{"id":77362,"date":"2025-11-07T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhblog.dream.press\/blog\/?p=77362"},"modified":"2025-11-07T13:30:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:30:46","slug":"what-is-the-open-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-dev.dreamhost.com\/blog\/what-is-the-open-web\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is the Open Web? Open Web \u2190\u2192 Walled Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TL;DR:<\/strong> The Open Web is the part of the internet built on open standards that let you build, move, and integrate without a single vendor\u2019s permission; walled gardens trade that freedom for convenience and control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treat openness as a spectrum: Your stack can be more or less open at each layer, and those choices compound. Use the Openness Audit to score vendors across two dimensions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1.  User Autonomy (control, data portability, platform independence); and <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Transparency (operations, governance). <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Bottom line:<\/strong> Choose tools that make leaving possible so staying is always your choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    A few months back, headlines swirled<\/a> about Perplexity, an AI company saying, essentially, “What if we just\u2026 bought Chrome?” Was it a stunt? Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But it was also a reminder that whoever controls the gateway \u2014 the browser, the app store, the feed \u2014controls what you see, how you build, and how easily you can leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s the Open Web conversation in a nutshell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When we say “Open Web,” we mean the part of the internet built on open standards and interoperable protocols: stuff anyone can implement and no single company can revoke. You can build on it, move across it, and connect to it without asking for permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A “walled garden,” on the other hand, is a closed ecosystem where a single vendor sets the rules, limits movement, and holds your data behind a velvet rope. Sometimes that rope looks like great UX. But it\u2019s still<\/em> a rope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"If<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re a designer or developer juggling client sites, you already feel the stakes. A platform changes its pricing or rate limits, and suddenly you\u2019re spending a weekend rebuilding flows you shipped last year. And your client doesn\u2019t blame the platform; they blame you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This isn’t just a moral philosophy; it\u2019s the difference between owning your stack and renting it month to month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At DreamHost, we\u2019ve staked our business on the mundane-but-important idea that you should be able to move freely on the web, because that’s what real ownership means.<\/strong> We advocate for open-source tools<\/a> and data portability not because it\u2019s trendy, but because it\u2019s how you protect your time, your customers, and your margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That’s what we’re exploring in this article, and it all comes down to the real meaning of the Open Web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What Is the Open Web?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The Open Web is all the parts of the internet built on open standards and standardized protocols (think HTML, CSS, HTTP, DNS), developed in transparent, multi-stakeholder processes \u2014and usable without any one company\u2019s permission. In practice, that looks like tools you can self-host or move between providers, data you can export in common formats, and integrations that don\u2019t require a back-channel deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A walled garden is the opposite: a closed ecosystem where one vendor sets the rules, limits movement, and mediates access, often via proprietary formats, opaque policies, and gatekept distribution (app stores, feeds, marketplaces). The UX can be great, but the trade-off is platform dependence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why the Open Web Matters To Small Businesses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    If you run a small business<\/a>, “open vs. closed” isn\u2019t a philosophy debate; it\u2019s how many late nights you\u2019ll spend fixing things you didn\u2019t break. The Open Web gives you room to move. You can switch tools, keep your data, and adapt without rebuilding the whole kitchen every time a vendor changes the menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here are some of the Open Web’s benefits for small businesses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n