Automattic is a problem – [WooCommerce] Review

I don’t actually expect a review to make a difference, but I don’t want to watch in silence any more. I love WordPress, and for a while, woocommerce was a great option. But now I’m losing my clients to Shopify. Why? Because Automattic is buying up core woo functionality and raising the annual costs.

They’ve violated policies before and had plugins temporarily removed from the repository. This morning I learned they’re moving the updates to their plugins to a space they control. I’m guessing that’s to avoid the same problem in future.

Woocommerce lacks tax and shipping functionality. It says that it works if you install Jetpack, but it doesn’t. They’ve taken over the easy Payment integration plugins. Before long, my clients won’t be able to make money with a store because they’re paying Automattic for needed functions. I never would have thought there would come a day when Shopify was cheaper. But here we are.

And that makes me very sad.

Woo used to be a great way for someone to start a small store. It was empowering. But now it feels like we’ve been invaded by extortion.