Automattic launches Spacefast, a host for vibe coding apps

Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com, launched Spacefast on Monday, a platform that hosts what vibe coding tools produce and gives those apps databases, logins, file uploads, email and analytics. You keep your own AI agent and connect it, and that is the pitch against Lovable and Emergent.

Batuhan İçöz, who runs the project and used to work on the messaging app Beeper, built the first version during an Automattic hackathon sprint this year. Non-technical friends kept sending him Vercel links. Automattic soft-launched the product in September to gather feedback.

“I thought there had to be a better way for everyone to set up and deploy their projects.”

— Batuhan İçöz, head of Spacefast, TechCrunch

Quote source: TechCrunch, 9 November 2026.

How Spacefast works

You ask your AI to publish and get a live link back. Each project sits in its own “Space,” private by default, with a link that stays the same when you republish and a saved version for every change. The site lists Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Grok Bot, OpenClaw, Hermes, OpenCode and any MCP client, which fits the push for a shared plugin standard. You can also drag in a folder or zip, connect a Git repo or use the command line.

It takes static HTML, presentations, games, and apps built with Next.js, Astro, TanStack Start or PHP. Runtime features depend on how you deploy, so test a database-backed app before you promise it to anyone.

What the plans cost

The Spacefast site lists four plans:

• Personal: free, no card, $1 of usage a month, 20 Spaces;
• Go: $5 a month, $5 of usage, 100 Spaces, hourly database backups;
• Pro: $15 a month, $15 of usage, 500 Spaces, five members free and $15 for each one after that;
• Enterprise: custom price, with single sign-on and a support SLA.

Unclaimed Spaces normally expire 33 hours and 20 minutes after creation or the latest file change, capped at 30 days. Claim yours if you want it to stay up. We have not tested the service ourselves.

Why the owner of WordPress wants this

İçöz told TechCrunch that people now build websites with ChatGPT or Claude instead of deploying on WordPress, and that some sites won’t need a content management system. Automattic says it can quickly add WordPress integration, web analytics and e-commerce through WooCommerce. For large companies, he points to IT sprawl as marketing teams put landing pages on services like Lovable.

He also expects churn, since some people may not want to build apps at all. The product has to be “so easy,” he said, and give “so much better” results than going without it. TechCrunch adds a fair objection: some users may not want to pick an agent and would rather have every decision made for them.

The launch follows a rough stretch for the company, by TechCrunch’s account. The board forced CEO Matt Mullenweg out, he was back in control within days, and that board was later replaced. An interim CFO left within weeks, and layoffs began across several properties in October.

If you already build with a chat assistant, the free plan is a cheap test. Run one real project and watch how fast $1 of usage goes before you move anything that earns money.

Based on TechCrunch and the Spacefast site, checked on 9 November 2026. Plans and limits may change. Intokened has no commercial tie to Automattic.