More fresh AI things this week, like FreshRank, Nora AI Agent, GenerateBlocks Skills, and the official WordPress AI benchmark tool called WP-Bench. Also, updates for MailerPress, Search&Filter, FooGallery, Conversion Bridge, and MetForm.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- 16 Free Plugins… Thomas Zwirner shared (LinkedIn) about his love for building solutions and created a page listing 16 plugins for various uses. Plugins like: Audio at each block, Download list block with icons, Automatic category for posts, and more.
- Synced Pattern Popups… Matt Cromwell shared about the journey of building the free Synced Pattern Popups plugin. This allows you to use the default Block Editor for displaying content in a popup.
- Winden Now Free for Blocks… Winden brings Tailwind CSS powers to WordPress and is now open source for Gutenberg. With Winden, instead of writing custom CSS, you can use a few Tailwind utility classes directly inside Gutenberg and style is quickly.
- ACF PRO Beta + Schema… ACF PRO is expanding from just custom types and fields with ACF PRO 6.8 Beta 2. It now features automatic structured data with Schema .org to help your content get discovered by search engines, AI Overviews, and the growing ecosystem of AI-powered tools.
AI + WP: FreshRank, Nora, & GenerateBlocks Skills
FreshRank on Repo… the AI Tool from Themeisle, FreshRank plugin that audits your content for freshness, is now available in a free version on the repository. It automatically checks for outdated facts, broken links, old screenshots, and things that changed since you published.
Nora AI Agent… the team at Dynamic OOO has released all new Nora AI Agent for Dynamic Shortcodes, currently available in beta. It is a ChatGPT-style assistant for guidance on Dynamic Shortcode syntax, combine multiple shortcodes correctly, analyse, validate, and troubleshoot your structures.
GenerateBlocks Skills… Gaurav Tiwari shared (Links X) about releasing GenerateBlocks Skills (GitHub), an open-source collection of AI-optimized skill files that teach Claude, ChatGPT, and other LLMs how to build WordPress layouts with the Generate Blocks plugin.
Page Builders Buzz: Beaver Builder & Oxygen
Beaver Builder + New Features… 2.10v brings Dynamic Global Templates (Components) and Beaver Builder Cloud to store your templates online. Plus, over 60 pre-built Box module templates designed to give you a quick design head-start.
Oxygen 6 + Complete Rewrite… Oxygen Builder v6 is a complete rewrite and rebuilt from the ground up – promising to be faster, more powerful, and intuitive. It is aiming for precise control, clean code, and the flexibility to build anything.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- January 2026 Developer’s Focus… Justin Tadlocks shared what’s new for developers, January 2026 edition, with a focus on the responsive Grid block with set columns, a dedicated Font Library admin screen, and building blocks with PHP. Also, tools: Image Cropper package, updated Abilities package, Data Views updates, and routing enhancements.
- Introducing WP-Bench… James LePage shared news of the new official WordPress AI benchmark tool called WP-Bench. This, “evaluates how well AI models understand WordPress development, from core APIs and coding standards to plugin architecture and security best practices”.
- Woo REST API + Fixes… 10.5v release of WooCommerce brings two fixes in REST API for product variations. This includes for attribute names with special characters and attribute option values with special characters. Also, ‘Add to Cart’ button will be disabled by default in variable products in WooCommerce 10.5 – until the variation script has fully loaded.
- WordPress in 2026 Report… the team at Human Made has released a Market analysis Report for WordPress in 2026. “How the Site Editor, Synced Patterns, Block Bindings, and collaboration mature into a structured visual system that scales for enterprise, without collapsing under operational weight”.
- Web Agency Summit Announced… the 6th edition of Web Agency Summit has been announced. The four days of the interactive online summit with sessions and hangout areas, is scheduled from April 27 – 30, 2026. Registration is now open and is free.
- WP Milestones… Page Builder Blocks, & Templates for Gutenberg, the GutenKit plugin has crossed the 60,000 active installs milestone in the repository. WS Form, a contact form plugin, the free version WS Form LITE has crossed the 10,000+ active installs milestone.
Quick Bits 👍
- Cool Preview (LinkedIn) View Transitions coming in WP 7.0 admin.
- Video announcing (YouTube) official Divi 5 release on Feb 26, 2026.
- Max Addons for Bricks got new design with new color & navigation.
- Job Thomas shared (LinkedIn) new site design using blocks & FSE.
- Marcus Burnette launched new look of The WP World homepage.
- Matt Mullenweg on WooCommerce future & competitive strengths.
- Comparing AWS CloudFront vs Cloudflare in 2026, which is better?
- Let’s Learn
- New free course, Grow your website’s audience, from WP .com
- Parvez acquired plugin for $0 & scaled to $80k (Links X) in 6 mon.
- See how to manage multiple client sites with WordPress Studio.
- Varun Dubey on modern workflows with Vite + WordPress, & AI.
- Pascal Claro: ChatGPT + WP combo (YouTube) for powerful features.
- People of WordPress
- Reflections & progress (LI) by Pedraum, VP of Product, Automattic.
- ‘Google’s agentic future leaves WP economy behind’, by Joost de Valk.
- Aditya Kane share on 11 years journey of WordPress contribution.
Updates: MailerPress, Search&Filter, FooGallery, PopupKit
MailerPress + Elementor… 1.2v now integrates directly with Elementor’s form widget. Also, a dedicated custom widget has been added for use within Elementor. Plus, a custom block for Bricks Builder users.
Search & Filter… 3.2.0v new features preview (LinkedIn) bringing redesigned admin interface, faster query performance, and upgraded Block Editor and WooCommerce integrations in the Search & Filter plugin.
FooGallery + Auto Activation… FooGallery has introduced a new auto-activate a license key feature. It promises to make license activation routine easier – especially for developer or agency users.
PopupKit + New Integrations… PopupKit has introduced 5 new integrations for users. New integrations for: Drip, Brevo, GetResponse, Omnisend, and MailPoet.
More: Conversion Bridge, MetForm, Elementor, & Bluesky
Conversion Bridge + UTM Reports… 1.12v has introduced a new UTM Reports section for a quick view of sources, mediums, and campaigns driving conversions, all without leaving WordPress.
MetForm + Google + DropBox… MetForm has added two new integrations. Google Drive integration allows you to automatically store form entries to a Google Sheet. Also, Dropbox Integration allows you to directly connect your form’s file upload field with a designated folder in your Dropbox.
Dynamic Tags for Elementor Free… Dynamic Tags for Elementor is now included for free in The Plus Addons for Elementor plugin. This allows you to connect your layouts directly to real content like titles, images, links, and more.
Revive to Sky + Bluesky… 1.1v of Revive to Sky plugin by Rhys Wynne, now includes a Test Connection button which allows you to test the connection between your WordPress blog and Bluesky.
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