Freemium to Extortion? How Jetpack’s Policy Change Hurts Nonprofits Like Ours
As a nonprofit organization, every dollar and every minute counts. We’ve used Jetpack stats for years to monitor traffic on our website, helping us grow our community, track engagement, and meet our goals. Since no one at our 501(c)(3) takes a salary, and all funds go toward mission goals and fundraising, this service was a huge help.
Since WordPress.org is a nonprofit, I am flabbergasted that a company benefiting off the non profit model has no interest in helping other nonprofits. This stings deeper when you realize that Microsoft gives 10 business licenses of Office 365 FREE for life, Google gives workspace and 100 tb (again, free for life) and $10,000 per month on free ad credit for nonprofits… I wonder what Matt Mullenweg is utilizing this free credit for?
But, don’t worry, if you’re a nonprofit that doesn’t require any money to run… you’re good to use stats!
Non‑profits and Jetpack Stats
Non-profit organizations that solicit donations, sponsorships, dues, or paid memberships on their website will be required to upgrade to a paid or commercial Stats plan.
Non-profit organizations that do not solicit donations, sponsorships, dues, or memberships on their website can be classified as non-commercial. They can pay what they want for Jetpack Stats from their purchase page – see below.
Unfortunately, Automattic (the company behind Jetpack) recently changed from a freemium model where stats were included to a paid-only model. This means we now have to pay for the same basic data we relied on before, and as a small nonprofit, this puts a strain on our limited resources. Automattic has responded to feedback from us and other nonprofits, saying it’s no accident that nonprofit sites are marked “for profit” in their system. While there’s no legal obligation for them to offer free services, it’s discouraging that nonprofits are being swept into a model that feels like an abrupt and costly shift from what we were promised.
We have stats going back from 10 years ago all in Jetpack. For ages these stats were reliable and getting us running. Now, if we want to access our stats we must pay $12-????? per month depending on traffic, and that’s even just to see stats we previously had access to. While I have downloaded Koko analytics and have always had Google Analytics turned on, not all of our board members understand GA as well as they could understand the quick Jetpack stats.
This change feels more like a form of extortion than a fair policy. We’ll keep pushing forward for transparency and alternatives to ensure our resources go directly to our mission, not just to pay for the same data we once had access to freely.
If any journalists or organizations would like to discuss the impact Jetpack is having on nonprofits (and those who work in accessibility/mental health like ours), you can reach out at shaylynn@misophoniafoundation.com