WP Mayor · 30 upvotes · 11 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#wordpress](https://daily.dev/tags/wordpress) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/wordpress-vs-the-man-who-built-it-yjnjoun1z) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"WordPress vs. the Man Who Built It","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/wordpress-vs-the-man-who-built-it-yjnjoun1z","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/wordpress-vs-the-man-who-built-it-yjnjoun1z"},"datePublished":"2026-09-01T15:08:05.841Z","dateModified":"2026-09-01T15:08:32.333Z","description":"A long-form narrative traces WordPress's rise from a 2003 fork of b2/cafelog to powering roughly 40% of the web, then details the 2024 conflict between Matt...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AC8zIESRyVs/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AC8zIESRyVs/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Coding with Lewis","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Coding with Lewis","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--St-eJIdL--/f_auto/v1728073102/logos/codingwithlewis","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/codingwithlewis"},"commentCount":5,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/wordpress-vs-the-man-who-built-it-yjnjoun1z","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":5}],"keywords":"open-source,wordpress","timeRequired":"PT34M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"WordPress vs. the Man Who Built It","description":"A long-form narrative traces WordPress's rise from a 2003 fork of b2/cafelog to powering roughly 40% of the web, then details the 2024 conflict between Matt...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AC8zIESRyVs/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-01T15:08:05.841Z","duration":"PT34M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/yJnjOun1z","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/AC8zIESRyVs"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Coding with Lewis","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/codingwithlewis"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"WordPress vs. the Man Who Built It"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/wordpress-vs-the-man-who-built-it-yjnjoun1z","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"I agree that WP is cancer, it limits you hard on customization, it auto updates and breaks your whole site unexpectedly, SEO is outdated and sucks. Could go on all day spouting how bad it is.","datePublished":"2026-09-01T18:36:48.100Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/yJnjOun1z#c-7GTM4m8PM","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"HΣn","url":"https://daily.dev/henbomb","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKLNWeTt8UQp94l8luT61tFyG5vL9jh6dONvB-LwB76203P8uVo=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"This reminds me of Microsoft vs. Linus Torvalds “cancering” each other.","datePublished":"2026-09-05T12:38:12.970Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/yJnjOun1z#c-d4UvsFCgz","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Emir Cajic","url":"https://daily.dev/emircajic","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocIM0y7rl5g5yQKO2VIcsmXNaqj7_iSK6d9Vb6s6QDwuoc-2lskW=s96-c"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"am i the only one who hates wordpress?","datePublished":"2026-09-06T02:19:10.561Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/yJnjOun1z#c-fIjiY15wj","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"dragonFR","url":"https://daily.dev/dragonifr","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocK6-w9SpUgH-F8Suee7ODLs7PDiq87HjNVD5x070sGWwA=s96-c"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Using his own language, Matt Mullenweg is a cancer to WordPress and should resign immediately.","datePublished":"2026-09-02T13:34:47.737Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/yJnjOun1z#c-F56vCsCdr","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Carson Stricker","url":"https://daily.dev/carsonstricker","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocLHKMxVeUyEPRBm8-x7IrRrB72aJ3KjGS3i3TYJljH1Q5ie7pU=s96-c"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/wordpress-vs-the-man-who-built-it-yjnjoun1z#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did wordpress.org fork the Advanced Custom Fields plugin into Secure Custom Fields?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"wordpress.org forcibly forked the ACF plugin, which was owned by WP Engine and running on over 2 million active sites, renaming it Secure Custom Fields and taking over the official plugin directory listing during the Automattic-WP Engine dispute. 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