Busy times in the WordPress ecosystem as the flagship WordCamp Asia 2026 event happens this week, WordPress 7.0 release delayed, and EmDash launched promising to be a WordPress successor is buzzing with a variety of views.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- WPMediaVerse + WP Sell Services… Varun Dubey has launched two amazing things for WordPress users. First, the WPMediaVerse plugin, which is like a self-hosted Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, Dribble – your media, your rules. Second, the WP Sell Services plugin is dedicated to selling services on a WordPress site – no need for WooCommerce or any SaaS. Both plugins have free and pro versions.
- New RanklineWP Launch… Justin Gluska (Links X) is gearing up to launch the new RanklineWP project, a command-line SEO for WordPress with 70+ CLI commands and an MCP server for AI agents. It allows you to manage SEO meta, run audits, and automate workflows from WP-CLI, and works with Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO, SEOPress, and more.
- ProfileSwitch for Profiles… David Parker shared all new ProfileSwitch plugin, which adds Netflix-style family and team profiles to WordPress. One login, multiple profiles, each with completely separate data, including course progress, orders, memberships, and activity history. It is aimed at any site where families or organizations share a single account but need data tracked separately for different profiles.
- WordWave for Audio… Rob Marlbrough shared a new WordWave – Audio for WordPress plugin, which provides a straightforward way to enhance accessibility and reach audiences who prefer listening over reading. It automatically converts content into natural-sounding audio using OpenAI or ElevenLabs APIs, BYOK.
New Updates: Crocoblock, SEOPress, ACF, & SureContact
Crocoblock + Divi 5… Crocoblock is now fully integrated with Divi 5 with JetEngine and JetSmartFilters plugins (see video preview). With this you can build real estate listing platforms, booking directories with advanced filtering, design dynamic blogs and custom layouts, eCommerce catalogs with structured filtering logic, and more.
SEOPress + Settings UI… 9.7v of SEOPress introduced the first React-powered settings screens, which promises to deliver a smoother, faster, and more intuitive user experience. Also, Redirections are better as it includes real-time verification when creating a redirect to avoid input errors on the origin field and thus prevent non-functional redirects, URL conflicts, duplicates, etc.
ACF + AI Ready… 6.8v release of ACF Pro makes it AI ready with the WordPress Abilities API integration. Also, now it automatically generates Schema .org structured data from your custom fields supporting Schema .org’s complete vocabulary of 867 types and 1,509 properties.
SureContact + Email Sequences… SureContact has introduced the Email Sequences feature, also called Drip Automation. It allows you to create a series of automated emails that go out over time – onboarding flows, post-signup follow-ups, or long-term nurture campaigns – without any manual effort.
More Updates: CIMO, Ollie, Visualizer, & LinkCentral
Cimo + Bulk Optimzation… Benjamin Intal with 1.3.0v update has added the bulk optimization without server processing feature to the CIMO plugin (premium). Also added, optimized frontend file uploads, integration with form plugins, new stealth mode, and support for dropping images in WooCommerce descriptions.
Ollie + Responsive Blocks… Mike McAlister shared preview (Links X) of responsive controls for the WordPress block editor in Ollie. He added, “We found an intuitive and unobtrusive way to bring responsive controls to your typography, margin, padding, and alignment styles”.
Visualizer + AI chart Creation… the team at Themeisle has updated Visualizer: Tables and Charts Manager 2.0.0v with a all-new AI chart creation powered by D3 .js for automatic building. Also, added the ability to import XLSX files natively, and a new Elementor widget for displaying Visualizer charts.
LinkCentral + Global Options… 1.6.0v has added the much requested global option feature to open links in a new tab. The premium version now tracks regions and cities, so you can see exactly where your visitors come from.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- WordPress 7.0 Delayed… originally planned to be released at the WordCamp Asia 2026 this week, WordPress 7.0 release has been delayed by a few weeks. Matias Ventura shared, “After discussions with project leadership, the decision has been made to delay the 7.0 release by a few weeks to finalize key architectural details”.
- Path Forward for WP 7.0 Release… Jonathan Desrosiers outlined, “policies dictating what can move forward, and the processes that should be followed until further notice to best focus community efforts while promoting stability and the ability to remain nimble”.
- BigScoots + Optimization Pro… the team at BigScoots hosting has launched Optimization Pro and Security Pro packages. These services promise faster websites and more secure websites hosted on the BigScoots infrastructure. These are available to BigScoots clients hosted on a BigScoots Managed Hosting for WordPress or Managed Hosting for Mediavine plan, with an active Boost by BigScoots account.
- WP Agentic Admin… Marcel Schmitz shared (LinkedIn) the WP Agentic Admin (GitHub) project as a part of hackathon at Cloudfest. It is a privacy-first AI assistant for WordPress that runs entirely in the browser – no cloud APIs and no data leaving the device. A small language model that runs on your GPU, turning WordPress admin into a natural language command center.
- WPVibe MCP… John Turner shared about the launch of WPVibe MCP which allows you to connect your WordPress site to ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI chat client. You can do tasks like create posts, add images, schedule content and more – all from the chat window.
WordCamp Asia 2026 – This Week, See you there!
The flagship, WordCamp Asia 2026, is happening this week, April 9 to 11, 2026, in Mumbai, India. I will be there for a couple of days, as would thousands of WordPress users – Lets catch up via Twitter X or LinkedIn.
- More WordCamp Asia Buzz
- I will be at the Open-Source Library on WC Asia’s Contributor Day.
- Dorcus Nalubega & Rajan Lama, Scholarship recipients for WC Asia.
- There is AI to Open Source, all sessions at WordCamp Asia 2026!
- Core AI Team on Contributor Day at WCAsia 2026 to contribute.
EmDash Launched – A WordPress successor?
EmDash Surprise for WP… the team at Cloudflare had a surprise launch of EmDash CMS, promising to be ‘the spiritual successor to WordPress that solves plugin security’. It is like rebuilding the WordPress open source project from the ground up and under the hood, EmDash is powered by Astro.
Matt Mullenweg wrote on this, “First, I’m going to tell you why this isn’t spiritually tied to WordPress at all, then why they haven’t solved plugin security, and finally offer some suggestions. Some day, there may be a spiritual successor to WordPress that is even more open. When that happens, I hope we learn from it and grow together”.
Reactions on EmDash
Tomzur from Kinsta shared (Links X), “We’ve seen countless “WordPress killers” come and go over the years. After seeing a ton of projects start and stall, I have zero doubt: WordPress will be here tomorrow, the day after, and for decades to come. Betting against the ecosystem is a losing game”.
Matt Cromwell shared (Links X), “Cloudflare did the next most obvious thing after acquiring Astro… they built a CMS for it. The post calls it the ‘spiritual successor of WordPress’. But I have to ask… is the future really Astro + TinyMCE? Really? How they narrowly scope plugins is excellent though”.
Syed Balkhi shared (Links X), “It will be interesting to see whether GoDaddy, Hostinger, etc will be keen to enable 1 click installs of EmDash. Right now that’s not possible because CF has a vendor lock in”.
More Reactions on EmDash
Chris Lema shared (Links X), “I think the ‘none’ category is a larger threat than EmDash when it comes to WP. And I don’t think WP is going anywhere any time soon”.
Joost de Valk wrote about this, “I’m planning to develop on and with EmDash, and I’ll share more about what I’m building as it takes shape”.
Nat Miletic shared (Links X), “Another day another WordPress “killer”. Sounds cool but WordPress isn’t going anywhere”.
Quick Bits 👍
- Buy / Sell WP agencies? Check the new resources, by Ron Johnson.
- 2026 edition of WooCommerce Data Insights, by Maarten Belmans.
- Ryan Welcher shared (Links X) list of WP specific spinnerVerbs & tips.
- Case Study: 2 referrals into paid projects at Automattic for Agencies.
- WP Reminder: NASA website is powered by (LinksX) WordPress.
- The lifespan of SSL Certificates is shrinking & why it is important.
- Let’s Learn
- Learn to use grid overlay inside the Box Module in Beaver Builder.
- Media library & large images, beware of settings, by David McCan.
- How is your WordPress media library is a mess, by Emily Rapport.
- WordPress on YouTube
- See the full walk through of Elementor 4.0 Atomic Editor, by Roi.
- Ferdy Korpershoek tested OpenClaw on his WordPress website.
- Karol K test drive the free static website plan at Sevalla from Kinsta.
- Paul tested the new Mosaic Builder for WordPress and is impressed.
- People of WordPress
- Chris Huber shared about joining (Links X) Automattic engineering.
- Jason Coleman on big things at PMPro, games, AI builds, & more.
State of the WordPress Agency 2026
Kyle Van Deusen surveyed 600+ WordPress agency owners and freelancers from 50+ countries about their business for the annual ‘State of the WordPress Agency 2026’ survey. It provides useful insights like, “Agencies with no recurring revenue are unprofitable nearly 60% of the time”.
52+% follow fixed pricing model, retainer agencies are the most profitable, and ‘Passive word-of-mouth’ is still the most important source of new client leads. Most are ‘Cautiously optimistic’ about business prospects in 2026, with AI having a noticeable impact.
WP Engine DE{CODE} 2026 brings developers, marketers, and digital leaders together to explore how AI is shaping the Intelligent Web. Explore through dedicated tracks combining expert-led sessions with live demos.
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