Hub essay
Why didn't EtchWP become Etch Studio?
Last reviewed:
The split
What each product is
EtchWP is a WordPress plugin sold with lifetime and annual licenses. It renders a Svelte canvas inside WordPress and writes custom Gutenberg blocks into post_content. Your data stays in your WordPress database on your host.
Etch Studio is a separate hosted subscription (alpha as of August 2026). It uses the same Svelte canvas but persists content in the vendor's relational database and publishes compiled static files to Cloudflare.
Automatic.css (ACSS) is a related WordPress plugin from the same company. Studio pricing discussions in the community often bundle Etch and ACSS together; neither product replaces the other automatically.
Same canvas
The same-engine point
On August 25, 2026, Kevin Geary said Studio “does not look any different from Etch.” The visual layer is one Svelte application. What changed is where content is stored and who operates the backend.
| Layer | EtchWP | Etch Studio | One-app version |
|---|---|---|---|
| UI | Svelte canvas | Same Svelte canvas ("does not look any different") | Same canvas |
| Persistence | Gutenberg blocks / post_content / PHP loops | Vendor relational database | Adapter: WP · SQLite · Postgres |
| Where it runs | Your WordPress host | Vendor tenant | Hosted or self-hosted |
| Who already paid | Backers / LTD / yearly | New subscription | Same people |
| New features | Ported later | First | Ship once, map to adapters |
The path they skipped
The one-app diagram
PHP loop configuration was a constraint of the WordPress backend, not a reason to split the product. A single canvas with adapter-based persistence would have kept lifetime customers whole.
On the record
What they promised
“We do it together, or we don't do it at all.”
“Being good stewards of the pre-sale money that our amazing customer base gave us as an investment in our vision.”
“See your code, modify your code, export your code—complete ownership and control.”
What changed
The condensed timeline
Every date below links to the full timeline. No commentary in the entries — the dates do the talking.
Waiting list opens.
Public r/WordPress thread: commenters predict ecosystem lock-in and that the architecture may not need WordPress.
"The WordPress Architecture Crisis" published: "All of this can be fixed without abandoning WordPress.
Year one: 2,657 commits, 40+ releases.
v1.
Official: all LTD options removed from Etch + ACSS on July 15, 2026, 9pm ET.
EtchWP 1.
LTDs end, 9pm ET.
Studio revealed (alpha).
EtchWP 1.
The sales pitch
The contradiction
If most sites do not need WordPress, the comparison is any other solution that already combines prompting with a visual layer and returns a real Git repository. Etch Studio produces a ZIP of compiled files while editing stays in the vendor's hosted app. A new recurring canvas fee has to beat stacks you can leave with a repo in hand, and it charges the people who already funded the canvas. To pick a path and follow a get-started baseline, see Workflows.
Start here
Three pages. No excuses left.
Entitlement, product split, comparison set — answer them in order before you argue in a Circle thread.
Is Etch Studio included in the Etch lifetime deal?
No — confirmed on stream. LTD covers the WordPress plugin only.
If you don't need WordPress, what is Etch Studio actually selling?
Geary's pitch reframes the product — and the comparison set that follows.
EtchWP vs Etch Studio: what's actually different?
Same Svelte UI; the split is where data lives and who runs the backend.
Full catalog on the articles page.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
- Is Etch Studio included in the Etch lifetime deal?
- No. On August 25, 2026, Kevin Geary said on stream that Etch lifetime deals cover "etch for WordPress. That's a WordPress plugin" and do not include Etch Studio, which has separate hosting costs.
- Is Etch Studio the same interface as EtchWP?
- On the same stream, Geary said Studio "does not look any different from Etch." The visual layer is the same Svelte application; the difference is where data is stored and who operates the backend.
- How much does Etch Studio cost?
- As of September 2026, the vendor has not published official Studio pricing. On stream, Geary said pricing was "not 100%" decided. Community members have discussed roughly $45–50 per month — figures circulated by members, not a published price list.
- Is EtchWP still being developed?
- EtchWP still receives maintenance releases. Its public changelog shows the last substantial feature release on July 8, 2026, with fixes-only releases through September 3, 2026, while new architecture ships to Studio first.
- Can you export a site from Etch Studio?
- Partly. Studio can publish compiled files to Cloudflare and offers a ZIP download. Editing, loops, logic, and the visual engine remain in the vendor's hosted application — there is no Git repository and no re-import path.
- Did Kevin Geary say WordPress is dying?
- On August 25, 2026, he called WordPress "a dead platform" and "dinosaur infrastructure." Thirteen months earlier, in July 2025, he wrote that WordPress problems could be "fixed without abandoning WordPress." Both statements are public and dated.