QAPLO – Automattic has officially postponed its major plan to migrate the Tumblr platform to WordPress infrastructure in 2026. The decision was made after the company chose to prioritize user-facing features over large-scale backend system changes. Previously, Automattic announced an ambitious project to move more than half a billion Tumblr blogs into a WordPress-based system. The move was expected to become one of the largest platform migrations in internet history. However, in a recent update, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg confirmed that the project is now “on hold” indefinitely. According to Mullenweg, the company now prefers to focus on features that are directly requested by the Tumblr community rather than undertaking a complex and resource-heavy backend architecture overhaul. Automattic had previously clarified that the migration does not mean turning Tumblr into WordPress. The goal was simply to move the platform’s core infrastructure to make it more efficient, stable, and easier to develop alongside the WordPress ecosystem. If the migration had been completed, Tumblr was expected to integrate more easily with fediverse technologies through ActivityPub support already available in WordPress. This integration would allow Tumblr content to interact with decentralized platforms such as Mastodon and other open social networks. However, the project has faced significant technical challenges. Tumblr currently hosts more than 500 million active blogs, making the infrastructure migration extremely complex and costly. Beyond technical issues, Tumblr’s business performance is also a concern. Automattic has acknowledged that Tumblr has not yet achieved stable profitability and is still being subsidized by other company products, including WordPress.com and WooCommerce. In 2025, Automattic also carried out a major restructuring that included laying off around 16% of its workforce to improve efficiency and focus on priority product development. Although the migration project is paused, Automattic confirms that Tumblr will continue to be actively developed. The company also leaves open the possibility of integrating the fediverse directly into Tumblr’s native codebase without waiting for a full migration to WordPress. As of early 2026, Tumblr-to-WordPress import features remain available via WordPress.com for users who want to migrate their blogs manually.
