I’ve been thinking a lot about what Framework laptops and WordPress have in common. On the surface? Nothing. One makes hardware, one’s software for websites. But dig deeper and they’re fighting the exact same battle—they just want you to actually own your stuff.

That sounds simple, but it’s kind of radical these days.

Framework gets it

I bought my first Framework laptop in 2022, and honestly? It felt weird. The box came with a screwdriver. Not hidden in some service manual—just sitting right there, like “yeah, you’re gonna need this.” The whole thing is held together with regular screws. No glue. No proprietary bits. No “warranty void if removed” stickers designed to scare you off.

iFixit gave it a perfect 10/10 repairability score. When’s the last time you saw that on a consumer laptop?

But here’s what really gets me: Framework laptops don’t just survive, they evolve. People are swapping Intel mainboards for the new AMD Ryzen ones and keeping everything else—screen, keyboard, battery, the whole chassis. Just pop in a new brain. And this August they announced GPU upgrades for the 16-inch model. First-gen Framework 16 owners can now drop in an NVIDIA RTX 5070.

Try doing that with literally any other laptop. You can’t.

The best part? Framework releases everything as open source—CAD files, schematics, firmware. So now there’s this whole ecosystem of community-made expansion cards and mods. People are building wild stuff Framework never thought of. That’s what happens when you treat your customers like adults who own their stuff.

WordPress: same energy, different arena

WordPress has been doing this for way longer—over 20 years now. It powers 43% of all websites on the internet. That’s over 563 million sites, from tiny personal blogs to The New York Times. All running on free, open-source software.

The GPL license is basically WordPress’s superpower. You can run it anywhere, see how it works, modify it however you want, and share your changes. Matt Mullenweg, one of the founders, put it perfectly: “If you are using software, you should be able to see how it works, change it, control it, modify it.”

Your content, your site, your rules. Don’t like your host? Move. Want to change the code? Go ahead. Nobody can lock you in. Nobody can take it away from you.

Why I care about both

Real ownership, not the fake kind

Framework literally says you should have “the fundamental right and ability to repair any product you purchase.” They ship tools with the laptop. Every component has a QR code linking to repair guides. They’re not just legally allowing you to fix things—they’re making it easy.

WordPress is the same. Installation takes like five minutes. You can export everything, move hosts, modify the code. It’s not just open source on paper—it’s actually usable by normal people.

They’re fighting planned obsolescence

Most laptop companies design for 3-4 year lifespans. Everything’s glued and soldered. Framework flipped that model—they design for infinity. Modular parts, standard interfaces, parts availability for years.

They even wrote this brutally honest blog post called “We are not sustainable” where they admit the electronics industry generates 50 million metric tons of e-waste every year. Their solution? Build stuff that lasts as long as possible. Because 70% of environmental impact comes from manufacturing, so the longer something lasts, the better.

WordPress fights the same thing in software. No vendor lock-in, ever. You can leave whenever you want, taking everything with you. The GPL guarantees it.

The ecosystem effect

Framework’s marketplace isn’t just their parts—there are community expansion cards, third-party mainboards, 3D-printed mods, all kinds of stuff. They literally gave away 100 mainboards to developers in 2022 just to see what people would build.

WordPress has 59,000+ plugins, 13,400+ themes, hundreds of WordCamps around the world, 762 Meetup groups with over 537,000 members. When you let anyone contribute, the pace of innovation is insane.

This is actually working

Framework went from zero to 32 countries in five years. WordPress runs nearly half the web. And the timing is perfect—Right to Repair laws are passing everywhere. 35 U.S. states are considering legislation, Canada passed a national law, the EU has comprehensive directives. People are waking up to the fact that disposable technology is unsustainable.

What this means

I’m not saying everyone needs to switch to Framework and WordPress. But I love that these options exist. Technology that serves you instead of trapping you. Tools that respect your intelligence. Companies that bet on openness winning.

They’re proving that treating customers like intelligent people who deserve to own their stuff isn’t just ethical—it’s a real business model. You can build great products and still let people truly own them.

That’s rare enough to be worth celebrating.