Statement about Meetup Migration
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Andrew van der Stock
Jan 27, 2026, 6:31:18 AMJan 27
to Leaders
Dear Leaders,
As many of you know, Meetup unexpectedly announced a pricing change very late in 2025 that more than tripled our fees. We spent considerable time exploring whether any version of the new pricing could work for us before communicating with the community. In hindsight, this approach was a mistake and cost us valuable time, time we simply did not have.
After reviewing your feedback and status with the Board, we have decided to pause the migration to the new website until it is fully ready. At this point, we do not have a firm timeline for when that will be. There are still several open questions, and we will share a more detailed and definitive plan within the next two weeks. Once this situation is resolved, we will also take time to reflect on what we could improve should a similar disruption occur with another critical OWASP platform in the future.
My primary request is for understanding: this was not a change we initiated, and we did not ask for Meetup to go away. As we move forward, please remain respectful of our staff. We genuinely value constructive feedback and want to work together with the community on practical solutions that work for all.
Within two weeks, we expect to have clarity on several key unknowns, such as what we will do with past attendee data. At that point, we will communicate an updated plan to chapter leaders, outlining what is possible and what changes have to be made.
To address the risk that our Meetup Pro subscription could be cancelled without the ability to retain existing groups, the OWASP Foundation is continuing to export and securely store group attendee data for future use. The deletion of Meetup groups has been paused. We have also begun negotiations with Meetup to extend our subscription on a month-by-month basis for active groups until the new website is functional, secure, and ready.
We have asked Meetup to restore any deleted groups that have held meetings within the last eighteen months. While Meetup has assisted with restorations in the past, there is no guarantee they will do so again. We expect to have confirmation on whether this is possible within the next few days.
Per chapter policy, chapters that have not held a meeting in the last 18+ months are considered inactive and will be disbanded. This does not prevent leaders from restarting a chapter in the future. Attendee data has already been preserved and will not be lost. Once the migration is complete, chapter leaders may reapply. As required by Chapter policy, at least one new leader will be needed to ensure the chapter is active.
I fully acknowledge that our communication and execution around the migration away from Meetup have been less than ideal. This was largely due to the timing of the change, the end-of-year break, and the extremely short deadline imposed by Meetup. It is also clear that the new website is not, and will not be, ready before the end of our current Meetup contract.
We will continue working closely with our new website developers to address the issues raised and to add all necessary functionality to fully replace Meetup. I share your disappointment that the site is not yet ready. We have been working toward launch for months, and while the delay is frustrating, we will get there. Please continue to share your feedback; it is both heard and appreciated.
Thank you for your patience, professionalism, and continued support as we work through this transition together.
As many of you know, Meetup unexpectedly announced a pricing change very late in 2025 that more than tripled our fees. We spent considerable time exploring whether any version of the new pricing could work for us before communicating with the community. In hindsight, this approach was a mistake and cost us valuable time, time we simply did not have.
After reviewing your feedback and status with the Board, we have decided to pause the migration to the new website until it is fully ready. At this point, we do not have a firm timeline for when that will be. There are still several open questions, and we will share a more detailed and definitive plan within the next two weeks. Once this situation is resolved, we will also take time to reflect on what we could improve should a similar disruption occur with another critical OWASP platform in the future.
My primary request is for understanding: this was not a change we initiated, and we did not ask for Meetup to go away. As we move forward, please remain respectful of our staff. We genuinely value constructive feedback and want to work together with the community on practical solutions that work for all.
Within two weeks, we expect to have clarity on several key unknowns, such as what we will do with past attendee data. At that point, we will communicate an updated plan to chapter leaders, outlining what is possible and what changes have to be made.
To address the risk that our Meetup Pro subscription could be cancelled without the ability to retain existing groups, the OWASP Foundation is continuing to export and securely store group attendee data for future use. The deletion of Meetup groups has been paused. We have also begun negotiations with Meetup to extend our subscription on a month-by-month basis for active groups until the new website is functional, secure, and ready.
We have asked Meetup to restore any deleted groups that have held meetings within the last eighteen months. While Meetup has assisted with restorations in the past, there is no guarantee they will do so again. We expect to have confirmation on whether this is possible within the next few days.
Per chapter policy, chapters that have not held a meeting in the last 18+ months are considered inactive and will be disbanded. This does not prevent leaders from restarting a chapter in the future. Attendee data has already been preserved and will not be lost. Once the migration is complete, chapter leaders may reapply. As required by Chapter policy, at least one new leader will be needed to ensure the chapter is active.
I fully acknowledge that our communication and execution around the migration away from Meetup have been less than ideal. This was largely due to the timing of the change, the end-of-year break, and the extremely short deadline imposed by Meetup. It is also clear that the new website is not, and will not be, ready before the end of our current Meetup contract.
We will continue working closely with our new website developers to address the issues raised and to add all necessary functionality to fully replace Meetup. I share your disappointment that the site is not yet ready. We have been working toward launch for months, and while the delay is frustrating, we will get there. Please continue to share your feedback; it is both heard and appreciated.
Thank you for your patience, professionalism, and continued support as we work through this transition together.
Andreas Happe
Jan 27, 2026, 7:13:29 AMJan 27
to Andrew van der Stock, Leaders
Hi,
Thank you for the clarification. I understand that his has been a very stressful time for most involved.
On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 12:31 PM 'Andrew van der Stock' via Leaders <lea...@owasp.org> wrote:
I fully acknowledge that our communication and execution around the migration away from Meetup have been less than ideal.
This feels to be quite an understatement. To give you the perspective from my (chapter leader point-of-view).
- I've read about the upcoming problems about meetup on slack (and did write the question about threat-modeling other critical infrastructure) and noted the cancelation date of 31.1.2026
- couple of days later, I see lots of people complaining on slack (and the mailing list) that their chapters have been closed or they are removed from the meetup teams.
- I send an emergency message out to the members of my (very small) chapter, so that we have at least an open communication channel.
My assumption was that this adversarial action was taken by meetup. Unprofessional, but hey! What can you do?
Now I find out that this was done by OWASP itself without any prior direct notification to the respective chapters. I am more than a bit flabbergasted.
cheers, Andreas
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