The WordPress Crisis Explained (+ Why Switch to HubSpot's Content Hub)

If you rely on WordPress for your website hosting and management, you may want to sit up for this.

In a surprising and potentially threatening move for millions of users, WordPress.org has officially banned WP Engine from accessing its resources, leaving thousands of WP Engine customers potentially exposed the fallout of this dispute.

WP Engine, a well-known managed WordPress hosting platform, now finds itself in exile. As of October 1, 2024, WordPress will be restricting WP Engine-hosted websites from accessing their servers, effectively blocking these sites from performing essential updates to the core platform, plugins, and themes.

This means that essential updates, which are critical for patching security vulnerabilities and ensuring optimal performance, are now inaccessible, leaving an estimated 1.5 million websites as optimal prey for hackers.

While this decision doesn't impact the entirety of websites on WordPress, the situation is being likened to a "Code Red" instance for WordPress users who are utilizing WP Engine as their website's security, performance, and overall management is now in jeopardy.

This turmoil is affecting businesses and site owners across all industries, and the repercussions of these actions are just beginning to unfold. According to W3Techs, 43.5% of all websites on the web use WordPress—giving the content management system giant a whopping 62.5% of the market share.

Whether you are using WP Engine, another WordPress hosting provider, or are managing a WordPress site yourself, this news directly impacts the future of your digital presence and should create cautious pause regarding the ecosystem that your website calls home.

Brief Explanation: The WP Engine, WordPress.com, and WordPress.org Relationship

To understand the current chaos, it's essential to grasp how WP Engine and the two distinct sides of WordPress operate.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com, on the other hand, is like renting a fully furnished apartment. Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, manages hosting, updates, and security for you.

WP Engine

WP Engine steps in as a specialized high-end hosting provider, offering managed hosting services specifically for WordPress.org users who want expert-level support.

The ban on WP Engine stems from friction between these entities. WordPress.org is community-driven, and as of late, it seems a power struggle has led to the exclusion of WP Engine, shaking the trust of site owners who rely on the platform for their infrastructure. The consequences of this split are yet to be fully understood but are already sending shockwaves through the ecosystem.

In a TechCrunch article covering the story, WP Engine was quoted as saying that "Matt Mullenweg’s unprecedented and unwarranted action interferes with the normal operation of the entire WordPress ecosystem, impacting not just WP Engine and our customers, but all WordPress plugin developers and open-source users who depend on WP Engine tools like ACF."

A Tech Radar article revealed that WordPress has given WP Engine a temporary reprieve. In the article, Matt Mullenweg (Automattic's CEO) is quoted as saying, "We have lifted the blocks of their servers from accessing ours, until October 1, UTC 00:00. Hopefully this helps them spin up their mirrors of all of WordPress.org’s resources that they were using for free while not paying, and making legal threats against us."

Why You Should Be Alarmed as a WordPress User

So, why should you be concerned? First, WP Engine has been a critical player in offering managed hosting, ensuring that sites running on WordPress.org are fast, secure, and well-maintained. Now that WP Engine is banned, site owners may face performance drops, outages, or security vulnerabilities if they rely on resources previously supported by WordPress.org.

This situation puts all WordPress users on high alert. The WordPress ecosystem has long been seen as fragmented (an inevitability for any similarly huge organization with such a commanding market share), but this schism is severe. It highlights a growing lack of cohesion in the system that many businesses depend on for their website performance.

The move also raises questions about the future of support, updates, and patches, making the platform appear unstable. Some WordPress users and pundits have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to air out their grievances with the move:

If you host your website on WordPress, it's time to assess your situation. The risk of reduced site performance, combined with the uncertainty of being unable to access ongoing security updates, means your digital presence could be in jeopardy.

What Impact will This Have on the WordPress Ecosystem?

Barn2 Plugins notes that in the United States alone, there are around 3,768,672 sites running on WordPress.

Many of these sites use plugins or third-party services to help them manage the frequently-clunky and nonintuitive WordPress platform. While WordPress can be incredibly powerful once you know what you're doing, it isn't exactly easy to learn. Which is why solutions like WP Engine exist.

These managed services and plugin tools help organizations streamline their website management on WordPress.org. But, if these third-party service providers cannot access critical WordPress resources, then how will that affect the countless businesses that rely on them?

Speculation: If WP Engine and WordPress/Automattic Reconcile

WordPress's earlier willingness to lift the blocks preventing WP Engine's servers from accessing WordPress's servers does point to a potential future where the two organizations reconcile their differences and enter into an agreement where their end users can all go about their business without having to worry about suddenly losing access to mission-critical tools and resources.

This is likely the best-case scenario.

Speculation: If WP Engine and WordPress Don't Reconcile

If WP Engine ends up permanently losing access to the supposedly open-source WordPress project resources, it could have an extremely harmful effect on all of WP Engine's customers moving forward as they permanently lose access to the WP Engine tools that they were reliant on.

Additionally, if WordPress continues this policy with all of the organizations that leverage the open source resources on WordPress, countless businesses that use these third-party resources could find themselves unable to update their WP plugins to match the latest security standards and tools.

This, in turn, could lead to security breach vulnerabilities that increase the risk of these organizations getting hacked and suffering losses.

Why Website Security is Critically Important in 2024 and Beyond

The digital world has never been more fraught with cybersecurity threats. An article by Infosecurity Magazine stated that "Nearly three-quarters (73%) of US small business owners reported a cyber-attack last year, with employee and customer data most likely to be targeted in data breaches."

Meanwhile, Cybercrime Magazine noted that 60% of hacked small companies go out of business within six months . If your website’s security is compromised, your business could become part of this alarming statistic.

WordPress, especially when managed through third-party hosting providers like WP Engine, already faces challenges with plugin vulnerabilities, brute force attacks, and outdated themes or plugins leading to easy entry points for hackers.

This ban only exacerbates those issues by further destabilizing the platform. Keeping your site on WordPress without knowing the extent of this ecosystem rift leaves your business dangerously exposed.

As businesses continue to transition into a digital-first world, website security in 2024 is a non-negotiable priority. With breaches leading to severe operational disruptions, reputational damage, and financial loss, business owners cannot afford to use platforms where security is uncertain.

Is It Time to Find a New Content Management System?

Given the current WordPress chaos, it's worth considering an alternative platform that offers far more than just website hosting. Maybe something that lives in peaceful, seamless digital harmony alongside your marketing, sales, service, operations, commerce, and A.I. tools...a.k.a HubSpot’s Content Hub 👇

Unlike WordPress, which requires multiple plugins, third-party developers, and disparate hosting services, HubSpot’s Content Hub provides a unified, all-in-one platform. With HubSpot, everything from your website to your marketing, sales, customer service, and operations can coexist in a single ecosystem. HubSpot offers superior security and reliability—crucial for today’s businesses—as it’s managed by HubSpot’s dedicated team of experts, reducing the risk of outages or vulnerabilities.

According to comparisons, HubSpot consistently ranks higher in terms of ease of use, scalability, and security . It also comes with features like integrated CRM, marketing automation, and built-in analytics that WordPress simply can’t match without costly third-party plugins and services—services that are at risk of being cut off given what's happening with WP Engine.

More importantly, you don’t have to worry about your hosting being suddenly pulled or your site becoming vulnerable to breaches because HubSpot provides a fully managed and secure infrastructure for your website. This kind of stability and security is essential for any business looking to scale confidently without risking their digital assets.

Conclusion: WordPress Users, Proceed With Extreme Caution

The crisis within the WordPress ecosystem is not one to ignore. Whether you host on WP Engine or elsewhere, this disruption underscores the platform’s growing instability.

As a business, you can’t afford to be left in the dark when it comes to website security, performance, or future development. Now more than ever, it’s crucial to evaluate whether WordPress is the right platform for your needs.

With HubSpot’s Content Hub, you get not only a secure and reliable hosting solution but a full suite of tools to help your business thrive. It’s time to make the switch before WordPress’s shaky foundation causes further disruption to your business.

Content Hub is also part of a larger platform that offers customer relationship management (CRM) tools in a native interface so you can track and control your customer interactions from beginning to end. Automation tools can help you leverage your contact data and tracking to respond to customers in real time as you guide them from strangers, to customers, to full-on brand evangelists.

Don’t wait until it’s too late—migrate now and safeguard your business’s future.