As an open source project, the WordPress software relies on contributions from individuals and businesses alike to remain a healthy and innovative ecosystem.
Individuals can contribute in a number of ways, from writing code to organizing meetups to working on WordPress’s accessibility. Companies can contribute by permitting their employees to allocate part-time or full-time hours to WordPress.
For the latest WordPress release Automattic provided over 3,500 core contributions—over half of all WordPress 6.6 contributions—at the hands of 105 individual contributors.
Given that WordPress powers over 40% of your favorite websites, it’s in the best interest of every company that benefits from WordPress to give back to the project and community.
This idea is codified in WordPress’s Five for the Future initiative. Any company that profits from the software—including every business offering hosting for WordPress—is encouraged to put 5% of its resources back into WordPress development.
At Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, we take this responsibility very seriously.
Automattic employs just under 2,000 people. Over 100 of them work on the WordPress project full-time. In terms of workforce hours, this puts the company at almost exactly 5%.
Contributor day at WordCamp Europe 2024.
Though this is not a requirement and it is not policed by the WordPress Foundation, every company that profits from WordPress should think about the long-term health and vibrancy of the WordPress ecosystem. At Automattic and WordPress.com, we’re proud to give back and to constantly be thinking about bettering WordPress as a whole when we’re working on features, squashing bugs, and generally doing our best to democratize publishing for the entire world.
As a customer—whether you’re a developer at an agency or an aspiring creator—you have a say in the future of WordPress. You have options when it comes to hosting. We recommend that the dollars you spend go towards a WordPress host that acts as a good steward of open source philosophy—like WordPress.com.