It looks like there is no stopping the cool AI WordPress things in 2026. New AI tools like Sticklight AI, LovedbyAI, AI Agent in Bit Flows, and AI features in Nexter and Brizy. Also, big WordPress 2026 goals, and a new home for WordPress Education.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- Elementor One Plan… the team at Elementor has launched a new Elementor One plan offering website creation, optimization, and management into a single subscription package. Besides Elementor based website building, it includes AI, image optimization, accessibility enhancements, email deliverability, and more coming.
- New SureContact… the latest addition to the ‘Sure’ line of WordPress products is SureContact for email marketing. It promises to be an all in one platform for contact management, send email campaigns, marketing automations, and much more.
- FluentCart + Modal Checkout… 1.3.8v has introduced the Modal checkout feature, allowing customers to complete checkout on the same page in the model window instead of navigating to a separate checkout page. Also added is the product duplicate feature, enabling you to clone an existing product and reuse its structure instantly.
- Search & Filter + Enhanced Search… 3.2.0v update has added the Enhanced Search feature for lightning-fast full-text search on your WordPress website. Also, redesigned admin UI, 10x faster index of queries, and smart asset loading features have been added.
AI & WP: Sticklight, LovedbyAI, Bit Flows, Nexter, & Brizy
Sticklight AI + Elementor Labs… create websites with AI powers with the upcoming Sticklight AI tool from the Elementor Labs team. Beta access to this tool opens in around one week.
LovedbyAI… newly launched LovedByAI plugin scans for AI visibility gaps and automates fixes that help sites get mentioned in AI search at ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews.
Bit Flows + AI Agent… users of Bit Flows can leverage AI Agent workflow automation on WordPress. This AI integration feature allows you to add LLM-based reasoning, memory, and tools to your workflows.
Nexter Blocks + AI… Nexter Blocks has introduced AI features like AI-powered text and image generation, enabling faster content creation on your WordPress website. It comes with support for OpenAI and Gemini.
Brizy AI + Block Based AI… Brizy AI 1.5v has introduced block based AI generation, allowing full customisability in generating multi page layout websites for specific niches, use cases, and user requirements.
Block Plugins: Post Date Block, Block Finder, Patterns
Better Post Date Block… Weston Ruter has worked on variation (GitHub) of the Post Date Block with regard to publish and modified date. It would automatically append the modified date, but only when it differs from the publish date.
New Block Finder… Troy Chaplin has released a free Block Finder plugin in the repository. It adds a simple dashboard widget which allows you to find and edit specific core or custom Gutenberg blocks across all post types on your website.
Pattern Wrangler + Popups… Ronald Huereca has updated the Pattern Wrangler plugin 2.3v to include integration for the new Synced Pattern Popups plugin.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Big WordPress 2026 Goals… Mary Hubbard shared big picture goals with the Make WordPress community. 2026 will return to 3 releases a year, coinciding with flagship WordCamps, continued investment in AI, revamping Meetups for getting new people involved quickly, and scaling WordPress education programs.
- New Home for WordPress Education… Brett McSherry shared the new space taking shape on the WordPress .org website for students who want to learn, build, and contribute. The new Education page focuses on initiatives like WordPress Campus Connect, Student Clubs, and WordPress Credits.
- AI Experiments + Excerpt Generation… Jeffrey Paul shared 0.2.0v update to the AI Experiments plugin featuring Excerpt Generation experiment for AI powered generation of excerpts directly from post or page content. Also, introduces the Abilities Explorer, a new admin screen that surfaces all registered AI Abilities within the plugin.
- WordPress 6.9.1 Schedule… Aaron Jorbin shared the schedule for WordPress 6.9.1 release. WordPress 6.9.1 RC1 is scheduled for Thursday, January 29, 2026, and WordPress 6.9.1 General Release is scheduled for Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
- Gutenberg Update… 22.4v update enables The Font Library and Global Styles to work with classic themes, custom blocks can now use pattern overrides, the image block now has focal point controls, and a new experimental feature lets you hide or show blocks based on screen size.
- WordCamp Asia Scholarships… with the support of The WordPress Foundation and WordCamp Central, two scholarships for attending WordCamp Asia 2026 are available. Anyone can apply for the Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship and Diversity Fund Scholarship until February 15, 2026.
- WordCamp Speakers + Photographers… the call for speakers for WordCamp Europe 2026 is closing this week on January 31, 2026. The call for photographers is open for the WordCamp Asia 2026 event until February 10, 2026.
- WP Milestones… the contact form plugin, SureForms, has crossed the 400,000+ active installs milestone in the repository. While the PopupKit plugin has crossed the 50,000+ active installs milestone in less than 4 months.
Updates: MailOptin, Formidable, WPForce, WPBakery
MailOptin + MailerCloud… 2.2.76.0v update of MailOptin allows you to connect a WordPress site to Mailercloud. This allows automatic email sending to Mailercloud contacts or list whenever a new post is published.
Formidable Forms + Discount Codes… Formidable Forms has added the Discount Codes feature, allowing you to add coupons to payment forms, set dates and limits, and see prices update instantly.
WPForce Logout + New Features… 3.0.0v of WPForce Logout plugin has added two new features like Single Active Session to limit users to one active login session at a time, and Logout on Password Change.
WPBakery + Templatera… Raitis Sevelis shared (LinkedIn) that the WPBakery Support Plus now include addons like Templatera Template Manager and Easy Tables for free.
Quick Bits 👍
- Free WPBakery for students (LinkedIn) joining WordPress Credits.
- Streamline block theme dev with WP Playground and GitHub.
- WP:26 virtual conference on where WordPress is heading in 2026.
- Automattic has migrated to Linear, for unified product teams.
- Built rules to detect Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, & Cursor.
- WordPress on YouTube
- Check ‘10 CSS tricks I wish I knew sooner’, by Kyle Van Deusen.
- Everything to know about Passkeys for WordPress, with Tim Nash.
- Paul previewed new Block Editor field introduced in MetaBox plugin.
- New Components feature introduced in GreenLight & Greenshift.
- People of WordPress
- Jean Galea looked for WordPress replacement in 2026 & found?
- Varun Dubey on why we must act to save the fading BuddyPress.
- James LePage published 5 parts series on Open Web & AI future.
- Anne McCarthy on closing the content creators Slack channel.
- Tamara Niesen in Sharebird’s Top Demand Generation Mentors.
Hosting Ecosystem: Security Myth & Pro Services
Myth of Secure Hosting… the team at Patchstack ran an experiment on a bunch of hosting services and found, “while hosts overall did a little better against more generic attacks, 74% of all attacks still succeeded. The results of this study support our initial conclusion that WordPress vulnerability mitigation remains a largely unsolved problem”.
Seahawk + Pro Services Platform… the team at Seahawk has launched Pro Services Platform, created for web hosting companies and WordPress providers wanting to offer professional WordPress services like website care, seo, dev services – without the requirement of building an internal services team.
Optimization: Images, Media Cleanup, & AB Split Test
FlyingPress + Image Optimization… 5.3v has introduced built-in image optimization, which runs on their cloud servers, so it won’t slow down your hosting. You can now convert images to AVIF or WebP, choose lossless or lossy compression, and auto-optimize new uploads.
Delete Unused Images… the team at Duplicator has released WP Media Cleanup to dig up and delete unused images. It scans your entire website to map which image variations are actively referenced in your content and helps build list of images not being used and fit for deletion.
AB Split Test + Shareable Reports… Tom Carless shared a video about the 2.4.1v update, introducing the shareable customer reports feature, providing a professional overview of your test.
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