Automattic
Automattic operates WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and WordPress VIP, monetizing the open-source WordPress ecosystem that powers roughly 43% of the web. It serves individuals, SMBs, and enterprise customers (CNN, Salesforce, Meta, Slack) via hosted subscriptions, ecommerce extensions, and an expanding AI platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Automattic does
Automattic Inc. is the commercial entity behind WordPress, the open-source content management system that powers approximately 43% of all websites globally. Founded in 2005 by Matt Mullenweg and headquartered in San Francisco, the company operates with a distributed workforce of roughly 1,450 employees across 82 countries. Its core product portfolio spans WordPress.com (hosted publishing on tiered subscription plans from $4 to $25+/month), WooCommerce (the dominant open-source ecommerce platform), Jetpack (a plugin suite spanning security, performance, and growth), and WordPress VIP (enterprise-grade hosting used by CNN, Salesforce, Meta, and Slack). The company has expanded into adjacent verticals through acquisition, including Beeper (messaging), Texts.com, Mesh/Clay (personal CRM), Tumblr, Day One, Pocket Casts, and Newspack (local journalism).
The underlying technology is built on the open-source WordPress stack (PHP/MySQL/GPL), extended with proprietary services such as Akismet (ML-based spam classification), Jetpack, WooCommerce extensions, Big Sky (AI website builder), and a WordPress.com MCP server exposing AI-agent programmable functions. In 2026 Automattic launched an AI Assistant powered by Google Gemini and integrated with Anthropic, OpenAI, and Perplexity MCP clients. Revenue is generated through subscription SaaS (WordPress.com plans, Jetpack, WooCommerce extensions, Pressable, WP Cloud, VIP), transaction fees (WooPayments via Stripe, WooPay, domain registration, Blaze/WordAds advertising), and premium consumer subscriptions across acquired apps.
Go-to-market is hybrid: self-serve freemium for individuals and SMBs through WordPress.com and WooCommerce; direct enterprise sales for VIP contracts; an agency channel partner program; community-led acquisition via WordPress.org; and API-first distribution to AI agents through the MCP server. Annual revenue is stated by the company at approximately half a billion USD.
Automattic firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Automattic
- Legal name
- Automattic Inc.
- Website
- https://automattic.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- Automattic operates WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and WordPress VIP, monetizing the open-source WordPress ecosystem that powers roughly 43% of the web. It serves individuals, SMBs, and enterprise customers (CNN, Salesforce, Meta, Slack) via hosted subscriptions, ecommerce extensions, and an expanding AI platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Automattic industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Web Publishing and Commerce Platforms
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Workflow Automation & No-Code Collaboration (BPAMAMAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AutoML & Low-Code ML Platform Operations (HDAAABAL), Creator Commerce & Merch Platforms (Shops, Drops, Print-on-Demand) (MPACABAG), Marketing Automation Platforms & Services (BPAFAFAC), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) & Hyperautomation Platforms (HDAEAKAF), Mobile App Development Platforms (MADP) (HDAEAKAD), Blogging & CMS Content Platforms (BPAMAJAG)
Keywords
Where Automattic is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
Automattic business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription SaaS (WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, WP Cloud, WP VIP, Pressable, Newspack): Tiered subscription plans billed monthly or annually; freemium base converts to paid plans (Personal, Premium, Business, Commerce, Enterprise). Half a billion USD in annual revenue mentioned on company About page.
- Advertising (Blaze / WordAds): Revenue share advertising program allowing WordPress site owners to monetize via targeted ads on Automattic properties and partner network; revenue split with publishers.
- Commerce Transactions (WooPayments, WooPay, WooCommerce Shipping/Tax): Transaction-based revenue from payment processing (powered by Stripe) and commerce add-ons for WooCommerce merchants; takes a fee on payment volume processed.
- Premium App & Content Sales (Day One, Pocket Casts, Longreads, Atavist): Premium app subscriptions, in-app purchases, and content/magazine subscriptions for consumer-facing apps (Day One journaling, Pocket Casts podcasting, Longreads/Atavist longform content).
- Domain Registration: Domain name registration and management integrated into WordPress.com with transparent pricing and reseller margins.
- Akismet Subscriptions: Paid anti-spam API subscriptions for commercial sites beyond the free tier for personal/non-profit WordPress blogs.
- Professional/Agency Services (Automattic for Agencies, VIP white-glove): Managed services and agency-tier support for digital agencies and enterprise clients, including architecture, performance optimization, and multi-site management.
- Marketplace/Plugin Revenue (WordPress.org Plugins & Themes, WooCommerce extensions): Commission or listing revenue from WordPress.org plugin/theme ecosystem and WooCommerce.com extension marketplace.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | WordPress.com AI Assistant available on Business and Commerce plans (also opt-in for other plans). |
| Freemium | Annual | WordPress.com powers 43% of all websites globally and holds a 60.5% share of the CMS market. |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | WooCommerce core is free open-source; revenue from WooPayments, Shipping, Tax, and premium extensions. |
| Other | Multi-year contract | WordPress VIP, Pressable, and WP Cloud are managed WordPress hosting for agencies and enterprises. |
| Freemium | Monthly | Akismet spam filtering service. |
| Freemium | Annual | Day One journal app. |
Go-to-market motion6 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels8 records
Automattic product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Automattic builds, hosts, and monetizes a suite of web publishing, commerce, and messaging software built around the open-source WordPress platform. Its flagship offerings include WordPress.com (hosted publishing), WooCommerce (open-source ecommerce), Jetpack (security/performance plugin), WordPress VIP (enterprise hosting), and a portfolio of acquired apps (Beeper, Day One, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Texts.com, Mesh, Harper).
Product overview
Automattic operates a sprawling platform-plus-modules ecosystem organized around its mission to 'democratize publishing, commerce, and messaging.' The flagship is WordPress.com — a hosted version of open-source WordPress serving individuals, businesses, and WordPress VIP enterprise customers (CNN, Salesforce, Meta) — paired with the open-source WooCommerce commerce engine that powers everything from artisan shops to multinational retailers, and the Jetpack plugin suite that extends WordPress.com's reliability to self-hosted sites. Surrounding these are publishing tools (Tumblr, Newspack for local news, Longreads and The Atavist for longform journalism, Gravatar for global avatars, Crowdsignal for polls/surveys, MailPoet for newsletters, P2 for team collaboration, Simplenote and Blocknotes for notes, Parse.ly for analytics), messaging and CRM (Beeper unifying 14 chat networks, Mesh (formerly Clay) as an AI-driven personal CRM, the Texts.com acquisition integrated into Beeper), commerce modules (WooPayments via Stripe, WooPay, Snapchat Ads for WooCommerce, MailPoet newsletters), infrastructure (VaultPress backups, VideoPress video hosting, Pressable and WP Cloud hosting, Sensei LMS, Big Sky AI website builder), monetization (Akismet anti-spam, Blaze and WordAds advertising, the E2E AI / MCP / Telex stack exposing AI capabilities), lifestyle (Day One journaling, Pocket Casts podcasts), AI (Harper grammar checker, the WordPress.com AI Assistant, the MCP server connecting to Claude/ChatGPT/Cursor/OpenClaw), and open-source contributions (Gutenberg editor, ActivityPub Fediverse plugin, BuddyPress, bbPress, WP Job Manager, Five for the Future). Mesh is positioned as Automattic's relationship-management entry into the messaging stack; WP Cloud and Pressable provide managed hosting that shares WordPress.com's backend; and Automattic for Agencies offers a unified dashboard for managing client sites across the portfolio.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- WordPress.com: Hosted WordPress publishing platform; primary product of Automattic.
- WooCommerce
- Tumblr
- Jetpack
- Day One
- Beeper
- Pocket Casts
- Akismet
- Gravatar
- Longreads
- Newspack
- WordPress VIP
- Pressable
- WP Cloud
- Simplenote
- Crowdsignal
- Cloudup
- MailPoet
- Sensei
- Parse.ly
- Harper
- Mesh
- The Atavist
- WPScan
- IntenseDebate
- BuddyPress
- bbPress
- Blocknotes
- Big Sky
Products and services
- WordPress.com Hosted WordPress publishing platform offering free and paid plans (Personal, Premium, Business, Commerce) for blogs, portfolios, and business sites. Powers 43%+ of all websites and 60.5% of the CMS market.
- WooCommerce Open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress that powers online stores of every size, with no vendor lock-in, plus WooPayments, WooPay, WooCommerce Shipping, and WooCommerce Tax add-ons.
- Jetpack Swiss-army-knife plugin bundling security, performance, backup, CDN, malware scanning, analytics, and marketing tools for self-hosted WordPress sites.
- WordPress VIP Enterprise WordPress hosting and services for high-traffic publishers, universities, and corporations (CNN, Salesforce, Meta, Slack) with scalability, security, white-glove support, and architecture/performance optimization.
- Pressable Managed WordPress hosting for agencies, freelancers, and businesses needing performance and reliability without enterprise-level pricing.
- WP Cloud Managed WordPress hosting built by Automattic with WordPress.com infrastructure, full SSH access, and git deployment for agencies and developers.
- Newspack WordPress-based publishing platform built for small and medium-sized news organizations, bundling reader-revenue and advertising tools with Google integration.
- Akismet Spam-filtering service that protects blog comments and form submissions, blocking billions of spam messages across millions of sites. Free for personal/non-profit use; paid commercial subscriptions available.
- Tumblr Microblogging and social networking platform focused on creative expression, fandom, and counterculture, now running on WordPress infrastructure.
- Beeper Universal chat app that unifies messages from WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, Telegram, and other networks into a single encrypted, AI-enhanced inbox.
- Day One Premium journaling app for iOS, Android, and Mac offering private daily entries, photos, and life documentation with strong privacy.
- Pocket Casts Cross-platform podcast app for iOS, Android, and web with playlist automation, cross-device syncing, and open-podcasting standards support.
- Gravatar Globally recognized avatar service letting users upload one profile picture that follows them across millions of sites.
- Simplenote Minimal cross-platform notes app syncing across iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and browsers.
- MailPoet Email marketing and newsletter plugin that lets publishers grow and communicate with their audience directly from WordPress.
- Parse.ly Content analytics platform that helps publishers and content marketers understand audience engagement and content performance.
- Harper Open-source grammar and language quality checker that runs locally on-device for privacy, returning suggestions in under 20 milliseconds.
- Mesh (formerly Clay) AI-powered personal relationship management app that automatically organizes contacts, conversations, and calendar activity from email, texts, and social media.
- Automattic for Agencies Unified dashboard where digital agencies manage multiple client WordPress sites, handle billing, and access Automattic products at scale with verified WooCommerce expert program.
- Big Sky AI content generation and editing suite integrated directly into WordPress for generating drafts, refining copy, creating full sites, and overcoming creative blocks.
- Longreads Publication and curation platform championing longform writing on the web with a curated daily feed and original commissions.
- Crowdsignal Polls, surveys, quizzes, and ratings that embed easily in WordPress or any website for audience research.
- P2 WordPress-based team collaboration platform offering threaded conversations, document sharing, and searchable history for distributed teams.
Quantifiable outcome
- Powers 43% of all websites globally and 60.5% share of the CMS market
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Automattic
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Automattic technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration20 records
AI capability7 records
Feature10 records
Automattic partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.
- Tech CoalitioncoreJoined the Tech Coalition, a global alliance of technology companies working together to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Montana Free PresscoreLead organization for National Local News Day on April 9, 2026; Automattic built the Local News Finder tool with Newspack and WordPress; partnership supports local journalism community engagement.
- AnthropicflagshipWordPress.com enabled Claude (Anthropic) AI agents to create, edit, and manage content via expanded Model Context Protocol integration with 19 new writing functions spanning posts, pages, comments, categories, tags, and media.
- OpenAIflagshipWordPress.com enabled ChatGPT (OpenAI) AI agents to create, edit, and manage content via Model Context Protocol integration alongside Claude and Cursor.
- KryterionflagshipStrategic partnership to launch the Advanced Professional WordPress Developer certification; WordPress VIP led curriculum development drawing on 18+ years of enterprise deployment experience; Kryterion provides delivery infrastructure through Webassessor platform.
- Internet ArchiveflagshipUnprecedented alliance to combat digital decay; integrated Wayback Machine directly into WordPress infrastructure to combat link rot. Plugin automatically scans WordPress posts for broken outbound links and redirects users to archived versions; also proactively archives WordPress content updates.
- Perplexity AIcoreWordPress.com partners with Perplexity AI for enhanced content discovery and AI-driven search integrations.
- Google (Gemini)coreWordPress.com's AI Assistant uses Google Gemini Nano Banana models for image generation; Local News Finder tool uses Google mapping technology.
- StripeflagshipPowers WooPayments and WooPay payment processing infrastructure for WooCommerce merchants; Automattic receives Stripe account info to process payments.
- Stratechery / Ben ThompsonflagshipCo-created Passport, a new publishing platform that lured The Ankler and other large publishers away from Substack, addressing custom brand presence, paywalls, and analytics for larger publishers.
- Press ForwardcoreCoalition member for Local News Day initiative to spotlight trusted local newsrooms and strengthen local journalism.
- EverlitminorPartners with Newspack and Automattic to revolutionize AI audio in newsrooms; co-developed AI-driven audio capabilities for local news publishers.
- Middle Tech Europe (MTE) CoalitioncoreMember coalition alongside Reddit, Discord, Pinterest, Patreon, and Dailymotion advocating for proportionate EU regulation for mid-sized platforms.
- BlueskycoreToni Schneider (former Automattic CEO and True Ventures partner) named interim CEO of Bluesky; cross-company leadership relationship.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Automattic competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Wix: Wix is a hosted website builder targeting individuals, SMBs, and entrepreneurs — directly competing with WordPress.com's self-serve plans on ease-of-use, templates, and freemium SaaS monetization.
- Squarespace: Squarespace is a hosted website builder competing with WordPress.com for bloggers, creators, and SMBs, with a comparable freemium-to-paid subscription motion and strong brand presence in personal/portfolio sites.
- Shopify: Shopify is the leading hosted ecommerce platform and the most direct competitor to WooCommerce, competing for SMB merchants on storefront, payments, and app ecosystem economics.
- Ghost: Ghost is an open-source publishing and newsletter platform competing directly with WordPress.com and Newspack for professional bloggers, journalists, and creators running subscription publications.
- BigCommerce: BigCommerce is a hosted ecommerce SaaS competing with WooCommerce for mid-market merchants, with comparable subscription plus transaction-fee monetization and headless commerce capabilities.
- Substack: Substack is a subscription newsletter platform competing directly with Automattic's Passport, Newspack, and WordPress.com newsletter offerings for independent writers and paid publications.
- Acquia (Drupal): Acquia is the commercial sponsor of Drupal, the leading open-source CMS competitor to WordPress, with comparable enterprise hosting, agency programs, and open-source community models.
Emerging players
- Webflow: Webflow is an emerging no-code website builder targeting designers and SMBs; it overlaps with WordPress.com's premium/business tiers and competes for users who want visual design without managing hosting.
Broad incumbents
- HubSpot: HubSpot's CMS Hub competes in the broader content/inbound marketing space with WordPress VIP and Jetpack, offering integrated CRM, marketing automation, and hosting aimed at mid-market and enterprise customers.
- Adobe (Magento / Adobe Commerce): Adobe Commerce (Magento) is an established enterprise ecommerce platform competing with WooCommerce for larger merchants needing customization, complex catalogs, and B2B features.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat8 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Automattic social profiles
Digital presenceAutomattic compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Automattic financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Automattic leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles14 records
Automattic subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries26 records
Automattic funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds12 records
Investors23 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Automattic M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A30 records
Investments23 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Automattic
What does Automattic do?
Automattic builds, hosts, and monetizes a suite of web publishing, commerce, and messaging software built around the open-source WordPress platform. Its flagship offerings include WordPress.com (hosted publishing), WooCommerce (open-source ecommerce), Jetpack (security/performance plugin), WordPress VIP (enterprise hosting), and a portfolio of acquired apps (Beeper, Day One, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Texts.com, Mesh, Harper).
Is Automattic a public or private company?
Automattic is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Automattic founded?
Automattic was founded in 2005. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Automattic based?
Automattic is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Automattic make money?
Eight revenue lines are on record. Subscription SaaS (WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, WP Cloud, WP VIP, Pressable, Newspack) is the primary driver. The others are advertising (Blaze / WordAds), commerce Transactions (WooPayments, WooPay, WooCommerce Shipping/Tax), premium App & Content Sales (Day One, Pocket Casts, Longreads, Atavist), domain Registration, akismet Subscriptions, professional/Agency Services (Automattic for Agencies, VIP white-glove) and marketplace/Plugin Revenue (WordPress.org Plugins & Themes, WooCommerce extensions).
Who are Automattic's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Ghost, BigCommerce, Substack and Acquia (Drupal). Webflow is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are HubSpot and Adobe (Magento / Adobe Commerce).
Does Automattic have an API?
Yes. Automattic exposes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for WordPress.com that initially offered read-only access and was expanded on March 20, 2026 with 19 new write operations covering posts, pages, comments, categories, tags, and media. The MCP server enables AI agents including Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and OpenClaw to create, edit, and manage WordPress.com site content through natural conversation, with all actions requiring explicit user confirmation and logged in the Activity Log. Automattic also exposes a developer GitHub organization (github.com/Automattic) and the wordpress-mcp repository powers the integration. WooCommerce Payments (WooPayments) is powered by Stripe, and WooPay interacts with Stripe and PayPal under the hood. Developer documentation is at github.com/Automattic/wordpress-mcp.
What industry is Automattic in?
Automattic's product category is Web Publishing and Commerce Platforms. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAMAK, Workflow Automation & No-Code Collaboration, with a secondary code of HDAAABAL, AutoML & Low-Code ML Platform Operations. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.