This week brings many new plugins, like CrocoBuilder, VovaBlocks, BricksFly, Dynamic OSM Maps, Reviso, AttribuLead, and more. More things to know for the WordPress 7.1 release. Also, nominations are open for ‘The WP Awards 2026’.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- WordPress Security Guide… Aurelio Volle from WP Umbrella has shared (LinkedIn) a downloadable PDF, ‘The Complete WordPress Security Guide’. He added, “This was supposed to be a gated resource on security, but I don’t care about the leads. It’s the most complete WordPress security guide ever written, in collaboration with Patchstack, the team behind the biggest WordPress vulnerability database”.
- WP Analyze Tool… Sumon Sarker shared (LinkedIn) about the launch of WP Analyze, which allows plugin authors to know the estimated installs, downloads, ratings, and daily rank. “It sweeps all 68,722 plugins in the WordPress Org directory every day, keeps what it finds, and tells you when something moves”.
- Accessibility Community Learning… Natalie MacLees shared about AAArdvark Circle – a small paid group where each month one practical mastermind topic is covered along with an open office hour. The idea is stepping into accessibility with the training, tools, and support you need to grow your agency.
- Woo + Stripe Reconciliation Lab… Gareth has published a reproducible WooCommerce + Stripe payment-state reconciliation lab for developers and store teams. It models one synthetic Stripe-succeeded / WooCommerce-pending mismatch with a fixed timeline, downloadable JSON event fixture, deterministic CSV output, positive controls, and explicit limitations. It uses no client data and makes no repair or production-incident claims.
New Plugins: CrocoBuilder, VovaBlocks, & BricksFly
CrocoBuilder Launched… the team at Crocoblock has launched CrocoBuilder page builder for WordPress users. It promises to be a developer-grade WordPress builder with atomic DOM output, unified CSS control, and AI-native components, built for complex WordPress projects.
New VovaBlocks… Vova Anokhin, the creator of Shortcodes Ultimate, has launched an all new VovaBlocks plugin. It features a focused collection of practical blocks for landing pages, product pages, articles, and client sites – right inside the WordPress editor you already use, with a focus on bloat-free implementation.
BricksFly for Bricks… Habibur Rahman has launched BricksFly, a complete toolkit for Bricks Builder users. It features 30+ full website templates, 500+ ready-made sections, advanced Elements, Extensions, and a visual GSAP animation studio directly inside your Bricks workflow.
More Plugins: Dynamic OSM Maps, Reviso, & AttribuLead
Dynamic OSM Maps… Bas Buis has released a new Dynamic OSM Maps plugin which adds interactive maps to WordPress without Google API keys or recurring fees. It is a lightweight Gutenberg block powered by OpenStreetMap and Leaflet. Free: manual address entry. Pro: connect custom fields – coordinates, addresses, or repeaters – for unlimited markers and popups.
Reviso for Client Feedback… Ben Elwood has brought to notice the all new Reviso for Client Feedback and Approvals (free version). Reviewers can pin their feedback directly on your live pages without the need for login or email chain. It is native to the Bricks and Elementor builders and the Gutenberg block editor, and works on any WordPress theme or site.
AttribuLead… Vlad Kolarov shared about the new AttribuLead, a marketing attribution plugin for WordPress. It helps site owners identify which marketing sources, campaigns, landing pages, and referrals generate their leads. It also recognizes referrals from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini as a distinct channel.
Free Plugins: PageForge, Content Locator, & Leads
PageForge Bulk Page Generator… Shubham Kumar Sinha shared the release of free PageForge, AI-Powered Bulk Page Generator and Programmatic SEO plugin, in the repository. It helps users generate structured pages, posts, and custom post types from CSV data using reusable templates and dynamic tokens.
Businora Content Locator… Kavita Patel shared (LinkedIn) about releasing the Businora Content Locator plugin the repository. It is a read-only utility plugin that helps WordPress administrators and developers quickly locate where content is used across their website.
DevXpert Lead Dashboard… Anup Kankale brought to notice recently released DevXpert Lead Dashboard plugin for Forminator and Contact Form 7 users. It gives your team one place to manage every form submission as a lead, when using Forminator or Contact Form 7 form plugins.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Backdoored Plugin Detected… Wordfence PRISM, an autonomous AI vulnerability intelligence agent, identified a critical Authentication Bypass backdoor within two hours after the malicious code was introduced. It was in the Advanced Responsive Video Embedder plugin with approximately over 20,000 active installations.
- Automattic & WP Engine… Rae Morey over at The Repository is reporting that the class action against Automattic to proceed after a judge finds the company tracked WP Engine customers. Automattic had argued the allegations described competition, not unlawful interference.
- WP Engine + BigCommerce… WP Engine has announced a strategic partnership BigCommerce, a popular with eCommerce platform. Through this partnership, will launch WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce to help high-growth mid-market brands compete in the new era of content-driven commerce.
- WordCamp US Buzz… WordCamp US 2026 will feature the Core AI Prompt Bar, an open, collaborative space where you can connect with the contributors helping shape AI in WordPress. Also, here is how you can pitch WordCamp US to your boss.
- WP Milestones… Gijo Varghese shared video (LinkedIn) on FlyingPress celebrating its 6th anniversary. “Today, a new website installs FlyingPress roughly every 9 minutes. We’ve been working on something special for the next chapter. See you next month”.
- WP Milestones… Elliot Sowersby shared (LinkedIn) about the Simple Turnstile reaching the 200,000+ active installs milestone. “It took just under 1 year to grow by another 100,000, now averaging 1920+ installs per week (37% YOY growth)”. Anh Tran shared (Facebook) about Slim SEO reaching 70,000 active users in the repository.
WordPress Core Updates & Buzz
WordPress 7.1 Beta 4 is now available for download, containing more than 114 updates and fixes since the Beta 3 release, including 51 in the Editor and 63 in Core. The scheduled final release date for WordPress 7.1 is August 19, 2026.
- Check the comprehensive WordPress 7.1 Source of Truth.
- You can contribute by testing the WordPress 7.1 release.
- New Block Support: Minimum Width & Background Gradient.
- Check out what’s new in the WordPress Playground interface.
- More on WP 7.1
- Filtering Site Editor Screens in the WordPress 7.1 release.
- JSON Schema preparation for client compatibility in WP 7.1
- WordPress Coding Standards 3.4.0 is now available (GitHub).
- Andrew Duthie share Design System Theming in WordPress 7.1
- Leaner, steadier PHPUnit runs for the upcoming WP releases.
New Updates: FluentCart, Max Addons, & WPBakery
FluentCart + Subscription Engine… 1.6.0v has introduced the Subscriptions Engine feature allowing you to manage subscriptions on its own – no more depending on your payment gateway for recurring billing. With this FluentCart handles the renewal cycle: creates orders before the due date, emails customers a payment link, and they pay with whatever gateway you offer.
Max Addons + Form Fields… 1.18.0v update of Max Addons for Bricks Builder has introduced five new form fields. These include fields for: Calculator, Color Picker, Step Break, Star Rating, and Toggle Switch.
WPBakery + Big Update… 9.0v promises to be a big update promising a cleaner, faster, and more intuitive website building experience. It brings improved frontend editor controls, updated main navigation bar, and performance improvements.
Form Plugins: Gravity Forms & CraftForms
Gravity Forms + Phone Formats… 3.0v update brings international phone formats to the Phone field for a smoother experience when entering phone numbers. Also, from 3.0v, accessible settings are enabled by default for every new form you create, no extra configuration required.
CraftForms + Frames Editor… 1.6v has introduced a new interactive element called Frames Editor, which allows visitors to see realistic frame specially when selling items like framed prints, canvases, photo gifts. Also, added the Locked WP mode for those using CraftForms to power forms embedded on a separate site.
Quick Bits 👍
- Ankit Panchal shared (LinkedIn) new Repos(git) directory at WPFolks.
- Locking down the WordPress REST API, by David McCan at WebTNG.
- Insights & Perspectives
- After 3 failed WP-Admin projects, Austin Ginder is up for 4th!
- A year of working on content, SEO & AI impact, by Emily Rapport.
- ‘Why it took me 16 years to contribute to WP’, by Yusuf Mudagal.
- WordPress on YouTube
- Shahjahan Jewel on AI in WordPress, with Jeffrey @ Lytbox.
- Are your custom blocks ready for WP 7.1? By Ryan Welcher.
- What experts say about WordPress future, by Ferdy Korpershoek.
New AI Things: Novamira CLI & Ahentic AI
Novamira + CLI… in the latest update, Novamira CLI is now available, allowing you to connect a terminal coding agent, Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, or any agent that can run shell commands, to your WordPress site running Novamira.
Ahentic AI workspace… Benjamin Intal, founder of Stackable and WP Interactions, shared Ahentic AI workspace (Links X) for WordPress experiment. In the preview, it understands the entire website, helps launch it, and helps install plugins. All this with no external servers/services/MCPs, just WordPress and its new APIs.
The State of WordPress Plugin Opportunities 2026
Chris Morris brought to notice The State of WordPress Plugin Opportunities 2026 report published at WP Goldmine site. It brings analysis of 57,383 plugins in the WordPress Org plugin directory to measure how many of these plugin gone stale.
24% of plugins in the 10K to 100K active-install band haven’t been updated in over two years, which is 1,209 popular plugins with real user bases and no maintainer. The 100K to 1M band sits at 10.2%. The most installed abandoned plugins include: Limit Login Attempts, Layout Grid Block, and WP Downgrade.
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