WordPress.org did block WP Engine from its services on September 25, 2024, but “banned” is no longer a complete description. Access was briefly restored, WP Engine built an alternative update route, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on December 10, 2024, ordering Automattic and related defendants not to block or interfere with WP Engine’s WordPress.org access while the lawsuit continued. The litigation remained unresolved in the latest update available on August 18, 2026.
What “banned from WordPress.org” actually meant
The action concerned access to services operated through WordPress.org—not the WordPress software itself. WordPress is open-source GPL software that can continue running on a WP Engine site. The dispute affected the infrastructure and community services that many WordPress installations use.
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In his September 25 announcement, Matt Mullenweg said WP Engine no longer had free access to WordPress.org resources. The listed services included:
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- WordPress core update infrastructure
- Plugin and theme directories, installation and update services
- Block, pattern, translation and Openverse-related services
- Support forums, community Slack and the bug tracker
- Meetups, conferences, Showcase and other WordPress.org resources
The effect was not identical for every customer. It depended on the product, site configuration and whether a workflow used WP Engine infrastructure. The original announcement is at WordPress.org.
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Who made the decision—and which WordPress entity was involved?
Mullenweg, WordPress co-founder and Automattic chief executive, announced the block on WordPress.org. That does not mean that Automattic owns the GPL WordPress code or that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are the same service.
| Entity | Role in this dispute |
|---|---|
| WordPress | Open-source software distributed under the GPL. |
| WordPress.org | Project and infrastructure services, including directories, update endpoints, forums and other community resources. |
| WordPress.com | Automattic’s hosted WordPress service; separate from WordPress.org. |
| Automattic | Commercial company associated with WordPress.com and other WordPress products; its executives and related entities were defendants in the litigation. |
| WP Engine and Flywheel | Managed WordPress hosting brands whose sites and related products depended on WordPress.org services. |
Why did the dispute begin?
Automattic and Mullenweg’s position
Automattic and Mullenweg argued that WP Engine benefited commercially from WordPress while contributing too little to the project. They also raised trademark concerns, objected to WP Engine’s branding and use of “WordPress,” and criticized WP Engine’s restriction of part of WordPress’s revision-history functionality. Their position was that WP Engine should operate or pay for infrastructure it relied on, or enter a commercial trademark arrangement. Automattic described the conflict in its account of the dispute.
WP Engine’s position
WP Engine contended that the block misused control over WordPress.org and interfered with customers’ ability to receive updates and use ordinary WordPress workflows. It characterized the action as retaliation and interference, denied that the block was justified by a pre-existing lawsuit, and described the customer risks in its incident and litigation update. These are competing allegations, not findings that settle the parties’ motives or trademark claims.
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What did WP Engine customers experience?
The immediate problem was access to update, installation and directory functions—not an automatic shutdown of hosted websites.
- Plugin or theme updates could fail.
- New plugins and themes could be unavailable through the normal WordPress dashboard.
- Directory information, translations and Openverse-related functions could be disrupted.
- Some WP Engine-owned plugins needed separate update arrangements.
- Administrators might have needed manual updates or another trusted update source.
Existing pages, databases and WordPress code did not suddenly disappear, and a site could remain online while its update workflow was broken. Premium plugins with their own vendor updater could be unaffected. Conversely, manual packages from an unverified mirror could create a supply-chain risk or version mismatch.
How WP Engine restored an update path
WordPress.org announced a temporary reprieve on September 27, 2024, restoring access through October 1 so WP Engine could develop a workaround. The announcement is at WordPress.org.
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WP Engine then deployed an alternative mechanism for WP Engine and Flywheel sites and documented two update-source choices: the normal WordPress.org source and a WP Engine mirror. Its support documentation explains how the system can use the mirror and switch sources if one becomes unavailable: WP Engine’s update-source guide.
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Timeline of the block, reprieve and lawsuit
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| September 20, 2024 | Date later used by the court as the relevant pre-dispute status quo. |
| September 25, 2024 | Mullenweg announced that WP Engine no longer had free access to WordPress.org resources. Source. |
| September 26, 2024 | WP Engine publicly disputed the justification and described customer impact. Source. |
| September 27, 2024 | WordPress.org restored access temporarily through October 1. Source. |
| September 30–October 1, 2024 | WP Engine deployed its alternative update and mirror workflow. Source. |
| October 2, 2024 | WP Engine filed legal action against Automattic and Mullenweg, according to WP Engine’s timeline and complaint. Complaint. |
| December 10, 2024 | A federal court granted a preliminary injunction protecting WP Engine’s access. |
| September 12, 2025 | The court allowed most of WP Engine’s claims to proceed; that was not a final victory. Order. |
| May–June 2026 | Discovery and motion-related proceedings continued. |
| August 18, 2026 | The latest source reviewed still described the litigation as unresolved. |
What the December 2024 injunction ordered
On December 10, 2024, the federal court ordered Automattic and related defendants not to:
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- Block, disable or interfere with WP Engine and related entities’ access to WordPress.org.
- Interfere with WP Engine’s control over or access to its plugins and extensions hosted on WordPress.org.
- Use automatic migration or update commands to delete, overwrite, disable or modify WP Engine plugins without the required consent.
The order preserved WordPress.org’s ability to maintain security and operability under procedures in place before September 20, 2024. Read the preliminary injunction and the later order concerning injunction scope.
This was an interim remedy, not a final ruling that WordPress.org acted unlawfully or that WP Engine would win the case. It made “permanent ban” an inaccurate shorthand.
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Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), associated with WP Engine, became part of a later dispute over the WordPress.org listing and control of the free plugin. The injunction and WP Engine’s claims addressed allegations concerning access to and control of WP Engine-developed plugins. ACF should be understood as a related escalation, not as the same event as the September 25 access block. Relevant court materials include the injunction and a later motion-to-dismiss order.
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Where the case stood in 2026
A September 12, 2025 ruling allowed most WP Engine claims—including intentional-interference, unfair-competition and defamation claims—to proceed. Allowing claims past a motion to dismiss does not establish liability.
WP Engine’s July 8, 2026 update said discovery concluded on May 14, 2026; the court held discovery-related hearings on May 27 and May 29; and motions to dismiss were argued or scheduled for argument on June 25. It also said settlement discussions were confidential. Those procedural details are WP Engine’s account and should not be read as a final docket disposition. See the company’s update and the discovery-related order.
What customers should do now
- Check which update source the site is using in WP Engine’s or Flywheel’s controls.
- Enable the documented WP Engine mirror or Secure Updater where appropriate, and confirm its status with support if dashboard updates fail.
- Keep tested backups and use staging before applying core, plugin or theme updates.
- Use only WordPress.org, WP Engine or the plugin developer’s official update channel.
- Confirm that premium plugins receive updates through their own licensed vendor service.
- Do not delete or replace a working plugin solely because of this dispute; follow the developer’s current instructions.
- Contact the host if an update fails rather than downloading a package from an unknown mirror.
Does this event require a move away from WP Engine?
No. The 2024 block alone does not make migration mandatory, particularly after WP Engine’s alternative update infrastructure and the injunction. A move can still be rational for other reasons: governance concerns, a desire for lower cost or greater server control, different support expectations, or concern about dependence on a contested ecosystem relationship.
Compare reliability of update workflows, backups and staging, support, performance, plugin compatibility, agency or multisite features, contract terms and migration assistance. Managed WordPress hosts generally provide convenience and specialized support at less flexibility; cloud or self-managed servers provide more control but make the customer responsible for operating-system updates, firewalls, backups, monitoring and incident response. A hosting price is therefore not the same as total operating cost.
Why the dispute matters beyond one host
The conflict exposed a governance risk in open-source ecosystems: commercial products may depend on centrally operated directories, APIs and update infrastructure even when the underlying code is freely licensed. It also raised unresolved questions about trademark control, expected contributions from commercial hosts, and how infrastructure access should be governed when the operator and a dependent company disagree.
For site owners, the practical lesson is resilience. Know where updates originate, keep independent tested backups, maintain a staging environment and avoid making a single provider the only path to security updates.
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