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I’ve spent nearly two decades working in the internet space, and there’s a troubling pattern I keep seeing: once promising products becoming the victims of their own success.

It’s like watching the same sad film over and over. A small team creates something genuinely useful, that makes you think “finally, someone gets it!” Then the venture capital folks show up with their chequebooks, or a big corporation swoops in for an acquisition. Before you know it, that elegant tool you loved has turned into a bloated mess that seems more interested in your wallet than solving your problems.

I’ve seen this happen countless times. Take Elementor, once the foremost page builder for WordPress, streamlined and simple to use, making the competition seem archaic by comparison. These days? Bloated, buggy, inconsistent and hard to use—the complete opposite of what once made it so successful.

The web hosting sector provides particularly stark examples of this trend. Tsohost and Dataflame, once highly regarded independent UK-based hosts, built their reputations on exceptional performance and personalised customer service. Following their acquisitions, however, these companies saw their distinctive qualities diluted by corporate structures that prioritised scale over customer experience.

This pattern has led to a growing wariness among users when selecting hosting providers. While some independent hosts like 34SP.com maintain their commitment to quality service and user-focused values, they often come at a premium that individual users find challenging to justify.

Budget hosting providers present their own set of concerns. Hostinger, for instance, has gained market share through competitive pricing, but their business practices raise serious questions. Their approach of disabling critical security features like automatic plugin updates in lower-tier plans, only to offer them as premium features, creates unnecessary security risks for users.

This strategy of withholding essential security features as premium upgrades represents a troubling trend in the industry. It forces users to choose between financial constraints and proper security measures—a choice they shouldn’t have to make.

Some hope remains in the form of indie and self-funded projects. Platforms like Brizy, ClassicPress (a WordPress fork), and GenerateBlocks demonstrate that user-focused development is still possible. However, these independent projects face their own challenges, constantly balancing the need for sustainable growth against maintaining their independence and user-first principles.

The cycle of acquisition and transformation in web services shows no signs of slowing. For users, this means carefully evaluating not just current features and pricing, but also considering the long-term stability and independence of their chosen platforms. While premium independent services might seem expensive initially, they often prove more reliable and cost-effective in the long run by maintaining consistent service quality and user-focused development.

The challenge for the industry moving forward will be finding sustainable business models that allow for growth without compromising the user experience that made these platforms successful in the first place. Until then, users must remain vigilant and prepared to adapt as their favourite services evolve—or potentially deteriorate—under new ownership.

This cycle isn’t likely to stop anytime soon. These days, when I’m choosing tools for a project, I find myself looking beyond the features and price tags. I’m asking questions like “How long until they sell out?” and “What’s their exit strategy?”

I keep hoping we’ll figure out a better way to grow tech companies without sacrificing what made them great in the first place. Until then, I suppose we’ll keep adapting as our favourite tools evolve — or sadly, watching them fade away under new management.