Business of WordPress, as we see the first big acquisition of 2026. Many known WordPress people are polishing their online presence, like Ben Pines, Carrie Dils, and Robert Abela. Also, more year-end reviews and many product updates.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- Marketing for Plugin Founders… Ben Pines was the first marketer at Elementor and played a huge role in its growth. He has opened doors to Founder-Led Marketing expertise sharing for WordPress Plugin founders wanting to up the marketing game in the ecosystem.
- Try Airo for Free… you can try for free, Airo for WordPress from GoDaddy for AI powered WordPress website building (free account needed). Adam Warner shared (Links X) about this and is looking for your feedback, “Roast it. Praise it. Teach us”.
- Hackathons for WordPress… Nik McLaughlin has launched the Plugin Jam project, focused on running regular miniature hackathons and jam sessions for WordPress website builders. The first event will be held online beginning January 23, 2026.
- Invoices for SureCart… do you miss invoicing UI in SureCart dash? Promising better invoice management, Invoice Manager for SureCart plugin extends SureCart with a dedicated admin interface for viewing, downloading, managing, emailing, and exporting your store’s invoices.
Free Plugins: Menu Navigation & Redirect Cleanup
Tame Menu Items… No need to hide menu items when there are too many. Troy Chaplin has released a free Priority Plus Navigation plugin in the repo that automatically moves overflowing items into a ‘More’ dropdown.
Redirect Cleanup… Aleksandr Samokhin has released a free Redirect Cleanup plugin in the repository. This promises better SEO by detecting and fixing bad Yoast redirects with a single click.
Big Updates: FluentCart, Elementor, Patchstack, WB Polls
FluentCart + Bundles… 1.3.4v with the product bundles feature, allowing you to package multiple products into a single purchasable unit while keeping full control over pricing, visibility, and fulfillment behavior.
Elementor + Atomic Tabs… as the version 4 and atomic editor evolves, the much requested Atomic Tabs feature is now available. It provides you control over the structure, styling, and behavior of tabbed layouts.
Patchstack + New… Oliver Sild shared (LinkedIn) new updates in the Patchstack service, like the new API key management for partners, ‘Managed by’ mode for agencies and partners, and default policy manager for Patchstack settings.
WB Polls now Standalone… Varun Dubey shared about the big change in the WB Polls plugin in the 4.5.0v update. You no longer need BuddyPress to use this plugin, and it can be used anywhere to create polls as a custom post type.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Remembering Tom DeBello… Bobby Broughton brought to notice (The Admin Bar Facebook Group) the unexpected passing away of Tom DeBello. Check his WordPress Org Profile and an old interview at the WP Umbrella website. You can support the GoFundMe campaign, organized by his brother.
- Support Inclusion in Tech… SiNC (Support Inclusion in Tech) started the contributor funding program in 2025. They have opened applications for 2026, “We’re putting money directly in the hands of WordPress contributors and organizers…”.
- WP Minimum PHP Version… for WordPress 7.0, the minimum supported PHP version will be 7.4, as noticed in this core trac thread. Support for PHP 7.2 and 7.3 will be dropped in WordPress 7.0, which is scheduled for release in April 2026.
- WP 7.0 Call for Volunteers… the call for volunteers is open until January 16, 2026, for those interested in contributing to the upcoming WordPress 7.0 release. WP 7.0 Beta 1 is scheduled for February 19, 2026, and final release on April 9, 2026.
- 2025 Annual Spam Report… the team OOPSpam has published the 2025 annual spam report. It found residential proxies now the primary attack vector, and WordPress remains the top target at 61% of CMS-based spam. The United States leads spam origin at 44%, followed by Brazil (23%), China (16%), India (11%), and UK (6%).
Product Updates: SureForms, CheckoutWC, Nexter
SureForms + Duplicate… 2.3.0v added the Duplicate Forms feature, set password-based form restriction, preselect options for dropdowns, and multiple-choice fields.
CheckoutWC + A/B Testing… 11.0v added A/B Testing feature, allowing you to pick an existing order bump as your control and then create variants.
Nexter + Snippets… Aditya R Sharma shared (LinkedIn) Nexter Extension’s Code Snippets module now store snippets as files instead of database entries.
More Updates: GetGenie & Instagram Widget PRO
GetGenie + AI Templates… 4.3.0v added 4 new AI Writing Templates – Answer Builder, FAQ Generator, Post Generator, & Local Service Page Copy Generator.
Instagram Widget PRO… 1.3v of Instagram Widget PRO has stories available directly on website, and you can monitor Instagram performance from WordPress.
Quick Bits 👍
- Brian Gardner on new design foundation for Powder 2.0 theme.
- Carrie Dils shared (LinkedIn) about new look site, looks clean!
- Robert Abela shared (LinkedIn) new site for writing at own pace.
- Zack Pyle relaunched SnippetNest site, fully rebuilt using Etch.
- New WellThrive Theme for coaches & educators for TutorLMS.
- Automattic is sponsoring (Links X) the Tailwind CSS project.
- Let’s Learn
- Check the free course, Page Building 101 Era 4, by Kevin Geary.
- Track WordCamps (LinkedIn) in Calendar, by Mumtahina Faguni.
- Protect Block Layouts from accidental changes, By Eric Karkovack.
- WordPress on YouTube
- Rahul Bansal on what Enterprise WordPress really demands.
- Use .htaccess to lock down WordPress Admin, by David McCan.
- People of WordPress
- Lana Miro has joined (LinkedIn) as content marketer at Melapress.
- Siobhan McKeown kicking off 2026 (LinkedIn) as COO of Patchstack.
- Thierry Muller joins WP Engine (LI) as VP of Product, AI initiatives.
2025 Review: WP Companies & People
Continuing from last week, check more year-end reviews from the WordPress space. If you have written one, use Submit Form for inclusion in the next issue.
- Plugins Team in 2025 reviewed 12,713 plugins, 40.6% increase.
- BdThemes’s 2025 saw epic wins, bold milestones, & fresh ideas.
- Wpmet 2025 was epic with New HQ, 1M+ users, & Gold awards.
- LifterLMS saw period of steady progress & 2 new addon releases.
- FlyWP saw 151% growth in brand visibility & 42+ core features.
- rtCamp in 2024 moved from key initiatives to major milestones.
- Themewinter had year of growth, success, learning, & 115K users.
- From WordPress People
- Ionut Neagu acquired 12 plugins & a venture that doubled MRR.
- Justin Tadlock enjoyed building cool web stuff including plugins.
- Tony Lewis from leaving Thrive Themes to Bubble Apps & AI.
- Thomas Griffin 2025 was a year marked by change & transition.
Business of WP: Acquisition, Partnership, Pricing, & LTD
Acquisition Train… the first big acquisition of 2026, WP Engine has acquired Big Bite, an enterprise agency in the WordPress and web space. “We are excited to bring our two organizations together to unlock growth and develop unique product offerings for digital agencies and brands…”.
Patchstack + Seahawk… WordPress agency brand, Seahawk Media, has partnered with Patchstack to offer security solutions for its white-label WordPress services for businesses and hosts, including development, maintenance, and ongoing support.
FireBox + New Prices… the popup plugin to capture leads, FireBox will have new prices from February 1, 2026. Updated plan prices are: Basic €59 (Previously €49), Pro €79 (Previously €69), and Growth €129 (Previously €109).
Advanced Database Cleaner + LTD… LTD holders of version 3 can upgrade to newly built from scratch version 4 LTD that does not include the ‘Remote Scan’ feature. This feature is only available for non-LTD users, and there is a second upgrade path of version 3 LTD to an annual plan that includes the ‘Remote Scan’ feature.
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