Liquid Web inadvertently sparked a series of cascading controversies after integrating a group of well-known WordPress plugin brands into a new line of software. The reconfiguration and rebranding surprised users, leading to confusion and significant online backlash against Liquid Web on social media.
An admin of the Dynamic WordPress Facebook group started a discussion about the Liquid Web plugin and the trademark controversy that reflected the confusion of the time, writing:
“It looks a bit like chaos within the Kadence FB group as LiquidWeb decides to integrate their tools under one umbrella. What’s interesting is that they abandoned Lifetime Bundle (LTD) and now have 3 packages:
- $99 Essentials (theme and blocks),
- $219 Pro (which includes ShopKit)
- and $399 Elite.
Ultimately, people are not happy. It seems their licenses don’t work. This is something they should be able to resolve. However, it will be interesting to see what level of access people get. Will LTD owners still retain access to add-ons like ShopKit and Kadence Conversions?
One person in this Dynamic WordPress Facebook group discussion blamed the problem on private equity investments in web hosting, a sentiment that was echoed on X, where @jeffr0 suggested that Matt Mullenweg may have been right about private equity firms and investments in WordPress hosting.
@jeffr0 tweeted:
“So I guess @photomatt was right. Private equity in the WordPress ecosystem is exploding.”
Someone else disagreed with the idea of blaming private equity investors, answer:
“I’m not sure I agree. First of all, WPE wasn’t doing anything wrong. …I’m also not sure that what’s happening to these plugins is because LW is owned by PE.”
Reflecting the confusion of the moment, @srikat tweeted:
“I can’t find the downloads for my Kadence Lifetime purchase. I just emailed them a support ticket.”
Nexcess/Liquid Web branding and rebranding
Part of the confusion comes from a years-long run of Liquid Web and Nexcess branded flip flops.
- Liquid Web acquired Nexcess in 2019.
- The two brands then evolved into a unified Liquid Web identity.
- By the end of 2025, users tapping nexcess.net were often redirected to liquidweb.com.
- In April 2026, Nexcess relaunched as a “Specialty Cloud” brand combining the managed hosting expertise of Liquid Web with the bare metal infrastructure of Servers.com.
Meanwhile, Liquid Web is now the managed hosting brand within the Nexcess ecosystem.
StellarWP disappears: plugins emerge in Nexcess and Liquid Web
Previously, plugins lived under the StellarWP brand, with many running their own standalone websites. The new branding is confusing to some users because Nexcess and Liquid Web describe the same WordPress products as part of their own ecosystem.
The relaunch of Nexcess announcement of April 8, 2026 says:
“We expand your toolbox by integrating industry-leading software solutions, such as Kadence, GiveWP, The Events Calendar and LearnDash, directly into the Nexcess ecosystem.”
Liquid Web’s May 12, 2026 Web page describes the same products as part of the Liquid Web by Nexcess software portfolio:
“Liquid Web by Nexcess focuses its diverse WordPress software portfolio into four core products…”
The overlapping language between the two brands helps explain why the rollout seemed confusing from the outside. The products were described as being integrated with both Nexcess and “Liquid Web by Nexcess,” and StellarWP seemingly disappeared without notice.
Liquid Web’s software announcement indicates that its WordPress software portfolio is now focused on four core products: Kadence, LearnDash, The Events Calendar, and Give. The company says SolidWP, Iconic, Restrict Content Pro and MemberDash are no longer sold as standalone products, with their functionality integrated into Kadence or LearnDash.
What this means for plugin subscribers
For existing customers, Liquid Web says the change is optional. The company says customers can keep their current features, plans, pricing, tools and license keys unless they choose to upgrade to one of the new software plans.
But the public rollout appears to have caused confusion among the plugin’s users, including lifelong customers who didn’t know what happened to the products they purchased. Social media posts described disappearing product pages, redirects not working as expected, and users trying to determine whether their plugins had been discontinued, renamed, or moved.
In a post during a discussion in the Dynamic WordPress Facebook group, Jack Kitterhing, strategic product manager at Nexcess, confirmed that customers of the lifetime subscription plugin would keep what they already had and that each customer was grandfathered. He also acknowledged connection issues and missing invoices, describing the move as a “mass migration and system change” that came with challenges.
Kitterhing job an explanation of what is happening:
“Just to confirm that lifetime customers keep everything they already owned. We’re not removing anything or watering it down. If you owned it, you still own it today. Every customer is grandfathered.
And we’ve repositioned Kadence Essentials so that for those of you who just want the theme and blocks, it’s now cheaper than before ($99 versus $129) to get the basic components of Kadence.
There are currently some connection issues for some customers and missing invoices which the team is fixing as I type and we hope to have this fully resolved in a few hours.
This was a massive systems migration and change and, like anything of this magnitude, it comes with challenges. Thank you for supporting us as we put this all together today.
Takeaways
- Liquid Web says existing customers retain their current features, pricing, plans, tools and license keys.
- Customers for life were told they kept what they already owned.
- The backlash appears to have been caused by confusion during the rollout, not just the product consolidation itself.
- Years of Liquid Web and Nexcess rebranding have made plugin migration more difficult to understand.
- Clearer upfront communication may have reduced confusion around product pages, redirects, licensing, and access to lifetime deals.
There appears to have been insufficient communication from Liquid Web and Nexcess, compounded by both companies’ flip-flops on branding. The situation appears to be on the verge of resolution.
Featured image by Shutterstock/hoangpts
