Short answer: The free WordPress software comes from the community-run WordPress.org project, but the money is made by a separate company, Automattic, mainly through its WordPress.com hosting, paid plans, and a family of premium services like Jetpack, WooCommerce, and Akismet. The free software is the funnel, the hosted services are the business.
This is the question that confuses almost everyone. If I can download WordPress for free and use it however I like, who is getting paid? The answer starts with understanding that "WordPress" is really two different things.
What is the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
This distinction is the whole key, so let me be precise.
| WordPress.org | WordPress.com | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The free, open-source software | A hosted, commercial service |
| Who runs it | The WordPress open-source project | Automattic, a for-profit company |
| You provide | Your own web hosting | Nothing, they host it for you |
| How it earns | Donations, not a business | Paid plans and add-ons |
So WordPress.org gives away the software that powers a huge share of the web. WordPress.com, owned by Automattic, sells convenience on top of that software. The founder, Matt Mullenweg, created both, which is why people conflate them.
So how does Automattic actually make money?
Automattic is the commercial engine, and its revenue comes from several streams. Here is how I understand the model today.
1. Hosted plans on WordPress.com
Anyone can start a blog free on a wordpress.com subdomain, but the moment you want a custom domain, more storage, the ability to install plugins, or to remove WordPress ads, you move to a paid plan. Plans scale from personal blogs up to business and commerce tiers. This upsell path from free to paid is the core of the business.
2. Enterprise and VIP hosting
At the top end, WordPress VIP hosts large publishers and brands with managed, high-scale infrastructure and support. This is enterprise pricing, and it is a serious revenue line built on the same open-source foundation.
3. Jetpack and its bundled services
The Jetpack suite rolls up many paid services that used to be sold separately, including real-time backups (the old VaultPress), security scanning, spam filtering, and performance tools. Subscriptions here recur monthly or yearly, which is exactly the kind of predictable revenue a company wants.
4. Akismet spam protection
Akismet filters spam comments across millions of sites. It is free for personal blogs, but commercial sites and businesses pay for a license. It is a classic freemium split: free for hobbyists, paid for anyone making money.
5. WooCommerce and the commerce ecosystem
Automattic owns WooCommerce, the leading e-commerce plugin for WordPress. The core is free, but paid extensions, payment processing, and hosting for online stores generate substantial revenue as merchants grow.
6. Advertising and other products
Free WordPress.com blogs can carry ads, with the revenue going to Automattic, and site owners can opt into an ad program to share in it. Automattic has also acquired and monetized other products over the years, expanding well beyond the original blogging tool.
Why give the core software away at all?
This is the clever part of the model. By keeping WordPress free and open source, Automattic seeds an enormous ecosystem: millions of sites, thousands of developers, and a huge pool of people who already know the software. A slice of those users inevitably need hosting, security, backups, spam filtering, or a store, and Automattic is perfectly positioned to sell exactly those things. The free software is not charity, it is the top of a very wide funnel.
What is the non-obvious point most explanations miss?
The open-source project and the company are deliberately kept separate, and that separation is itself strategic. The community stewardship of WordPress.org keeps people trusting the software and contributing to it for free, while Automattic captures commercial value on top. Contributors improving WordPress.org are, in effect, also strengthening the platform Automattic sells services for. Understanding that dual structure explains almost every business decision around WordPress.
Frequently asked questions
Is WordPress really free?
The WordPress.org software is genuinely free and open source. What costs money is hosting it, whether through Automattic's WordPress.com plans or your own web host, plus optional premium services.
Who owns WordPress.com?
Automattic, a for-profit company founded by WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg. Automattic runs WordPress.com and sells services, while WordPress.org is the community-run open-source project.
What is the biggest source of WordPress revenue?
Automattic's hosted plans and enterprise VIP hosting on WordPress.com are core, alongside recurring subscriptions to services like Jetpack, Akismet, and WooCommerce extensions.
Why is WooCommerce important to the business?
WooCommerce is the leading WordPress e-commerce plugin and is owned by Automattic. Its free core drives adoption while paid extensions and payment processing generate revenue as online stores grow.
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