There is no stopping the AI buzz in the WordPress space, like Beaver Builder AI, Hostinger AI Builder, the wider availability of Smart Search AI, and more. Also, Matt Mullenweg on blank stares at AI questions and its pace in the WordPress ecosystem. Plus, WordPress 7.1 version is now available.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- FlyingHost Launched… Gijo Varghese from FlyingPress has launched FlyingHost managed WordPress hosting platform. It features isolated containers, dedicated resources, Cloudflare Enterprise, and Patchstack security out of the box.
- CubeWP Sites… Sam Rizzi over at CubeWP has launched CubeWP Sites, a Cloud Platform for WordPress websites. You can quick start by selecting a pre-made website template and then customize it as per requirement – with full control over the setup.
- New Suede Theme… Brian Gardner shared (Links X) a new design for the Suede marketing site, where Suede Theme is available as a free download. As of now, it has a Sienna Vale design template, created for luxury real estate professionals.
- PayLexer Payment Gateways… the team behind WP Travel Engine has launched PayLexer, a free unified payment middleware. It allows you to connect 59+ payment gateways to WP Travel Engine, WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and FluentCart.
AI Things: Smart Search, Beaver, Hostinger, Disclosure
Smart Search AI for all… WP Engine has opened up the Smart Search AI to every WordPress website user, previously was only available to WP Engine customers. It promises a better search experience on WordPress websites and is compatibility with Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) and WooCommerce, as well as flexible integration with headless WordPress environments via WPGraphQL and REST APIs.
Beaver Builder AI… the team at Beaver Builder has made Beaver Builder AI available in all plans, except the starter plan. If you are a Beaver Builder user, now you chat and build website page layouts in Beaver Builder with AI powers.
Hostinger AI Builder… the team at Hostinger has launched AI Builder that promises to go beyond generating the first version of the website. It leverages AI to set up and operate the backend infrastructure, ecommerce, embedded AI, and marketing.
AI Image Disclosure… Ivijan-Stefan Stipić Aiviso has released the free Aiviso AI Image Disclosure plugin in the repository. It enables publishers to mark AI-generated images directly in the Media Library and automatically display a disclosure when they are used as Featured Images.
New Plugins: xSpeed, Layout, Livada SEO, Animation
xSpeed Cache Performance… the team at WPDeveloper has launched an all-new xSpeed Cache WordPress performance plugin built with an integrated AI assistant (via MCP). Pages are served as static files before WordPress even loads 5–15ms cache hits and up to 17× faster. Then connect your AI, and it takes over from there – benchmarking, tuning, and re-testing until the score reads 100.
Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags… Stefano Picco has released a free Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags plugin in the repository. This plugin checks the existing formatting and attributes and removes all those that could lead to a problem, while you copy content from various sources.
Livada SEO… Florin Livada brought to notice the Livada SEO plugin, promising verifiable SEO for WordPress. It is a WordPress SEO + AEO plugin built around a different idea: don’t just trust what the settings say – verify what the real page actually outputs.
Tabs Animation… Elliott Richmond has released a free Elliott Richmond Tabs Animation plugin in the repository. It adds a small animation to that reveal and a Settings > Tabs Animation screen to control it, with no theme changes required.
Platform Integration Plugins: beehive & HoverEcho
Official beehiiv Plugin… the team at Fueled has partnered with beehiiv to launch its official plugin for WordPress. The beehiiv plugin is now available in the repository, enabling beehiiv integration to publications on the Max and Enterprise plans.
HoverEcho Plugin… HoverEcho platform enables website elements speak before the click, on hover actions. HoverEcho WordPress Plugin is now available, which integrates the HoverEcho platform with any WordPress website.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Free WordPress Hosting… announced at WordCamp US 2026, WordPress .com Education Program has been launched that provides free WordPress hosting for education. With this program (Links X), “Teachers can give every student a professional WordPress site with plugins, themes, tools, a free domain, and hosting that renews each year they’re enrolled”.
- Update Elementor & Pods… update your Elementor Pro websites to 4.2.2v or above, as Patchstack has reported Critical Unauthenticated File Upload to RCE vulnerability. Pods plugin users should update to 3.3.9.v or above, as this brings security patches.
- WordPress AI + Content Translation… 1.3.0v introduces a new experiment of content translation, which allows editors translate content without leaving the post editor. Also, brings another experiment of slug generation, which suggests concise, search-friendly permalinks based on the post title and content.
- Gutenberg + Visual revisions… 23.8v makes visual revisions more capable with the ability to link directly to a specific revision. Also, Collaboration in the editor took another step forward, when someone @-mentions you in a note, you now receive an email letting you know.
- WordCamp US & Belgrade… check the recap of WordCamp US 2026 from the Contributor Day, Showcase Day, Day 3, and Day 4 of the event. Also, tickets now available for the upcoming WordCamp Belgrade 2026, scheduled for September 18, 2026, in Belgrade, Serbia.
- WordCamp Asia & Rajasthan… the call for sponsors is now open for WordCamp Asia 2027, scheduled for April 9, 2027 in Penang, Malaysia. WordCamp Rajasthan 2026 (India) has announced the Puneet Sahalot Memorial Scholarship for supporting the next generation of WordPress community members.
WordPress 7.1 Release & Core Buzz
WordPress 7.1 ‘Mary Lou’ has been released, bringing many new changes. WordPress 7.1 features the admin bar, which now follows you across the entire admin interface, more responsive controls directly into the Site Editor, one dedicated workflow for editing your images, inline notes with mentions, and more.
- Check WP 7.1 landing page highlighting main features, video here.
- WordPress 7.1 Release Lead Decision Log, by Anne McCarthy.
- In WordPress 7.1 you can mark specific images as purely decorative.
- Hands-on with WordPress 7.1 Icon Registration API, by Justin Tadlock.
- The call for volunteers is open to manage WordPress 7.1.x releases.
New Migrator Addons: FluentCart & SureRank
FluentCart + WooCommerce Migrator… 1.6.2v has introduced WooCommerce Migrator that allows you to move WooCommerce store to FluentCart. It allows you to migrate store settings, products, tax rates, coupons, orders, an optional pass for registered customers who never placed an order, and a final recount that rebuilds coupon usage, customer lifetime value, and subscription billing counts from the migrated data.
SureRank + SEO Migrator… SureRank Pro 1.9.0v has added SEO migrator for ‘The SEO Framework’ plugin users. Also, now includes its own Abilities API layer, so connected tools and AI workflows can work with Pro features more directly. Plus the ability to fix image alt text with AI powers.
Form Plugin Updates: Fluent Forms & WPForms
Fluent Forms + Signed updates… in an effort to make the plugin update process more secure from supply chain attacks, the team at WPManageNinja has introduced signed updates feature. From 6.2.13v, “Fluent Forms Pro refuses to install an update that was not signed by us. The check runs on your server, against a key compiled into the plugin, before WordPress is allowed to unzip anything”.
WPForms + Ranking Field… WPForms has added a new Ranking field in its Surveys & Polls addon. This automatically tallies everyone’s rankings and gives you a clean, visual report showing exactly which option came out on top. No need for manual calculations and guessing with your data with regard to rankings.
More New Updates: FluentCommunity & Slim SEO
FluentCommunity + PWA… 2.8.0v update brings the new Progressive Web App (PWA) module, which adds an install option right in the portal sidebar. You can customize the app name, a short name for the label under the icon, a splash screen color complete with your own app name and icon.
Slim SEO + Markdown for AI… Slim SEO Pro has introduced the Markdown for AI feature. Once enabled, AI agents get a clean Markdown copy of your post, while human readers still see the normal HTML page. No URL changes, no SEO impact.
Quick Bits 👍
- AI adoption in WP, Matt Mullenweg on blank stares on AI questions.
- WP Buffs & Equalize Digital’s expanded partnership for accessibility.
- Guide on how to never miss anything important in WordPress space.
- Ranuka has launched KeenWP WordPress news & resource project.
- Rafal Gron tested with queries the Smart Search AI by WP Engine.
- GoDaddy has launched Node JS Hosting for deploying Node js apps.
- WordPress on YouTube
- How to setup Bricks MCP Server in Bricks 2.4+, by Paul Charlton.
- See how easy is custom icons in WordPress 7.1, by Ryan Welcher.
- A full review of the amazing new feature of WP 7.1, by Jackson.
- How will AI impact future of WP? Rich Tabor & Ronnie Burt share.
- People of WordPress
- Courtney Robertson has left GoDaddy & looking for the next role.
- Satyam Vishwakarma’s transparency report on his WP contributions.
Key Findings: State of the Community 2026
The WP Open Community Collective has published the State of the Community 2026 findings from 431 people from the community sharing their feedback. Key findings include, “81.7% of respondents are positive about open source. 32.7% say the same about WordPress”.
Also, “77.3% of respondents feel differently toward WordPress than they did two years ago. 95.5% of them feel worse. Three in four respondents are negative or unsure about WordPress’s future (but they haven’t all left yet)”.
Downward Trend: WordPress Work from Upwork
Brought to notice a post by Adrian Sticea (LinkedIn) on contribution of Upwork platform for WordPress work leads. In the past 11 years, it has declined from 98% in 2015, to 60% in 2024, to 0% in 2026. Besides this observation, interesting discussion in comments on diversifying sources of work leads and more.
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