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10 Best Gumroad Alternatives To Scale Your eCommerce Business in 2023

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10 Best Gumroad Alternatives To Scale Your eCommerce Business in 2023

Looking for the best Gumroad alternatives?

Gumroad simplifies eCommerce with easy setup and zero subscription fees. Yet, its percentage system might not fit everyone’s bill.

Many users find Gumroad lacking, especially if you’re after more customization, varied payment options, or advanced marketing tools.

Luckily, we’ve handpicked the 10 best Gumroad alternatives with unique feature sets and options to help you scale your eCommerce business.

10 Best Gumroad Alternatives For Online Entrepreneurs

Gumroad has been a favorite amongst eCommerce newbies for one reason—their flat 10% per-sale fee.

While paying no upfront cost might sound appealing when you’re just starting off, that 10% transaction fee (plus card charges) can quickly start eating into your profits. Moreover, Gumroad lacks some essential features, such as upselling and instant payouts, which can hinder growth.

Fortunately, many alternatives to Gumroad provide better, if not equal, options without slashing 10% off everything you sell. In this list, you’ll find their key features, pricing structure, and a detailed overview.

Let’s dive in:

1. Shopify: Best Overall

shopify-gumroad-alternative

Shopify is the most popular platform for selling all kinds of stuff online—for good reason. It’s easy for non-tech-savvy people, supports various payment methods, and offers various marketing and delivery services. This means you can build and grow your small business into a multi-million dollar brand right from Shopify.

One of the best things about this platform is how fast and attractive the store pages look on most devices. Its drag-and-drop builder lets you design a stunning website within minutes. You can integrate buttons, forms, or image sliders with a few clicks. 

Creators also love the Shopify mobile app. It lets you monitor your orders, payments, and delivery systems no matter where you go. Whether you run an online store, a retail shop, or both, Shopify supports various payment gateways and even has a POS system to track your transactions in one place.

The only downside is paying for extra features like third-party apps and fancy themes. You can test the platform for 3 months by paying just $1 per month until the free trial runs out. But for those with the budget, Shopify is a solid choice to kickstart your online selling journey.

Key Features

  • Fully-hosted all-in-one eCommerce platform
  • Multi-currency support with built-in gateway and POS system
  • No bandwidth or product limits
  • Creator-focused tools and built-in marketing suite

Price

Shopify offers a 3 month free trial at just $1 per month. After that, you can choose one of the following paid plans:

  • Basic: $25 per month
  • Professional: $65 per month
  • Advanced: $399 per month

You can get a 25% discount by purchasing an annual subscription.

To get a more in-depth overview of Shopify and its features, check out our Shopify Review: Worthy Of Its Reputation As The Leading Ecommerce Platform?


2. Sellfy: Most Marketing Options

sellfy-ecommerce-platformsellfy-ecommerce-platform

Sellfy is a fully hosted eCommerce platform, the second closest alternative to Gumroad. Whether you’re selling digital items, physical goods, subscriptions, or print-on-demand products, Sellfy has something in store for you.

Setting up a store on Sellfy takes only a couple of minutes. You can connect it to an existing website or build a brand-new site from scratch. With Sellfy’s store customizer tool, you can add a logo, change color palettes, and even add language selectors to target international buyers. 

If you’re into selling custom-printed products, you won’t need any external solutions or pricey integrations while using Sellfy. The platform will handle everything from fulfilling orders to printing and shipping worldwide. Plus, you’ll only pay for fulfillment after making a sale, so you don’t need to worry about upfront costs or unsold stock.

One place where Sellfy really shines is in marketing. You can effortlessly add tracking pixels, create email marketing campaigns, generate various discount codes, and promote upsells within the platform. Each one of these features can dramatically increase revenues and repeat purchases for businesses.

Another big plus for Sellfy is that it doesn’t take a cut of your income. Instead, you pay a minimal monthly subscription fee to utilize their range of tools and grow your venture.

Key features

  • Sell physical + digital + POD products and subscriptions
  • Tracking pixels, email campaigns, coupons, and other marketing tools
  • Customizable storefront with multilingual support
  • Supports PayPal, Stripe, and other popular payment channels

Pricing

Sellfy does not have a free plan. Premium plans start at:

  • Starter: $29 per month
  • Business: $79 per month
  • Premium: $159 per month

The company doesn’t charges a transaction fee on any of its plan.


3. WooCommerce: Top Pick For WordPress Stores

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WooCommerce is a solid option for businesses running an online store on WordPress. It’s open-source and completely free—you’ll only have to pay for hosting and domain. With WooCommerce, you can sell anything from physical products to memberships, digital downloads, and even affiliate products.

Being an open-source platform, WooCommerce pairs well with a variety of themes. While designing a store with WooCommerce takes some expertise, its flexibility is also miles ahead of other platforms. Alternatively, you can use drag-and-drop builders like Elementor to make customization convenient. 

Compared to Gumroad, WooCommerce offers a boatload of plugins and integrations. You can install them from WordPress’s library and enable features like upselling, email marketing, SEO, pixel integration, discount codes, and more. There are also plugins to connect WooCommerce with payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and AliPay. 

Even though WooCommerce can be overwhelming for beginners, it’s an outstanding platform for businesses prioritizing scalability and extra options. 

Key features

  • Huge library of add-ons, themes, and extensions
  • User-friendly mobile application for tracking orders
  • Highly customizable storefront and hundreds of themes
  • Detailed reporting on revenues and customer behavior

Price 

WooCommerce is a free plugin. However, you will need to pay for any extensions and the domain + hosting.


4. BigCommerce: Great For Large Businesses

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BigCommerce is a superb alternative to Gumroad for B2B and B2C companies. With advanced features like multiple storefronts, cross-channel selling, and multi-currency support, BigCommerce is a solid fit for larger corporations and SaaS ventures operating internationally.

At the basics, the platform features a drag-and-drop page editor that simplifies site customization. You can also edit individual elements with HTML, CSS, or Javascript. Speed and security are key with BigCommerce. The platform ensures quick site loading and a 99.99% uptime, so you don’t miss any sales. 

Inventory management is also smoothly managed by BigCommerce. The system efficiently tracks stock across various channels and compiles this data in a single dashboard for easy access. 

If you’re operating across continents, BigCommerce accepts payment in 99+ currencies and supports front-end translation through third-party apps. B2B businesses can also create customer categories to display bulk + individual pricing, shipping cost, and quotations according to specific countries.

With extra goodies like multiple storefronts, social eCommerce, and eBay/Amazon integration, BigCommerce is one of the best Gumroad alternatives for established or multinational organizations.

Key features

  • Strong list of payment gateways in multiple currencies
  • Tons of customization flexibility with CSS and HTML
  • Wide range of B2B-specific features
  • Seamless integration with eBay, Amazon, and more

Price 

BigCommerce’s plans start at the following prices:

  • Standard: $39 per month
  • Plus: $105 per month
  • Pro: $399 per month

With an annual subscription, you get 25% off on the final price. BigCommerce also doesn’t have any transaction fees.


5. Payhip: Most User-Friendly Platform

payhip-digital-ecommerce-platformpayhip-digital-ecommerce-platform

Payhip is an exceptional Gumroad alternative for online coaches and creators. Recognized for its simple interface and uncomplicated checkout process, the platform has many options, especially if you’re a mentor or online tutor.

A few key features of Payhip include building online communities, conducting 1:1 sessions via Zoom, selling digital downloads, and hosting extensive video courses via recurring payments through Stripe or PayPal. You can also sell various physical products and manage inventories, fulfillments, and promotions using built-in tools.

New business owners can easily integrate Payhip into their existing website or blog. Otherwise, you can build a Payhip storefront from scratch and add image galleries, color schemes, or blog sections as you like. This flexibility and support for multiple languages is a major win for newcomers looking to sell to local or international customers.

The standout advantage of Payhip is its user-friendly nature. It’s designed for beginners in eCommerce and only requires a few minutes to get up and running. However, this simplicity does have its trade-offs, particularly in marketing features. Beyond upsells and coupon codes, don’t expect a wide array of marketing tools. 

Payhip offers a free plan with a fixed 5% transaction fee and additional payment processing costs, which is still quite lower than Gumroad’s fees.

Key features

  • Best for coaches and digital entrepreneurs
  • Supports multi-tier pricing for subscribers
  • Faster payouts with PayPal and Stripe support
  • Affiliate, upsells, referrals, and other marketing tools

Price 

Payhip has a variety of paid plans that charge less transaction fee as you upgrade:

  • Free: $0 + 5% transaction fee
  • Plus: $29 + 2% transaction fee
  • Pro: $99 + 0% transaction fee

6. Pattern by Etsy

pattern-etsy-digital-craftspattern-etsy-digital-crafts

Etsy has been an online haven for hobbyists and artists for years. The platform has close to 100 million active buyers, and with Pattern by Etsy, you can build your own customized storefront to sell your digital and physical products. 

Pattern lets you build a stunning online store and sync your items list from Etsy within minutes. You can host your store on an existing domain or buy one from Pattern’s dashboard to build a unique brand. The platform provides pre-made templates with plenty of room for customization. 

Both your Pattern-powered website and Etsy store can be centrally managed using their Shop Manager. Your stock, orders, and deliveries will be accessible on a single dashboard for convenient tracking. Etsy also takes security seriously, which is why SSL and payment protection are built into Pattern.

You also get a range of basic marketing tools like social sharing, pixel tracking, and integration with MailChimp to drive traffic to your online store. Judging by their flat $15 monthly subscription fee, Pattern is a no-brainer for enthusiastic Etsy sellers looking to expand their horizons.

Key features

  • Instant item syncing with existing Etsy store
  • Customizable storefront with ready-made templates
  • Shop Manager tracks Pattern + Etsy orders in one place
  • Budget-friendly and variety of marketing tools

Price 

Etsy charges a standard $0.20 listing fee for one SKU and 6.5% transaction fee on every sale.

You can try Pattern by Etsy for 30 days free, after which you will be charged $15 per month. Purchasing a domain from Pattern comes with extra charges.


7. MemberPress

memberpress-wpbeginner-wordpressmemberpress-wpbeginner-wordpress

MemberPress is a killer Gumroad alternative for people in the coaching industry that caters to ‘members’ instead of one-time customers. 

Building a beautiful, user-centric website with MemberPress takes less than a day—thanks to their incredible drag-and-drop ReadyLaunch page builder. MemberPress also comes with a learning management system (LMS) add-on that lets you create a learning path with step-by-step instructions for students. CoachKit makes this process even easier with tools like course creators and meeting schedulers.

A highlight feature of MemberPress is automated drip content. This system requires users to complete certain tasks to access advanced lessons, which keeps them engaged and increases the likelihood of continued subscription payments.

The plugin also seamlessly integrates with WordPress, has a coupon feature, lets you build a community of subscribers, and supports a variety of payment gateways, including Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

Key features

  • LMS and Drip Content for creating learning paths
  • Support for multiple community forum plugins
  • Seamless integration with WordPress, Apple Pay, and Google Wallet
  • Connects easily with MailChimp and Zapier

Price

MemberPress’s has a variety of annual plans that start at:

  • Basic: $359 per year
  • Plus: $599 per year
  • Pro: $799 per year
  • Elite: $999 per year

All the plans have a 0% transaction fee. The platform doesn’t offers monthly subscription plans.


8. Podia

podia-gumroad-alternativepodia-gumroad-alternative

Podia is another all-in-one, user-friendly eCommerce platform for those in the digital niche. 

On their website, you can find that Podia is tailor-made for people, employing one of the five business models: online courses, digital downloads, webinars, communities, and coaching programs. 

Within these models, you will get multiple built-in tools to engage with your members and scale your startup. A few basic ones include automated drip content, video hosting, upsells, coupons, and moderation controls for forums.

Designing a website is also super-easy with Podia. You can take advantage of their drag-and-drop builder to create landing pages. Or, you can use the same builder to craft beautiful email templates with full control over colors, fonts, images, and much more.

Unfortunately, there’s one big downside to Podia—no option to sell physical goods. The platform is solely made for virtual items, so you won’t find any options for tracking shipments or inventories. However, if you don’t plan to shift towards selling merchandise, Podia is a decent Gumroad alternative for digital entrepreneurs.

Key features

  • Ability to host pre-recorded and real-time webinars
  • Unlimited bandwidth with video and file hosting
  • Live chat and messaging tools
  • Drag-and-drop builder for storefront and emails

Price 

Podia has a Free plan with an 8% transaction fees. Mover plan starts at $39/month and Shaker starts at $89/month.

Both paid plans have a 0% transaction fee. You can get 17% off on yearly plans.


9. SendOwl

sendowl-courses-fans-onlinesendowl-courses-fans-online

SendOwl is an easy-to-sell eCommerce platform with a unique twist.

Unlike Gumroad, SendOwl acts as a middleman between you and your audience. When you upload your podcast, online course, or ebook, it automatically generates a link. You can attach this link as a ‘Buy Now’ button on your website or social media. When someone clicks on it, they’re sent to your SendOwl page to finish the purchase.

SendOwl also fits well with influencers, YouTubers, and artists, especially if you have a decent fan base. You can effortlessly monetize website traffic, utilize Shopify integrations, or sell directly through SendOwl’s API.

Another major win for SendOwl users is its range of marketing tools. You can add one-click upsells, gift purchases, and send cart abandonment emails. SendOwl also follows multiple security protocols to protect your digital content, such as time-restricted download links, access management, fraud filters, and two-factor authentication.

It’s worth noting that SendOwl does not offer the ability to build personalized storefronts. But if you don’t want to build a separate landing page anyway, SendOwl is the perfect tool for digital creators who want to offload tasks like payment processing, checkout, and file delivery.

Key features

  • Simple ‘one-link’ system for quick selling
  • Intuitive and responsive checkout
  • Various security protocols and enhanced protection
  • Wide range of marketing features and toolkits

Price 

SendOwl has a range of paid plans with varying transaction fees:

  • Starter: $9/month + 5% transaction fee (free for 3 months)
  • Growth: $15/month + $0.33 fixed fee per order
  • Pro: $39/month + $0.17 fixed fee per order

10. Patreon

patreon-best-gumroad-alternativepatreon-best-gumroad-alternative

Patreon has been a regular amongst YouTubers, photographers, and influencers for years. If you have a decent fan following and want to cash in your hard work, Patreon offers a centralized platform to engage with followers, share new stuff, and sell various digital items in one place. 

Creators can build a customized profile on Patreon where members can receive exclusive updates—something you can also limit by creating multi-tier membership plans. You can also interact with fans through posts, a built-in polling system, or even personal DMs to build a deeper connection they appreciate.

As for eCommerce, Patreon lets you upload and sell digital products on a dedicated shop tab. This process becomes even easier with support for global currencies, payment gateways like PayPal, and a fluid checkout experience. If you want to amp up your sales, Patreon offers cross-promotion, in-depth analytics, and integration with MailChimp, WordPress, and Discord.

Like Gumroad, Patreon operates on a percentage-based fee—the more you earn, the more you pay. Rates can reach up to 12% with their Premium plan. This model means lower costs when starting out but higher fees as your earnings increase.

Key features

  • Multi-tier pricing option for premium members
  • Intuitive mobile app and direct messaging
  • In-depth analytics dashboard with various metrics
  • Attractive and user-friendly community and feed manager

Price 

Pateron is completely free for all creators. However, they keep 8% of your earnings on Pro plan and 12% of your earnings on Premium plan.


Conclusion

That’s it for this article. We’ve scoped out the 10 best Gumroad alternatives for all kinds of business owners, each bringing something different. Consider how fees, support, and payout timing fit your creative process. 

Gumroad skips the monthly fee but takes a slice of your sales. Other platforms might offer sweeter deals, faster access to your earnings, and more helpful support. Pick the one that aligns with your creative ambitions, ensuring you have the tools and backup to skyrocket your online venture.

If you want to start an eCommerce business on a budget, check out our guide on How To Make Money With Ecommerce: Get Started For $200 Or Less!

Or, if you’re looking for lucrative gaps in the dropshipping world, read our list of Best Dropshipping Business Ideas: 9+ Niches That Actually Work!



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The WordPress Saga: Does Matt Mullenweg Want a Fork or Not?

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The WordPress Saga: Does Matt Mullenweg Want a Fork or Not?

A CEO is no longer expected to talk candidly about open source. Maybe business leaders have never expected open source to be anything but serve their business interests. Not every CEO takes advantage of open source to the degree we have seen in recent months. But no one is free of blame. Open source means different things to different people, and everyone uses it for their own purposes.

The colloquial use of open source gives companies like Meta the opportunity to use open source as they wish. Even high-ranking people in the open source community discount the problem. They say it’s OK. Open source is still moving forward. The kids don’t care — all they want to do is build models.

There is no playbook or good versus evil here. Many thoughtful people want to find a way to solve the mess we’ve seen surface in the WordPress saga of the past few weeks.

To recap, for those who haven’t been sufficiently online the past few days: Matt Mullenweg, co-creator of WordPress, the popular open source content management system, has been accusing WP Engine, a WordPress hosting provider, of violating WordPress’ trademarks and using its servers without compensation. The two organizations’ lawyers have exchanged cease-and-desist letters (more on those later). At the stroke of midnight UTC on Tuesday, WordPress blocked WP Engine’s access to its servers.

As this episode unravels, a fresh flow of ideas about open source has emerged. At least one CEO has established an important approach to solving issues like those we see with WordPress and WP Engine.

In a thoughtful post on his personal blog, Dries Buytaer, creator of Drupal, described the issue today as a makers-takers problem, where “creators of open source software (“Makers”) see their work being used by others, often service providers, who profit from it without contributing back in a meaningful or fair way (“Takers”).”

CEOs are on both sides of the perspective he details. He knows the people involved and has a solution that makes sense for the Drupal community. He calls it a “contributor credit” program.

Buytaer comes from the same world as Mullenweg. Drupal and WordPress are open source content management systems.

Still, open source is a tool for CEOs to use for profits, sometimes illusions, and leverage against commercial competitors. We’ve seen this with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who calls Llama, the company’s large language model, open source, which it is not.

And now we face someone who has long enjoyed a gleaming image in the open source community but now faces many questions about his intent.

Mullenweg: WP Engine Should Fork WordPress

Earlier in the week, we interviewed Mullenweg, who said WP Engine should fork WordPress.

“I think a fork would be amazing,” he told TNS. “They should fork WordPress, because what they offer is not actually WordPress. They call it WordPress, but they really screw it up.”

Mullenweg now wants to own a chunk of WP Engine, and he’s using his bully pulpit to pound away until he gets what he wants. He’s called WP Engine “a cancer.” He openly rails about the WP Engine executive team and Silver Lake, the private equity firm that has invested in it, using tactics we’ve become far too accustomed to from all sorts, who we don’t have to name here.

It’s a victim tactic. Mullenweg and Automattic, his holding company, talk like they are the victims of an evil plan, rooted in trademark violations. Following the victim’s logic, Mullenweg has to attack. He and his team have to block WP Engine from the WordPress servers.

Now comes the news from The Verge that WordPress demanded 8% of WP Engine revenues each month in exchange for being considered a contributor to the WordPress open source project. That would also mean WP Engine could not fork WordPress, but it would allow WP Engine to use the trademark.

The Verge:

“[C]hoosing to contribute 8 percent to WP Engine employees would give WordPress.org and Automattic ‘full audit rights’ and “access to employee records and time-tracking” at the company. The agreement also comes with a ban on ‘forking or modifying’ Automattic’s software, including plug-ins and extensions like WooCommerce.”

This raises questions about Mullenweg’s hearty support for a WP Engine fork. For perspective, WP Engine competes with Automattic. Just be clear on that one.

Mullenweg has made it confusing for almost everyone involved. There are huge supporters who want WordPress to survive, and there are end users who don’t have any clue about open source or even that their sites run on WordPress servers.

WP Engine, on the other hand, has its own issues. It does not give much in return for using WordPress. The company, under CEO Heather Brunner and founder Jason Cohen, uses the WordPress name. They call it fair use.

Further, WP Engine uses the work invested by the WordPress community into the service without the engineering overhead required if it had to maintain its own fork, which would cost millions and take quite some time to develop — a year, two, three?

What drama. If you are hearing about this for the first time, Mullenweg, who created the web content management system WordPress, has been relentless with his attacks on WP Engine for what he claims are trademark violations. It came to a head at WordCamp in Portland earlier in September when Mullenweg called WP Engine “a cancer” on the community.

On Sept. 23, attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine on behalf of Mullenweg’s holding company Automattic and WooCommerce. Among its demands: that WP Engine stop all unauthorized use of WordPress’s trademarks and “provide an accounting of all profits from the service offerings that have made unauthorized use of our Client’s intellectual property.”

The letter suggested that “even a mere 8% royalty on WP Engine’s $400+ million in annual revenue equates to more than $32 million in annual lost licensing revenue for our Client.”

On Sept. 25, in lieu of action by WP Engine, Mullenweg blocked WP Engine’s access to the WordPress servers. He then gave a reprieve on Sept. 27 after users contacted him. Mullenweg said users thought they were paying WordPress, not WP Engine.

“They thought they were paying me, to be honest, that’s why they were pissed off,” Mullenweg said. “And so I was like, ‘Oops, OK, we’ll turn it back on.’“

WordPress blocked WP Engine’s access to its servers Tuesday at UTC 00:00.

The odd thing: no sign of trouble so far from WP Engine users; a WP Engine spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by TNS about whether the company had heard from customers having problems. WP Engine must have set up the mirrors and all to WordPress.org. How that affects performance and the rest is still not understood.

Sources of Conflict

In our interview, Mullenweg said users now hopefully understand that they are paying WP Engine, which does not pay WordPress for auto updates and everything else WordPress provides. Users, he argued, should be mad at WP Engine, not him and his team, who run the servers. Again, Mullenweg expresses that he and his team are the victims.

WP Engine is simply not responding, Mullenweg said, except through a cease-and-desist letter its attorneys sent Automattic on Sept. 23 after his repeated attacks.

The letter sent on WP Engine’s behalf reads in part, “Mr. Mullenweg’s covert demand that WP Engine hand over tens of millions to his for-profit company Automattic, while publicly masquerading as an altruistic protector of the WordPress community, is disgraceful.  WP Engine will not accede to these unconscionable demands, which not only harm WP Engine and its employees but also threaten the entire WordPress community.”

WP Engine did not answer The New Stack’s question about forking WordPress, but a company spokesperson did have choice words about Automattic’s licensing demands.

“We, like the rest of the WordPress community, use the WordPress mark to describe our business. Automattic’s suggestion that WP Engine needs a license to do that is simply wrong, and reflects a misunderstanding of trademark law. To moot its claimed concerns, we have eliminated the few examples Automattic gave in its Sept. 23 letter to us.”

For example, WP Engine has made some minor changes, namely changing WordPress to WordPress1 and WooCommerce1 on the site’s front page.

What About the Community?

Overall, users had almost no warning that their sites would be disrupted. This is an odd way to treat users, especially when they are such huge fans of your platform.

Here’s where open source becomes a problem for users. Most people do not know how they get the updates to their CMS. But once their site stopped working, they became entangled in a battle between Mullenweg and WP Engine.

Meanwhile, most users are just trying to keep their sites working.

 

Post by @alexelnaugh

View on Threads

 

Amidst the controversy, Mullenweg acknowledged he could have done better in reaching out to the community.

“To be fair, I have not been the best at public relations or publishing things,” he told TNS. “That’s why we try to be very clear at UTC 00, Oct. 1 … at this exact time, their network, WP Engine servers will no longer be able to access our networks.”

But a fork? The cost to set up the servers, the network, the load balancers, on and on, would cost millions and could take years. At its peak, WordPress serves 30,000 requests per second and 40% of the entire Web, according to Mullenweg.

Users have an option, he said. They can move to a different hosting provider. He mentioned Bluehost and his own company, WordPress.com, as two options.

Open Source Faces a Hurricane

There has been confusion about open source AI and server-side public licenses. Now, we’ve got the WordPress debacle. Oh, and there’s talk about Oracle owning the JavaScript trademark. The fun never ends.

But people are working on the problem, particularly the single point of failure issue that has become more apparent since WP Engine’s servers were cut off.

Here’s a thread worth reading from Reddit, about how to solve the problem of a single point of truth. The problem is a severe one, but maybe a fork is not the answer. Instead, perhaps it’s a way to solve matters that can easily happen if sites aren’t updated:

The vulnerability should be apparent: if WordPress.org goes down for any reason, millions of sites stop updating. A coordinated attack (zero-day implementation coupled with a DDoS attack that prevents updates from going out from zero-day) could be a disaster the world over. And, if the Foundation ever decided to get out of the update business, or ran into financial difficulty, or Matt decides to retire to Aruba and quit WordPress entirely — whatever the case may be — there’s no Plan B.

So, the community needs a plan B — and maybe that’s most important. Stop the bickering. Instead, look for ways to modernize the WordPress infrastructure so users don’t get entangled in corporate wars that use open source as a proxy to fight battles that leave casualties scattered across the web.

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Automattic demanded web host pay $32M annually for using WordPress trademark

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Automattic demanded web host pay $32M annually for using WordPress trademark

“WPE’s nominative uses of those marks to refer to the open-source software platform and plugin used for its clients’ websites are fair uses under settled trademark law, and they are consistent with WordPress’ own guidelines and the practices of nearly all businesses in this space,” the lawsuit said.

Mullenweg told Ars that “we had numerous meetings with WPE over the past 20 months, including a previous term sheet that was delivered in July. The term sheet was meant to be simple, and if they had agreed to negotiate it we could have, but they refused to even take a call with me, so we called their bluff.” Automattic also published a timeline of meetings and calls between the two companies going back to 2023.

Mullenweg also said, “Automattic had the commercial rights to the WordPress trademark and could sub-license, hence why the payment should go to Automattic for commercial use of the trademark. Also the term sheet covered the WooCommerce trademark, which they also abuse, and is 100 percent owned by Automattic.”

Automattic alleged “widespread unlicensed use”

Exhibit A in the lawsuit includes a letter to WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner from a trademark lawyer representing Automattic and a subsidiary, WooCommerce, which makes a plugin for WordPress.

“As you know, our Client owns all intellectual property rights globally in and to the world-famous WOOCOMMERCE and WOO trademarks; and the exclusive commercial rights from the WordPress Foundation to use, enforce, and sublicense the world-famous WORDPRESS trademark, among others, and all other associated intellectual property rights,” the letter said.

The letter alleged that “your blatant and widespread unlicensed use of our Client’s trademarks has infringed our Client’s rights and confused consumers into believing, falsely, that WP Engine is authorized, endorsed, or sponsored by, or otherwise affiliated or associated with, our Client.” It also alleged that “WP Engine’s entire business model is predicated on using our Client’s trademarks… to mislead consumers into believing there is an association between WP Engine and Automattic.”

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WP Engine sues WordPress co-creator Mullenweg and Automattic, alleging abuse of power

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stylized wordpress logo

Web hosting provider WP Engine has filed a lawsuit against Automattic, and WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, accusing them of extortion and abuse of power. The lawsuit comes after nearly two weeks of tussling between Mullenweg, who is also CEO of Automattic, and WP Engine over trademark infringement and contributions to the open-source WordPress project.

WP Engine accused Automattic and Mullenweg of not keeping their promises to run WordPress open-source projects without any constraints and giving developers the freedom to build, run, modify and redistribute the software.

“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the last ten days has exposed significant conflicts of interest and governance issues that, if left unchecked, threaten to destroy that trust. WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its people, agency partners, customers, and the broader WordPress community,” the company said.

The case document, filed in a court in California, also accused Mullenweg of having a “long history of
obfuscating the true facts” about his control of WordPress Foundation and WordPress.org

The story so far

Mullenweg had criticized WP Engine for infringing WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks. He called them the “Cancer of WordPress” and also called out WP Engine’s private equity partner, Silver Lake, for not caring about the open-source community.

Later, WP Engine sent a cease-and-desist letter, asking Mullenweg and Automattic to withdraw these comments. Automattic then sent its own cease-and-desist, accusing WP Engine of infringing WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.

Notably, Mullenweg banned WP Engine on September 25 from accessing WordPress.org resources, including plug-ins and themes, and preventing WP Engine customers from updating them. Two days later, Mullenweg provided a temporary reprieve and unblocked WP Engine until October 1.

On Wednesday, Automattic published a proposed seven-year term sheet that it had sent to WP Engine on September 20, asking the hosting company to pay 8% of its gross revenues per month as a royalty fee for using the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.

Alternatively, WP Engine was given the option to commit 8% by deploying employees to contribute to WordPress’s core features and functionalities, or a combination of both people hours and money.

WP Engine didn’t accept these terms, which included a probation on forking plugins and extensions from Automattic and WooCommerce.

You can contact this reporter at [email protected] or on Signal: @ivan.42

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