On August 28, 2025, Typepad announced it was shutting down. 

Creators who’d been blogging since the early 2000s suddenly faced an impossible deadline: save everything or lose it forever in 30 days.

We couldn’t let that happen.

A race against the clock

By September 30 — Typepad’s official shutdown date — 3,684 blogs had successfully migrated to WordPress.com.

And here’s the thing: these weren’t small archives. 

Some creators brought over 3,400+ posts, thousands of images, and nearly 10,000 comments dating back to 2005.

The migration wasn’t always smooth. Typepad’s export files often didn’t include media. Some archives were massive — multi-gigabyte files that required special handling. 

But we worked through each case, one by one.

More than websites

For many creators, this move was about preserving a body of work — not just keeping a site online.

Book launches chronicled post-by-post. Family milestones captured over the years. Niche communities that had grown over a decade or more.

Most were individual bloggers. Many had been writing for 10, 15, even 20+ years.

One blogger with 3,400 posts, 9,000+ images, and 7,000 comments going back to February 2005:

“Truly bowled over by the level of service and the courtesy and friendliness! Wish I’d made the move long ago.”

Another with a similarly massive archive shared:

“I see all of my Typepad posts on WordPress! I am so happy I am crying! Thank you so very much! This feels huge for me!”

That’s exactly why we do this.

How the migration worked

The process was straightforward in theory: export your Typepad archive, import it to WordPress.com, done.

In practice? Not always that simple. 

Typepad’s exports often arrived without media. Some archives were enormous — we’re talking decades of posts crammed into multi-gigabyte files.

Our team worked through the tricky cases hands-on, making sure nothing got left behind.

Once the dust settled, many creators took the opportunity to pick a fresh theme or finally clean up years of messy categories. 

A forced move turned into a fresh start.

Your archives deserve a stable home

Platforms come and go. Your work shouldn’t have to.

WordPress.com is built for the long haul — with speed, security, automatic backups, and support whenever you need it. 

Whether you’re running a personal journal or a publication with thousands of posts, there’s room to grow.

We’re honored to welcome thousands of Typepad creators to WordPress.com. Your archives matter — and now they have a home built to last.

Thinking about moving your blog? Get started here or reach out to our support team — we’re happy to help.

It works — until the workflow starts getting in your way.

Small issues, like inconsistent configurations, overwritten files, and repetitive setup tasks, can all add up and slow you down. 

WordPress Studio simplifies all of that. 

The free, open-source tool lets you spin up local sites quickly, share previews instantly, and move changes between environments without the usual hassle — helping you focus on creating rather than configuring and troubleshooting.

Here’s how you can use it to manage multiple client WordPress sites.

Step 1: Set up a new local site

You have three options for creating a new site in WordPress Studio:

• Start with a blank site: Create a fresh WordPress installation.
• Start from a Blueprint: Build a preconfigured site using a “recipe.” 
• Import from a backup: Use the backup of an existing site. 

Here are more details on those three options.

Start with a blank site

Starting with a blank site creates a fresh WordPress installation using the default out-of-the-box configuration.

This option works well for one-off builds, but Studio can save even more time once you start using Blueprints.

Start from a Blueprint 

Blueprints are reusable JSON files that act as recipes for creating preconfigured local sites — they’re one of the key ways that Studio helps you save time and reduce repetitive tasks.

Instead of setting up each project from scratch, you can create Blueprints for various website types (e.g., blogs or online stores) — defining everything your site needs, from WordPress and PHP versions to themes, plugins, settings, and content.

The Studio Assistant and interactive builder help you generate these automatically — simply tell the AI-powered assistant the site configuration, and it will create the Blueprint.

To use a Blueprint in Studio, choose “Start from a Blueprint” and either pick one of the featured options or upload your own Blueprint file.

Studio currently offers three featured Blueprints (you can preview each in WordPress Playground):

• Quick Start: A WordPress.com-like setup with the plugins and themes included on new Business-plan sites.

• Development: A configuration for theme and plugin developers, with debug settings and tools like Query Monitor, Plugin Check, Theme Check, and Create Block Theme.

• Commerce: A WooCommerce-ready setup with companion plugins for building online stores.

You can also browse the WordPress Blueprints Gallery for community-created configurations.

Import a site from a backup file

Note: Sites on the WordPress.com Business and Commerce plans don’t need to be imported from a backup. Instead, they can use the Studio Sync feature. This is more powerful and efficient than importing from a backup file. 

You can also import a WordPress site into Studio from a backup file. This is useful if you have an existing site you’d like to work on locally.

Follow these steps to import from a backup file:

Install one of the supported backup plugins, such as the free All-in-One WP Migration and Backup plugin, on the site you’d like to import into Studio.

Then, create a backup of the site (WP Admin → All-in-One WP Migration → Backups → Create Backup).

From here, download the backup file and load it into WordPress Studio.

When you’re done working on the local version, use the plugin to create a new backup and import that backup into the live site.

Step: Configure your local site

Studio lets you configure each local site to match the hosted environment, making sure they’re compatible. 

The local site’s environment can be configured from the “Advanced settings” panel.

Whether you start with a blank site, a Blueprint, or a backup, Studio lets you adjust a range of optional settings for your local environment. For example, you can:

• Set a custom local path: Define where the site folder is stored on your computer.

• Change the WordPress version: Use the latest release, a specific version, or a Beta/Nightly build (useful for testing upcoming releases).

• Change the PHP version: Match your hosting environment or test different versions.

• Use a custom domain (must end with .local): Make accessing your local site in the browser easier.

• Use SSL to enable HTTPS: Enable HTTPS on your local site so it closely resembles a live environment. 

Tip: You can change these settings after you’ve created a site.

After configuring the environment, you can also set up the tools you want Studio to use while you work.

These settings can be accessed from Settings → Preferences.

Your preferred tools will be used when accessing the site from the “Open in…” section of the Overview tab.

Step 3: Develop and collaborate

Once your local site is configured, you can begin developing and testing changes. 

WordPress Studio applies updates instantly as you work, so you can move quickly and collaborate without delays.

Build locally

Your local site updates in real time — whether you’re editing files, adjusting settings in WP Admin, or adding plugins and themes.

When you do need to add plugins or themes, you can install them through WP Admin just as you would on a hosted site, or drop the files directly into the site’s folders.

If you use certain plugins or themes regularly, keeping them on your computer makes adding them to each new project even faster.

Tip: If you reuse the same plugins across projects, Blueprints (from Step 1) let you spin up sites preconfigured with your preferred plugins, themes, and settings. Studio’s AI Assistant can also help you make updates to your local sites.

Edit individual files

Beyond installing plugins and themes, you can also edit your site’s files directly. 

Studio gives you quick access to those files from the Overview tab.

The “Open in…” section gives you quick access to the site’s files and folders. 

This is useful if you want to edit a local site’s files, including plugin or theme files, in your preferred code editor. 

Each time you edit and save a file, your local site will immediately start using the updated version — there’s no need to wait for files to upload to a server.

Tip: Our blog post on Local WordPress Development Workflows Using WordPress Studio includes a helpful section on the ideal development workflow, whether you’re creating sites, plugins, or themes.

Share a preview of a local site

While working on a site, you can also use the preview feature to get client and collaborator feedback.

Previews are a useful addition to any workflow because they help you get more accurate feedback, faster. 

This way, your clients get to experience the site for themselves, instead of relying on inefficient screenshots or video walkthroughs. 

All you need to do is share the temporary URL with clients and team members, and they can inspect the site snapshot remotely. 

The preview feature is powered by WordPress.com and uses a temporary domain (wp.build).  

The main aspects of the preview sites feature include:

• One-time snapshot: Any changes you make to the site after creating the preview won’t be applied to the preview (unless you update it). This lets you continue to work on the local site without affecting the preview. 
• WP Admin access: Anyone with a WordPress user account on the site can log in to the preview to access WP Admin. 
• Free functionality: You don’t need hosting to create a preview site, just a free WordPress.com account. 
• Create multiple preview sites: You can have up to 10 preview sites at a time.
• Seven-day access: Preview sites are temporary and are deleted after seven days, but updating a site restarts the seven-day expiry period.

Step 4: Connect and sync with a remote site

After building locally, use Studio’s Sync feature to synchronize your local and hosted sites in either direction (push or pull). 

The user-friendly interface and ability to selectively sync reduce the risk of accidental overwrites that can happen when transferring files manually.

Tip: Sync is available on WordPress.com Business and Commerce plans. These plans have Jetpack enabled by default, so your hosted site can connect to Studio and use Sync without any extra setup.

You can synchronize between a local site and the hosted production and staging environments.

Synchronizing with the staging site is especially useful as it lets you test your work in a private hosted environment before moving it to the live production site.

As Studio supports selective sync, you can push or pull only the files, folders, or database tables you need.

Thanks to selective sync, it’s easy to push just a theme from your local site to your hosted WordPress.com site and vice versa, leaving the rest of the site intact. 

A backup is created when you initiate a sync, so you can restore your site if necessary. An email notification is also sent when the sync completes. 

Step 5: Test on staging and push changes

Now it’s time to test the site in a staging environment — a feature available to WordPress.com Business and Commerce plans. 

This gives you a safe place to identify issues before they go live. 

For the best results, follow one of these workflows after creating a WordPress.com staging site: 

• Go to your Sites list in the WordPress.com dashboard. 
• Select the site you want to create a staging site for.
• Open the Overview tab and click the “Add staging site +” link.

You can use the switcher to change between the production and staging environments.

See the WordPress.com documentation to find out how staging sites work. 

Now that your staging site is set up, here are two workflows that show how to use WordPress Studio when working on client sites:

Workflow for new sites

This workflow for building a new client site involves creating a local site, sharing a preview, pushing to the staging site, and then pushing to the production site. 

Follow these steps:

• Create a new local site in Studio.
• Use the Preview feature to share your work with the client.
• Once the client approves the work, push the local site to the staging environment. 
• After testing, push the staging site to the production environment to make it available online.

WordPress.com has a built-in Coming Soon mode with a preview feature that’s useful for controlling access to sites in development. 

Workflow for existing sites

This workflow lets you update an existing live site without overwriting important content or disrupting anything outside the changes you’ve made.

Selective Sync ensures you don’t overwrite important live content — such as form submissions, comments, orders, or anything added while you were working.

For this scenario:

• Use Studio’s Sync feature to pull the entire live site to a local site.
• Update the local site, such as editing the theme files. 
• Use the Preview feature to share those changes with the client.
• After client approval, selectively sync the theme files to push them from the local site to the staging site.
• Test the staging site. 
• If everything works as expected, push the relevant files and folders from the staging site to the production site without syncing the database.  

The live site now includes your theme changes, and any other updates made while you were working locally won’t be overwritten.

Step 6: Scale across multiple clients

Once your workflow is in place, WordPress Studio makes it easy to scale your process across multiple client projects. 

Instead of repeating setup work or jumping between disconnected tools, you can reuse configurations, switch between projects instantly, and keep each site organized and isolated.

Use Studio’s core actions to stay efficient as your client list grows:

• Create: Set up a separate local site for each client — start with a fresh installation, use a Blueprint, or import a backup.

• Switch: Move easily between projects by switching between local sites.

• Share: Use the Preview feature to share work with clients and collaborators.

• Sync: If you’re on WordPress.com Business or Commerce plans, use Sync to transfer work between local, staging, and production environments.

Streamline client projects with WordPress Studio

WordPress Studio is a fast, open-source, and free way to build and manage local WordPress sites. 

It helps you save time, share work with clients more effectively, and reduce errors when transferring files. 

Blueprints let you spin up consistent, pre-configured sites in seconds, reducing setup time and repetitive work — so you can receive and apply client feedback with ease.

If you’re using WordPress.com’s Business or Commerce plans, Sync adds an extra layer by letting you move work between local, staging, and production safely and with confidence.

The bottom line: No matter where the final site is hosted, Studio helps you manage multiple client projects with less overhead and more control.

Our new course — Grow Your Website’s Audience — is here to guide you through the strategies and tools that help you attract visitors, build trust, and turn casual readers into loyal followers. 

It’s fully self-paced, so you can jump into any lesson at any time and spend more time on the topics that matter most to you.

What you’ll learn

Across seven practical lessons, you’ll learn how to:

• Create content that builds trust and engagement — craft posts that show expertise, clarity, and personality.
• Get found in search results — master SEO basics and make your content discoverable by both search engines and AI tools.
• Leverage social media — connect your site to platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn with Jetpack Social, and make it easy for readers to share your work.
• Build an email audience — set up a newsletter and keep your readers coming back with every new post.
• Advertise your content — use Blaze to promote posts directly from your dashboard and reach new audiences across WordPress.com and Tumblr.
• Use your stats for smarter decisions — track what’s working, identify your most popular content, and refine your strategy.
• Plan for long-term success — set realistic goals, stay consistent, and keep evolving with your audience.

Why you should take this course

Your website won’t grow on its own — you need a clear strategy for attracting the right people and keeping them engaged, and this course gives you that foundation.

It gives you a simple framework to move forward, with practical steps, real examples, and tools you can start using right away.

More video resources to explore

If you’re new to WordPress.com or ready to keep leveling up, check out our other popular courses and video tutorials:

• Intro to SEO course
• Create a Website course
• Start a Blog course
• Create and edit menus in WordPress
• Learn the WordPress Editor
• Speed Up Your Design with WordPress Patterns
• Master WordPress Images, Galleries, Slideshows & More
• How to Accept Payments on WordPress.com (No Store Needed)

It can drive traffic to your website, boost your career or business, help you learn valuable skills, or simply give you a creative outlet.

Even after 10 years of blogging for myself and others, I still find it enjoyable, meaningful, and one of the most effective ways to earn web traffic.

So come along and see why you should start a blog in 2026.

1. Be visible in search engines

Search is changing in 2025 — but blogs are still one of the best ways to ensure people find you online.

Traditional search engines like Google still send huge amounts of traffic to the posts and pages that rank — and the same content often gets cited or summarized by AI tools like ChatGPT.

Here’s a quick snapshot:

• In 2024, Google alone received more than five trillion searches (around 14 billion per day).
• Website visitors from AI search are projected to surpass traditional search visitors in 2028, while being worth 4.4x the value of traditional organic search traffic because visitors come more informed.

Consequently, it’s not surprising that 81% of marketers continue to see results from their blog posts, 21% even report strong results. 

Blogging is an essential tool to showcase your expertise, which is key for both Google and AI search tools. 

So, if your goal is to attract website visitors from those sources, starting a blog is definitely a step in the right direction.

2. Attract long-term, sustainable traffic 

Unlike the short-lived bursts of social media content, blog posts continue to create value and bring in visitors long after they’ve been published. 

Blogging efforts compound over time.

On most social networks, your visibility often declines quickly when you stop posting.

However, the content you publish on your blog is a long-term investment that keeps paying off.

For example, below is a screenshot from an article on my own website:

Published at the end of May 2025, you can clearly see that its rank, impressions, and clicks have slowly improved over the months. Six months later, it has become one of my top five pages for organic traffic.

This goes hand in hand with insights from Databox, where nearly half of the people surveyed stated that older blog posts bring in 61-80% of their organic traffic.

This research also highlights the value of consistency and patience: 32% of survey respondents said it took them four to six months to reach 1,000 monthly visitors. 

Blogging is effective because once you’ve reached a certain level, you can expect your efforts to keep paying dividends.

3. Build a brand and attract clients

A blog helps you sharpen your online profile and build a reputation, both for a personal website and/or for your business. 

It’s the perfect vehicle to demonstrate your expertise, skills, values, personality, and what you want people to associate with you.

According to HubSpot’s 2025 State of Blogging Report:

• 66% of businesses that blog do so to boost brand awareness
• 53% do it for customer engagement
• 49% do it for lead generation

Half of marketers said their ROI from blogging increased in 2024, and 45% were planning to expand their blogging budgets in 2025.

Blogging isn’t just for companies, though. 

Even a personal blog can create real-world opportunities. Think paid writing gigs, speaking engagements, consulting jobs, or media and brand partnerships. 

Some bloggers, like Chris Guillebeau and James Clear, even translate their blogging into book deals:

I’ve experienced this myself. 

In my 10+ years as a freelance writer, I rarely had to do active outreach. I got my start by writing a blog, then used that body of work to land my first client. 

For the past decade, I have continued to find work because of articles I had already published on my clients’ sites, as well as my own. 

Blogging has allowed me to demonstrate my expertise and build a reputation — and it can do the same for you.

4. Generate a stable income

Besides opening doors to paid opportunities, a blog itself can be a direct source of income. 

Blogging has low overhead, can be done from anywhere, and offers many paths for monetization.

Here are the most common ways bloggers earn money:

• Services: Write about the problems your target audience faces and let them hire you to help. For example, SEO agencies and consultants may publish SEO tutorials and upsell their services.

• Affiliate marketing: Recommend products or services using special links. When someone buys through your link, you earn a commission.

• Digital products: Create and sell your own ebooks, templates, courses, or downloads. You keep 100% of the profit.

• Advertisement: Reserve space on your site for ads, either through ad networks or direct deals, and earn money through clicks or impressions. For example, users on the WordPress.com Premium plan and above can join WordAds — the platform’s built-in ad network for monetizing site traffic.

You can see this in action in the food blog The Fig Jar.

In the last quarter of 2024, its owner earned nearly $7,000 in net profit from a mix of display ads, affiliate marketing, and digital products.

Another example is Meal Prep Manual, which, you guessed it, mainly publishes meal prep recipes.

It’s monetized through affiliate marketing and digital products. 

While the site doesn’t publish income reports, Semrush’s Traffic Analytics tool estimates it received over 120K total visitors in September 2025 alone:

That’s a solid traffic base for a blog that has been around since 2020, especially when paired with its YouTube channel.

Using these tactics, a blog can grow into an income stream — or even a full-time business — that gives you independence and the ability to be your own boss. For example, you could start a content writing or web design agency.

5. Own your presence and audience

Unlike a social media profile, your blog can’t be taken from you. It’s an online presence you actually own, which makes you far more resilient to changes.

Influencer culture has made it seem like being present online means massive followings on Instagram, TikTok, or other social networks. 

You should never lose sight of the fact that your profiles on these platforms are assets you don’t really own:

• When platforms change their algorithms, designs, or priorities, your reach can evaporate.
• Your account could be suspended for an accidental violation of the terms of service.
• Legislation or policy changes could shut the network down — or block access in your region.
• A company or person you don’t want to support might acquire your favorite platform.

In simple terms, when you don’t own the infrastructure, everything you’ve built can disappear overnight, including your audience, income, and archive of work. 

Just look at the responses in this Reddit thread about a potential ban of TikTok in the US:

Owning your blog gives you complete control over your content. That said, you can always combine multiple channels and grow your presence — just don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

With a WordPress-based site, you own both your content, data, and design. You can export it, download it, and take it with you wherever you want. Including your audience, especially if you build an email list alongside your blog.

6. Build a content foundation for repurposing

A blog not only gives you a hub for all your content efforts — every post you publish is raw material for dozens of other content pieces. 

Blogging allows you to do the hard work once and then repurpose it for the rest of your marketing channels.

This is why so many creators, marketers, and businesses build their content strategy around long-form blog posts. One article can become:

• One or more YouTube or TikTok videos
• A series of Bluesky or Threads posts
• An email series for your newsletter
• The basis for an infographic
• Podcast material

For example, I turned a book summary I wrote for my own blog into a LinkedIn carousel:

Sure, repurposing takes time — but a large share of the work is already done. 

Why waste it? Each new article you publish can fuel your social feeds, nurture your email list, and reinforce your expertise across platforms.

7. Learn, grow, and inspire others

Running a blog is a powerful tool for learning — and teaching. It forces you to truly understand the topics you cover and also lets you contribute to the success of others in a meaningful way.

If there’s something you are deeply interested in or passionate about, starting a blog about it is a great way to expand your knowledge and competence in that area. 

It takes a lot of research to understand something to the point where you can explain it to other people.

For example, much of what I know about SEO, CSS, or how to customize WordPress through code comes from writing blog posts about these topics.

In addition, sharing what you learn is very satisfying. It allows you to help other people. In fact, many bloggers start out because they want to make a difference and contribute to society.

8. Build a valuable skill set

Besides expanding your knowledge, running a blog teaches you a wide range of valuable skills, both technical, creative, organizational, and interpersonal. 

Many of these make you a stronger employee, collaborator, freelancer, or creator.

Naturally, one of the main skills you’ll sharpen is your writing ability. 

In addition, here is a sampling of the design and marketing skills you’ll use regularly when producing blog content:

• Coming up with blog topics and ideas
• Keyword research
• Outlining and structuring content
• Research skills
• Editing and revising
• Content management
• Content formatting and readability
• Using header tags correctly
• Retouching images with tools like Photoshop
• Creating visuals (e.g., with Canva)
• On-page SEO
• Image optimization

Besides that, you also learn a surprising number of soft skills: self-motivation, goal setting, discipline, time management, and putting yourself in your readers’ shoes. 

Running a blog is an education in its own right.

9. Enjoy yourself

You don’t have to blog with a financial goal in mind or to achieve a strategic outcome. 

Blogging can also be a deeply personal activity you simply do because it’s fun, meaningful, or provides you with a creative outlet.

For example, you might start a blog to:

• Share your ideas
• Document a journey (emotional or physical)
• Chronicle your everyday life
• Build a creative habit
• Claim your own little corner of the web
• Clarify your thinking
• Explore hobbies
• Confront fears or shyness
• Share your passions
• Grow as a person
• Champion a cause you care about

These are just a few examples. When you look online, you will find that people have many reasons to start a blog. 

For example, this blogger turned to writing and sharing recipes online after losing her restaurant during COVID, using a blog to keep her passion alive and reach people worldwide:

How to easily start a blog with WordPress.com

Does the list above have you feeling motivated and wanting to start a blog right away? 

Good news: You can have one up and running in less than 15 minutes. 

Just click on Get started in the top right corner of this blog or the WordPress.com homepage.

Every WordPress.com hosting plan comes with automated backups, updates, performance optimization, and security features. 

That way, you can fully concentrate on creating content, learning, and connecting with your audience.

Once signed up, pick a blog theme in your admin panel under Appearance → Themes to choose what your blog will look like.

Customize your design using the Site Editor — from colors and fonts to individual page elements. Access it under Appearance → Editor.

You can also create new pages, add them to a menu, and define your blog page if you don’t want your posts to appear on your front page.

That’s basically it. All that’s left is to start creating blog posts and putting them online.

If you want more details and step-by-step instructions, check our detailed article on how to start a blog. We also have instructions for how to properly write a blog post and how to increase blog traffic.

Your blog starts here

So, why should you start a blog, even in 2026? 

The better question is: Why not? 

Everything that made blogging successful is still relevant today, even if the online environment is changing.

Running a blog allows you to attract long-term traffic, make a name for yourself or your business, and monetize your audience.

It’s also a way to build knowledge, learn valuable skills, or simply do something enjoyable.

If you want a partner that makes it easy to start a blog at any skill level and without a technical background, sign up for WordPress.com.

Whether you run an online store or a blog, plugins can transform your site into a festive experience that delights visitors and boosts engagement.

From falling snowflakes to advent calendar giveaways, we’ve rounded up 10 holiday plugins that add seasonal charm and set you up for holiday success. 

1. Christmas Panda

Christmas Panda lets you add festive Christmas decorations to your site with just a few clicks. 

In the Christmas Panda tab in your WordPress admin panel, you can select from a variety of decorations.

The plugin offers a merry mix of header and footer banner designs, bold snowflakes that drift down your pages, and holiday pop-ups. 

You have the option to add just one Christmas design element, or you can add all three for a maximalist Christmas extravaganza.  

Our favorite features 

• Intuitive admin panel: Christmas Panda’s admin tab is extremely intuitive, with just a few buttons to configure. Even beginning website owners can set up decorations within minutes.

• Lots of banner options: Whether you want garlands, bows, or plain pine needles, Christmas Panda’s banners will suit many different site designs. 

• Snowflakes: If your site has a background color, the snowflakes feature adds a bit of cheer without overwhelming your content. 

How to use Christmas Panda on your site

• Add a Christmas mood to your site: Create a small seasonal moment that turns static layouts into something visitors instantly recognize as festive and intentional.

Tip: If you’re a WordPress.com user, you can add falling snow without installing a plugin — check out this quick guide on how to do it.

2. Super Advent Calendar

The Super Advent Calendar plugin adds a customizable block featuring flippable cards for each day leading up to Christmas. 

You can add as many days as you’d like to your advent calendar — e.g., the traditional 24 days of flippable cards or a custom number.

You can also customize both the front and back text, as well as the colors, creating a calendar that matches your site’s styling. 

Our favorite features

• Calendar Customization: We like that this holiday plugin lets you customize each Advent card individually. Because you control the text on both card sides and can add as many days to the calendar as you’d like, you can create a truly unique experience.

• Opportunities for daily engagement: You can set each Advent block’s start and end dates to offer site users daily perks. The 24-hour window for each gift can incentivize shoppers to complete their orders and encourage them to return for more.  

How to use the Super Advent Calendar on your site

• Create an Advent Calendar of deals: If you run a WooCommerce or other digital store, you can create a “12 (or 24) Days of Deals” page with your calendar. This seasonal addition gamifies the shopping experience and rewards daily visitors. 

• Share other fun content behind each card: If you don’t sell anything on your site, you can still get creative with the advent calendar. Consider sharing subscriber-only content, fun facts relevant to your blog topic, and more.

3. Woo Store Vacation

Woo Store Vacation is a plugin that automatically pauses your WooCommerce store for a set vacation period, because website owners deserve a break over the holiday, too! 

It’s meant to support a variety of business needs. You can close your store completely (don’t worry, this won’t affect your SEO thanks to the plugin’s settings) or simply alert customers that there will be a processing delay before their order is fulfilled. 

Our favorite features

• Site banner: You can customize the text and color of your vacation announcement. This banner shows up at the top of all of your store pages. 

• Customize what products are disabled: You can also decide which products and shipping options are disabled during your vacation. Find this option in the “Conditions page,” which shows up once you’ve disabled purchases. 

How to use Woo Store Vacation on your site

• Add a banner with vacation dates in advance: Transparent communication with customers is vital. If you fulfill orders manually or need to do backend admin for fulfillment partners, communicating your vacation dates sets clear expectations and keeps customers happy.

• Only disable products you fulfill manually: If external providers fulfill some of your orders automatically or you offer digital products and gift cards, you can continue earning income on these items while you’re away.

4. Weather Effect

The Weather Effect plugin is another way to add a holiday twist to your site with falling holiday emojis. 

Choose from several sets of icons, including a Christmas set — snowmen, ornaments, candy canes, and more — or customizable snowflakes. 

Our favorite features

• Multiple holidays included: There are various occasion sets available, giving you multiple opportunities throughout the year to add a little movement to your site.

• Works well on white backgrounds: Because most of the icons are colorful, you can use this plugin even if your site has a white background (though the round snowflakes are only available in white). 

• Adjust speed and density: You can also adjust how fast your holiday icons fall and their density for greater customization.

How to use it on your site

• Add Christmas or winter decor: Dust your site with snowflakes or snowmen for a touch of winter charm. 

• Keep it clean: Keep the density and speed low to minimize clutter.

• Add effects for upcoming holidays: Then, change up the icons to celebrate New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, or to mark the start of Spring. 

5. Santa’s Christmas Countdown

Santa’s Christmas Countdown is a simple plugin that lets you display the number of days until Christmas on any page of your site. 

On Christmas Day, the Santa icon wishes visitors a Merry Christmas.

Use a shortcode block with the code [countdown] to add Santa and the number of days until Christmas to any page.

You can also format the element to the center, left, or right by expanding the shortcode to [countdown-center], etc.

Our favorite features

• Simple and lightweight: This plugin has just one preset icon (Santa) and his countdown. This simplicity means it’s easy to set up and lightweight to run. 

How to use Christmas Countdown on your site

• Add a countdown across your site: Use the countdown as a header or sidebar widget to keep visitors excited about the upcoming holiday. 

• Use the countdown year-round on relevant pages: If you have Christmas-themed content pages — like a Christmas recipe collection or Christmas DIY — leave the widget up year-round. 

6. WooCommerce Gift Wrapper

WooCommerce Gift Wrapper lets WooCommerce stores offer holiday wrapping services as an add-on purchase. 

This is a great upsell opportunity for e-commerce stores, which adds convenience for shoppers who may prefer to ship gifts directly to friends and families. 

You can also add a gift note to complete the Christmas package.

Our favorite features

• Flexible add-ons: While the plugin is called “Gift Wrapper,” it doesn’t limit you to offering just gift wrap. You can also use it to sell other holiday add-ons such as greeting cards, gift messages, and more.

• Seamless setup: The plugin integrates seamlessly into your WooCommerce checkout flow, making the upsell more helpful than pushy.

How to use WooCommerce Gift Wrapper on your site

• Offer seasonal gift wrapping services: Offer gift wrapping at checkout to increase your average order value during the holiday shopping season. You can set a flat fee for wrapping or create tiered pricing for different wrapping styles, like basic, premium, and luxury.

• Plan your wrapping services accordingly: You can also choose whether you want to charge for wrapping the whole order or per item.

7. Snow Fall

If you’re looking for a subtle holiday addition, the Snow Fall plugin adds just a glimmer of snow to your web pages.

Simply activate the plugin, and a light dusting of shimmering white flakes will appear across your site — no configuration required.

Our favorite features

• A lightweight plugin: Snow Fall is just a few lines of code, so you’ll get snowflakes without any freeze on your load time.

• One-click activation: Once you activate the Snow Fall plugin, you’re all set! No additional configuration is required.  

How to use Snow Fall on your site

Because the snowflakes are white and it’s not possible to adjust the color, this plugin will only work on sites with a colored background. 

If that applies to your site, activate Snow Fall and enjoy a little holiday spirit on every page. 

8. Poptin Popups

Poptin Popups offers customizable, gamified popups and forms that can be triggered on a variety of customer clicks or views. 

Use these pop-ups to encourage users to sign up for your mailing list or to complete checkout from your store. 

While Poptin Popups is a powerful integrated marketing tool that can be used year-round, a holiday-themed campaign is a great place to start. 

Our favorite features

• Powerful feature set: Poptin is extremely powerful and flexible, which makes it a great tool for marketing teams who want tons of control. 

• Pre-made templates and campaign ideas: Poptin offers a ton of pre-made templates and resources, including a list of Christmas pop-up ideas.

• Intuitive dashboard: Poptin’s simple dashboard, template collection, and built-in WordPress integration make it easy for first-time users to experiment with smaller campaigns. 

How to use Poptin Popups on your site

• Design a holiday-themed campaign: The sky is the limit when it comes to building a holiday pop-up campaign. For example, create a pop-up offering 15% off for visitors who sign up before Christmas Eve, or use a countdown timer pop-up to remind shoppers of your shipping cut-off for holiday orders. 

• Continue using pop-ups for future events: After the holidays, consider other themed campaign opportunities.

9. RS Christmas Trees

Like Christmas Panda, the RS Christmas Trees plugin offers holiday-themed banners and snowflakes.

If your Christmas style is truly maximalist, this holiday WordPress plugin might be perfect for you. 

It’s the most robust decor plugin on this list, offering a trove of banners, countdowns, snowflakes, and more — including holiday music.

Our favorite features

• Automatic scheduling: If you upgrade to Ultimate, you can decide how many days you want to activate your Christmas features. Once it’s set up, you’ll get automatic Christmas cheer without any admin.

• Snowflakes that work on white backgrounds: We like that their snowflake colors can be customized, so even sites with white backgrounds can get in on the holiday fun.

How to use RS Christmas Trees on your site

• Create a cohesive design: Add header and footer banners to your site in coordinating styles and match your snowflake color to your brand palette for a polished look.

• Test your banners: If you’re using sticky footer banners, be sure to test them on multiple pages to ensure they don’t block critical text.

10. The Events Calendar

The Events Calendar plugin lets you publish events and offer tickets directly on your site.

It includes features like custom ticket types, venue details with maps, multiple organizers, and event search — all available in the free version.

Our favorite features

• Easy setup: The Events Calendar walks you through setup in five simple steps, including adding a venue, an organizer, and ticketing. You still need to navigate the WordPress admin, but the onboarding makes each required field clear.

• Ticketing: You can create free tickets or enable paid ticketing with the free Tickets Commerce. Ticketed events can be a great source of income, and using an integrated app like The Events Calendar helps you keep all your data in one place. 

How to use Random Christmas Facts on your site

• Add upcoming holiday events: Whether you host in-person or virtual events for the holidays, you can add them directly to your website with the Events Calendar. 

• Create a discount or deal calendar: If you prefer a true calendar-style layout instead of the simpler Advent-style list, you can use The Events Calendar to showcase holiday discounts or daily deals. It takes a bit of creativity, but one approach is to create a “deal event” for each day, limit RSVPs to that date, and then send everyone who RSVP’d a special discount code.

Light up your site for the holidays

Preparing your site for the holidays doesn’t need to be as complicated as untangling your Christmas lights. 

You can add plugins to any WordPress.com site on a plugin-enabled plan, so choose just one or multiple ideas from this guide to experiment with this December.

Don’t forget to check your site analytics afterward: Did your calendar giveaway increase repeat visitors? Did the sprinkle of snowfall increase your average user session? If you’re a WordPress.com user, you can explore these stats right in your admin panel using Jetpack stats.

Consider these plugins your gift to your visitors — a festive site means happier users, better engagement, and a merrier holiday season.

I’m an experienced website designer, but I’m not a software developer. 

Vibe coding has been a fun, seemingly magical way to turn ideas into working mini-apps, but that “magic” comes with limits. The tools I’ve created work well for my internal team, yet I don’t understand the backend deeply enough to share them publicly or monetize them safely.

After building dozens of prototypes, I’ve learned that AI prototyping tools are great for fast experimentation — but some fall short in powering the backend of long-term business websites.

In this article, I’ll break down what AI site generators can do, where their limitations show up, and why WordPress.com’s AI website builder takes a very different approach.

What are AI website builders?

The term “AI site builder” refers to the use of AI tools and plain-language prompts to generate a website.

There are two major categories of these tools:

• Lightweight AI builders: Similar to Lovable and Framer, which are also referred to as AI prototyping tools. They’re great for simple landing pages or MVPs, but their limitations show quickly when you need security, SEO, integrations, or room to grow. This is what people refer to when talking about “vibe coding.”
• Full-featured AI builders: Similar to WordPress.com’s AI website builder. They package prompt-based website generation backed by the stability and proven track record of managed platforms like WordPress.

The reality is: If you want something more than an MVP or single landing page, vibe coding alone isn’t enough. 

You need a platform that can support performance, reliability, security, and growth.

The limitations of AI prototyping tools

AI prototyping tools are great for quick ideas — but not for lasting websites.

They deliver instant results: Describe what you want, and a site appears.

That speed makes them perfect for brainstorming, testing concepts, or validating ideas without friction.

Unfortunately, that’s also their limitation.

These tools hide much of the complexity behind building a dependable site for your business, making it hard to spot problems until something breaks. 

When you add new features or generate a site, you often end up troubleshooting issues you didn’t even know existed.

For example:

• You can’t see or control the underlying systems.
• Integrations break without clear reasons.
• Downtime is difficult to diagnose.
• Security isn’t guaranteed or built in.

Your website represents your brand — and you shouldn’t rely on something you can’t fully understand or maintain.

What makes WordPress.com’s AI website builder different

WordPress.com’s AI website builder gives you the “type a prompt, get a site” experience on a platform that actually scales.

What makes it special?

Your site is built on WordPress — the CMS powering 43% of the web — and hosted on WordPress.com’s fully managed infrastructure.

In other words, you get fast generation plus the customization, plugins, performance, and security needed to actually run and grow a real website.

Security

Many AI-generated sites are rife with security issues precisely because they simplify everything so heavily.

You can accidentally expose API keys, break authentication, mishandle user data, or leave vulnerabilities without knowing.

For any site hosted on WordPress.com, security and infrastructure are managed by a 20-plus-year ecosystem and a dedicated team that continually hardens code, patches vulnerabilities, and maintains platform standards.

With vetted plugins, managed WordPress hosting, and standardized best practices, most of the security risk is taken off your plate.

Performance

SEO isn’t something you can just bolt on later. Many vibe coding tool brands are realizing they need to offer SEO features, but WordPress has been building toward this for decades.

WordPress has long been considered an SEO-friendly platform because of its clean baseline code, fast rendering, and structured content. 

WordPress.com also includes managed hosting and performance-focused infrastructure across its paid plans: high-frequency CPUs, a global CDN/edge cache, unmetered traffic, and automated burst-scaling.

In other words, you’re not just getting features — you’re getting faster, more resilient hosting by default.

Extensibility

Speaking from experience, vibe coding and using external APIs or third-party services is harder than it looks, even for semi-technical users. 

Access to WordPress.com’s plugins means your site can grow with you instead of boxing you in.

You don’t have to build everything manually or worry that your integrations will silently fail.

Hosting

When using vibe coding tools, the web hosting layer is often hidden from you, so you have little visibility or control.

With these tools, if your site goes down or integrations fail, you’re the one responsible for troubleshooting, often without the tools or access needed to fix the issue.

Moreover, if you don’t know what you’re dealing with, it’s also likely that you don’t know how to get assistance at a reasonable price — costs spiral quickly.

With WordPress.com, hosting is managed for you in a way that’s optimized, secure, and monitored. If something goes wrong, you’re not left guessing — you have the peace of mind that comes with access to 24/7 support from the human Happiness Engineers.

Design

Vibe-coding tools feel instantly creative, but that freedom usually comes without structure — and if you’re not a designer, it can get overwhelming fast.

WordPress.com’s AI website builder is different. 

It lets you create websites using AI prompts, but with a real block-based WordPress foundation behind it. 

You can edit every section cleanly with blocks (alongside the AI chat), keep your layout consistent, and avoid the chaos of loose, AI-generated code.

Costs

No AI site builder stays completely “free” once you move past the free trial.

If you want to publish, update your site regularly, or add essential features, you’ll need a paid plan with any platform.

However, vibe coding (especially for a non-technical user) can obscure hidden costs like dealing with:

• Downtime
• Broken integrations
• Manual debugging
• Data exposure

A managed platform like WordPress.com reduces the likelihood of costly failures and handles maintenance for you. Once you’re happy with your AI site, you can simply pick a plan and publish it.

How to use WordPress.com’s AI builder

You start with a simple prompt: describe your idea, your tone, your brand, and your purpose.

As an homage to a blog I created after graduating college, which solidified my love for writing and SEO, I went with this prompt:

“Create a lifestyle blog called ‘ChiTown on a Dime’ for young professionals in Chicago living large on a budget. It will feature affordable restaurant reviews, budget-friendly events, insider local guides, and personal reflections on city life. Design pages for Home, Eats & Drinks, Things to Do, Living in Chicago, About, and Contact. Use a modern, minimalistic layout with vibrant photos and easy navigation. Tone should be energetic, stylish, and relatable.”

The result? 

A full block-based website that would’ve taken hours to create from scratch — not loose code you can’t maintain. 

The builder definitely understood the assignment, creating the following site with a photo of Chicago deep-dish pizza, front and center:

With the foundation in place, you can refine the site using conversational language with the AI copilot:

• “Adjust the layout.”
• “Change these colors.”
• “Rewrite this section.”
• “Suggest improvements.”

Here’s what it suggested when I prompted the assistant to show me new fonts for my site, and what it looked like to apply changes from chat:

Here’s the helpful advice it shared for making my new creation more SEO-friendly when I asked it for tips:

The AI builder gives you a full trial to create and refine your site without paying up front. 

When it’s time to launch publicly and rely on managed hosting, security, and performance, you can move to a paid plan.

Can your site grow with you?

These are the questions you should ask before choosing your ideal AI website building solution:

• Can this site evolve?
• Can it scale?
• Can it handle more pages, products, languages, or additional features?

WordPress.com’s AI website builder blends the speed of modern AI with the maturity of a platform that has supported millions of websites for 20 years. 

Your site can grow indefinitely with plugins, SEO tools, plugins like WooCommerce, and reliable hosting.

Try WordPress.com’s AI website builder for free, then publish it for the world to see with a paid plan.

And for the first time, a major WordPress release launched live during the keynote — WordPress 6.9 went out to the world as the audience watched.

If you missed the livestream, you can watch the full recording below:

Our favorite highlights from 2025

2025 was a milestone year for WordPress. The project shipped two major releases, welcomed record numbers of first-time contributors, and saw global adoption accelerate — especially in non-English markets. 

Here’s what stood out:

• WordPress continues to power the open web. About 43% of all websites run on WordPress, with roughly 60% CMS market share. Among the top 1,000 sites, adoption grew to 49.4% — up 2.3% from last year.

• A truly global community. For the first time, over 56% of WordPress sites are in languages other than English. Japanese became the second-most-used language, with Japan reaching 58.5% website share and 83% CMS share.

• A thriving ecosystem. Over 60,000 plugins are now available, with downloads on track to hit 2.1 billion by year’s end. Block theme adoption grew over 40%, passing 1,000 themes.

• Record contributor numbers. WordPress 6.8 had 921 contributors. WordPress 6.9 brought over 900, including 230 first-timers.

• WordPress 6.9 launched live on stage. By the end of the keynote, over 700,000 sites had already been updated. 

Tip: Learn more about the most exciting WordPress 6.9 features for website owners and developers.

AI takes center stage

This year’s AI panel featured James LePage (Automattic), Felix Arntz (Google), and Jeff Paul (10up).

And here’s one of the central themes from the keynote: AI is becoming foundational to WordPress.

Matt Mullenweg announced that a dedicated AI team was formed earlier this year. In just six months, they shipped all four planned “building blocks”:

• Abilities API: Exposes the capabilities of plugins, themes, and WordPress core to AI agents in a standardized, machine-readable format.

• WP AI Client: An abstraction layer for communicating with any generative AI model — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or others — so developers can write prompts without locking into one provider.

• MCP Adapter: Bridges the Abilities API with AI providers through the Model Context Protocol, letting AI assistants understand and act within WordPress.

• AI Experiments plugin: Now live on the WordPress plugin repository.

Besides, the keynote featured a demo of Telex, a tool that generates Gutenberg blocks from natural language. 

During the keynote, Mullenweg showed how Nick Hamze used it to build a Lego price calculator and Google Calendar integration — without writing any code.

All these building blocks set the stage for what the AI panel previewed for 7.0: a Workflows API for stringing abilities together, collaborative editing with AI assistance, and the WP AI Client moving into core. 

AI features aren’t visible in the interface yet, but WordPress is now intelligible to AI systems — and the groundwork is laid for what comes next.

Tip: WordPress.com users can also explore our AI website builder, which helps you create, design, customize, and launch your site much faster and more easily.

WordPress around the world

The keynote also highlighted the increasingly global nature of WordPress:

• 81 WordCamps — community-organized conferences for WordPress users and contributors — took place across 39 countries this year. Over 5,200 volunteers organized them, reaching more than 100,000 people in person. And there are still 16 more scheduled before year’s end.

• Learn.wordpress.org served over 1.5 million users, with average engagement time up 32% after WordCamp US 2025.

• Education programs are expanding, too. Campus Connect is bringing WordPress into universities — Stephanie Garita Johnson from Universidad Fidélitas in Costa Rica spoke about how students there now earn academic credit for contributing to open source.

• And in Nicaragua, Youth Day brought together 75 kids ages 8 to 20 to build their first WordPress sites — with teenagers teaching teenagers.

Ecosystem and infrastructure updates

WordPress is also getting faster to ship, easier to test, and safer to update. 

This year’s improvements focused on reducing friction for plugin developers and making it easier to spin up new sites and migrate existing ones:

• Plugin reviews now take under 7 days thanks to AI-assisted review processes. The team is also handling about 100 more submissions per week than last year.

• A new 24-hour safety window for auto-updates gives developers time to catch issues from early adopters before updates roll out widely.

• WordPress Playground hit 1.4 million users from 227 countries this year. It now includes a file browser, a visual gallery of blueprints, and a stable CLI.

Q&A session

The community Q&A touched on several topics:

On domains and owning your online presence

Mullenweg emphasized that a domain is “your real estate on the web” — the thing that truly belongs to you. He encouraged everyone to get their own domain, even buying one for kids at birth. Without one, “you’re kind of like a digital sharecropper.”

On the “agentic web” and AI

As AI tools start browsing and acting on websites, Mullenweg shared ideas about serving markdown versions of pages for easier AI consumption and embedding micropayments for content attribution.

On open social platforms

He pointed to Bluesky as a positive example — where you can use your own domain as your username — and noted that X has improved its handling of external links.

Explore WordPress 6.9 on WordPress.com

This year’s State of the Word made one thing clear: WordPress is evolving fast — with AI foundations in place, a growing global community, and tools that make building and collaborating easier than ever.

WordPress 6.9 is also live on WordPress.com. Explore the new features in our detailed posts:

• What’s new in WordPress 6.9 for bloggers, creators, and site owners
• What’s new in WordPress 6.9 for developers

And if you missed the livestream, the full recording is available above.

The updates to the Abilities API, Interactivity API, Block Bindings, DataViews, and DataForm make the platform more connected and easier to customize.

This release also puts developers in a better position to build interactive and intelligent features as WordPress moves into an AI-assisted future.

Read on to learn about key updates, see what’s possible, and get excited to start building with WordPress 6.9.

1. Register AI‑ready functions with the Abilities API and MCP

One of the most exciting additions to WordPress 6.9 is the new Abilities API. 

When paired with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the Abilities API opens the door to AI orchestration — intelligent agents that can understand, extend, and act inside WordPress itself.

Abilities API

The Abilities API makes it possible to expose the capabilities of plugins, themes, and WordPress core to AI agents and automation tools in a standardized, machine-readable format.

This lets AI systems such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other assistants understand precisely what a particular WordPress site can do.

For example, users could give an AI assistant a natural language request to complete a range of tasks, such as:

• Create a post: An AI assistant, together with external tools, could generate and schedule content, leveraging the site’s full capabilities. 
• Audit site content: Using a site’s SEO plugin and connected tools, an AI assistant would analyze content and suggest updates.
• Generate sales reports: Using the ecommerce solution, an AI assistant could review sales data and produce reports.

See the Abilities API in WordPress 6.9 post for more information. 

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The Abilities API works in conjunction with the Model Context Protocol (MCP). 

MCP is an open standard that lets AI assistants and apps, including WordPress, understand each other. 

It allows a WordPress site’s functionality, exposed by the Abilities API, to connect to AI assistants and other servers and tools in the MCP ecosystem.

Developers can install the MCP Adapter plugin to bridge their Abilities API registry with AI providers, paving the way for intelligent agents that can create posts, audit content, or generate reports from within WordPress.

Learn more about the MCP adapter for WordPress.

The AI building blocks vision

The Abilities API and the MCP Adapter are part of the AI Building Blocks initiative to allow users and developers to create powerful AI implementations within WordPress.

While AI features aren’t yet visible in the interface, the foundations being built mean WordPress is now intelligible to AI systems.

It’s still early days, but it’s the start of something meaningful. 

Looking ahead, this could enable AI agents to perform real actions within WordPress, such as generating content, automating workflows, and dynamically connecting to external data sources, all through standardized APIs.

Besides, using MCP future-proofs WordPress for an AI-driven world. It allows for quick adaptation to new AI systems and protocols without requiring a restructuring of core functionality. 

From that perspective, WordPress 6.9 doesn’t just set the stage for 7.0; it begins to redefine what the platform can become.

2. Build custom dashboards with DataViews and DataForm

WordPress 6.9 also strengthens the data‑management infrastructure in WordPress. 

While there are no visible changes for end users, the updates to DataViews, DataForm, and the Fields API give plugin developers more control and flexibility when building custom dashboards or admin interfaces.

DataViews: more robust data displays

The DataViews component has gained several powerful enhancements:

• Infinite scroll
• Locked filters
• Filtering with type-specific operators (e.g., less than, contains)
• Alignment and action column pinning for table layouts

These improvements make it easier for developers to create consistent, flexible interfaces that display data from any source. 

If you’re not yet familiar with DataViews, the component provides a powerful API for plugin developers to create interfaces that display items from a data source. 

For example, an e‑commerce plugin can use it to display orders inside WP Admin. You choose which fields appear, and whether to show them as a table, grid, or list. 

Users can then filter, search, paginate, and act on that data, and WordPress 6.9 adds finer control over those interactions through features like infinite scrolling and locked filters.

If you’re interested in getting started with the DataViews component, read this article on how to display and interact with data in plugins.

DataForm: flexible layouts and real‑time validation

In 6.9, updates to DataForm allow developers to choose from a number of new layout options. 

These new layouts, including a new modal panel and customizable card designs, give developers more control over how complex forms are structured and presented.

Here’s what’s new:

• New card and row layouts: display form fields in cards or side‑by‑side rows, rather than a single long list.
  
• Modal or dropdown panels: choose how secondary panels open—either as dropdowns or modal dialogs.
  
• Asynchronous validation: real‑time, rule‑based field validation means you can validate inputs both synchronously and asynchronously.

These updates give developers more control over how forms look and behave, making interfaces cleaner and more intuitive.

DataViewsPicker: easier item selection

A new DataViewsPicker component extends the DataViews API with selection management and action buttons.

It’s ideal for building media pickers or any interface where users need to choose multiple items from a dataset. 

End users can browse, filter, and select items in one place, improving usability.

Fields API enhancements

Finally, the Fields API has been expanded from three to 13 field types, adding support for arrays, booleans, colors, dates, email addresses, media, numbers, passwords, telephones, and URLs.

Validation is now rule‑based and supports both synchronous and asynchronous checks, making it easier to build and verify custom forms. 

Together, these enhancements mean developers can define richer forms with less boilerplate and ensure data quality more easily.

3. Inject dynamic data and interactions with Block Bindings and the Interactivity APIs

Updates to the Block Bindings API and the Interactivity API in WordPress 6.9 give developers more power and flexibility to build dynamic, interactive experiences. 

Block Bindings API improvements 

Another change is that WordPress developers can now control which block attributes are eligible for data binding.

The Block Bindings API introduces a new filter, which lets you specify the bindable attributes of any block:

block_bindings_supported_attributes_{$block_type}

Beyond that, the API has been expanded in three important ways:

• Custom binding sources in the editor: You can now register your own data sources by adding a getFieldsList() method to your source registration. This method returns an array of objects (each with a label, type, and args) to populate the binding dropdown.

• More blocks support binding: Binding can now be enabled for additional core blocks, including the Date block and the Image block caption, extending the range of dynamic data you can inject into content.

• Simpler UI for switching sources: The updated interface in the block editor makes it easy for users to switch between data sources and bind or unbind attributes with a single click.

Interactivity API updates

The Interactivity API has been significantly enhanced in WordPress 6.9, making interactive features faster and more reliable.

Updates include:

• Reusing shared stylesheets: 6.9 speeds up client-side navigation. Loaded stylesheets are reused where possible, with new stylesheets only loaded when needed. 
• Script modules for interactive blocks: JavaScript modules for interactive blocks are dynamically loaded, and dependencies are automatically managed, ensuring blocks stay fast and responsive. 
• Support for router regions: Interactive blocks can now include nested router regions and can dynamically render overlays anywhere on the page. This makes interactive features like modals, pop-ups, and dropdowns more flexible and reliable.
• Improved getServerState and getServerContext functions: These functions now reset properly between page transitions to ensure interactive blocks start with the correct data. 
• New TypeScript helpers: AsyncAction and TypeYield have been introduced to help developers address potential TypeScript issues when working with asynchronous actions.

Want to jump in and start experimenting with 6.9? Try binding a custom field to a caption of an Image block or using the Interactivity API to load comments or search results without reloading the entire page.

4. Style your themes faster with form controls and border-radius presets

Finally, WordPress 6.9 brings a set of practical updates for theme developers.

You get better form styling, button typography that now inherits correctly, and new options for setting border-radius size presets.

Together, these changes give you more flexibility when designing and refining themes.

Theme.json form styling

Theme.json now supports styling for form elements.

With the styles.elements property, you can target inputs and select fields to set colors, borders, and typography.

These styles apply across the entire site — including third-party plugins — giving theme developers much more control and consistency.

For more information on styling these form elements, read this blog post on how WordPress 6.9 gives forms a theme.json makeover. 

Border-radius size presets

Theme creators can now define border-radius presets using human-readable names like Small, Medium, and Large.

Users can then choose these presets from a dropdown in the Block Editor and apply them to supported blocks.

This replaces repeated manual input with simple, reusable options, making designs more consistent.

Explore a step-by-step guide to creating these presets in the WordPress Developer Blog post Border radius size presets in WordPress 6.9.

Button typography inheritance

Buttons can now inherit typography from their parent styles when defined in theme.json, making it easier to maintain a consistent look across a site.

When users adjust typography in Global Styles — such as font style, text transform, letter spacing, or font weight — the wp-element-button class now picks up those changes automatically.

The before-and-after image below demonstrates how the button text has inherited the typography styles:

Try out 6.9 and help shape the future of WordPress

WordPress 6.9 brings a range of useful updates for developers — from the Abilities and Interactivity APIs to improvements in DataViews and more.

Here’s a video recap of all key updates:

The best part: It’s easy to start experimenting with them.

The fastest way to start is with WordPress Playground, a browser-based sandbox with no setup required.

Alternatively, use WordPress Studio to quickly spin up new local sites that can sync with the developer-ready managed hosting from WordPress.com. Business and Commerce plans include staging sites, SFTP/SSH access, WP-CLI, and GitHub Deployments. 

Let us know how you get on and help shape the future of WordPress. 

This release speeds up everyday work, improves how teams collaborate, and adds new block options that give you more room to shape your site the way you want.

Here’s a look at the standout WordPress 6.9 features that have arrived since the last update in April 2025, and how they help you build more with WordPress.com.

Collaborate and stage content directly in your posts

Explore the latest Site Editor updates, which make it easier to do more directly inside WordPress without relying on extra tools or touching backend code.

Block-level Notes 

Block-level Notes make collaboration much easier by letting teams leave feedback directly on the block that needs attention.

You can add threaded, resolvable notes from the toolbar or sidebar, and authors automatically get email alerts when new comments come in.

This keeps all feedback — pre-launch edits, content fixes, design tweaks, and even post-publication updates like adding new links — in one place, without needing extra tools.

Hide and Show blocks

Hide and Show lets you switch blocks on and off without deleting them, making it easier to manage content you’ll need again.

Use the visibility toggle in a block’s toolbar to temporarily hide sections like seasonal promos or recurring announcements.

This gives you a simple, built-in way to stage updates without juggling duplicate blocks or storing drafts elsewhere, and your reusable content stays exactly where you left it for when you’re ready to bring it back.

Visual drag and drop

You can now see exactly where a block will land as you drag it.

The live preview makes it much easier to move things around without guessing or fixing mistakes afterward.

It currently works with single blocks, although multi-block dragging is expected in  WordPress 7.0.

Allowed blocks UI and other workflow tools

The allowed blocks UI, found under Advanced settings (with a keyboard shortcut to copy settings: Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Option + V), lets you specify which block types are allowed within a given container. 

Previously, this was only editable through block markup in code view. 

By bringing these controls into the interface, WordPress now makes it easier to build more complex layouts and features without touching code.

Enrich your content with creative blocks for improved storytelling

Take advantage of new ways to display information visually within WordPress without installing additional plugins or using custom code. 

Accordion block

The Accordion block lets you add collapsible sections with headings and panels, creating an interactive reading experience without requiring code or extra plugins.

It’s ideal for adding frequently asked questions (FAQs) or for expanding details and lists to add additional context within your content.

Term Query and companion blocks

The Term Query block simplifies building category and tag pages by offering a built-in way to display them, similar to the Query Loop block. 

It supports sorting options (e.g., “order-by” sorting), design tools for styling, and a toggle to turn each item into a link. 

When combined with the Term Description block, it offers a powerful setup for directory and magazine sites that use structured filtering or subpage navigation.

Supporting (companion) blocks include:

• Term Template block
• Term Name block
• Term Count block

Time‑to‑Read block

The Time-to-Read block sets expectations for readers by providing an estimated reading time (including a range) based on word count. 

Although incorporating this information doesn’t directly correlate to better SEO performance, it can have an impact on user engagement, which is tangentially related.

Math block

LaTeX is a markup language and high-quality typesetting system for technical and scientific documentation.

The new Math block implements LaTeX for better visualizing mathematical equations and notations, making it especially useful for technical and educational posts. 

Comment Count and Comment Link blocks

By separating the comment count from the comment link, the Comment Count and Comment Link blocks let you place comment access wherever it makes the most sense in a post.

It also lets you control which posts allow comments at all. 

This functionality was once exclusive to the Site Editor, but it’s now available throughout the entire editing experience.

Create and manage reusable layouts with safe drafts and flexible templates

WordPress 6.9 introduces several exciting features that make life easier for anyone building across multiple sites — cutting down on repeat work and helping you move faster without recreating the same layouts from scratch.

Starter pattern modal everywhere

All post types containing patterns (previously just pages) now display the pop-up modal for using starter patterns. 

This makes it easier for creators to drop in structured layouts across different content types, especially when working with varied or more complex designs.

Fit Text (stretchy text)

The new Fit Text option in Heading and Paragraph blocks automatically adjusts text to fill its container.

This gives you precise typographic control without writing custom CSS, making it easier to create eye-catching headers and hero sections that look polished across all screen sizes.

Gallery block aspect ratios and Cover block posters

The Gallery block’s new aspect ratio setting lets you apply a consistent ratio to all images with a single click from the sidebar. 

No more manual edits or custom CSS are necessary to get a clean, unified layout. 

Besides, you can add poster images to Cover blocks with video backgrounds, giving visitors on slower connections a still image to view while the video loads.

Find anything instantly with the Dashboard-wide Command Palette

You can now use the Command Palette across the entire WP Admin dashboard (not just the Site Editor), making navigation commands universally accessible. 

With a single keyboard shortcut, power users and admins can bypass repetitive menu clicking and streamline their workflows.

Press Ctrl/Cmd + K on any admin screen (Posts, Pages, Media, Settings, the Site Editor, and more) to open the search/command bar and quickly run actions or jump to content. 

Developers can also register custom commands through Extensible Commands, giving users even faster access to frequently used features.

Enjoy faster load times with no extra effort

WordPress is known for performance and is constantly raising the standard with new updates. 

The latest technical improvements in WordPress 6.9 work together to boost performance without any extra setup on your part. 

For example, these include:

• On‑demand block CSS: Loads styles only for the blocks actually used on a page, improving performance for classic themes that normally ship more CSS than needed.

• Optimized cron execution: Improves Core Web Vitals tangentially through better Time to First Byte, by scheduling tasks to run after the page loads.

• Template output buffer and hidden block styles: An updated system that template developers can use to optimize HTML outputs, which results in small improvements to page performance — loading block styles only when needed, moving them to the <head> section, and reducing CSS output. It’s enabled by default for classic WordPress themes and skips loading styles for hidden blocks.

Together, these changes help your pages load faster and feel smoother for visitors, all without any extra configuration.

Try WordPress 6.9’s new features today 

WordPress 6.9 is already live on WordPress.com, so you can try the new tools right away and see how they fit into your workflow.

These updates might improve your experience as a content creator, boost user engagement, and ultimately increase blog traffic. 

Test out Notes, the new storytelling blocks, and the template updates to get a feel for what’s possible.

If you create something you’re proud of, share it and tag us — we’d love to see it.

Want a faster, more reliable setup for everything in 6.9? Get started with WordPress.com.

Whether you’re designing layouts, writing copy, or refining appearances, AI handles it all through simple language prompts.

This guide shows you how to build a WordPress website using AI in 12 easy steps. 

Let’s assume we’re creating a site that reviews various snacks to help busy moms and health enthusiasts make purchasing decisions. You can adapt the following prompts to the site you’re building.

Step 1: Define your website’s purpose and content focus

First, list the key details about your site’s foundation. Clearly defining your brand and business details will help you draft specific prompts, which in turn sets up AI website builders for success. 

You don’t need to know everything right away, but try to define the basics:

• Your business or website name
• The kind of site you want to build (personal blog, portfolio, business site, etc.)
• The core focus of your site (sharing detailed articles, selling products, etc.)
• Your target audience 
• What success looks like for your site
• Brand tone (professional, funny, modern, friendly)
• Key pages and sections for your site (Home, About, Products, etc.)

If you’re unsure about your website’s details, you can also ask AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude for help.

For example, I used this ChatGPT prompt to brainstorm my site’s details:

“Act as a website strategist. I run Snack Reviews, which offers detailed reviews of nutrients, taste, ingredients, and more for popular snack options on the market for busy moms and health enthusiasts. Suggest the essential pages I should include, three content ideas for each, and a short list of brand adjectives that describe my ideal look and feel.”

As a result, I got several suggestions for key pages and content I could add to my site:

It’s tempting to miss this step and jump directly to creating a site, but clarifying your site’s focus and purpose will reduce the number of edits you need to make in the future.

Step 2: Explore your visual and brand style

Next, gather a few rough ideas for your website’s appearance. Think of the words that you’d use to describe your site’s visual feel — cozy, minimalistic, artistic, etc. 

For example, Olipop’s site instantly appears energetic and colorful.

The bright colors, fonts, and elements give the website a playful feel:

Bosch’s website, on the other hand, is minimalistic. 

The greys, clean lines, and visuals lend the site an informational and established feeling:

If you don’t know what direction you want to take your visual asthetic, use AI to brainstorm some ideas.

Here is the prompt I used with ChatGPT to find my site’s brand style:

“Suggest three color palettes and font pairings that fit a review website for snacks described as clean and minimalistic. Explain briefly what feeling each palette gives.”

I liked the second palette choice, which caters to both segments of my target audience (busy moms and fitness enthusiasts).

Step 3: Choose an AI site builder

Next, choose an AI website builder that helps you create, refine, and launch your site.

There are many AI website builders that can produce a quick layout from a prompt, but creating the initial site is only the first step.

You need a tool that lets you customize your design, edit content, add key features, and take your site live when you’re ready.

Here’s what to look for:

• Easy editing: You should be able to update pages, layouts, images, and copy using both AI and manual tools (like the Site Editor).

• Flexible design and content: Make sure you can customize fonts, colors, sections, and regenerate copy or visuals as your site evolves.

• Being able to go live: Your builder should make launching simple — letting you connect a domain, publish your site, and rely on built-in hosting so everything works without extra setup.

• SEO and performance basics: Choose a builder that takes care of the technical side for you — like automatic speed and mobile optimization, built-in SSL, a sitemap, and fast loading through caching/CDN. It should also help you improve your pages with simple SEO recommendations.

• Growth features: Make sure you can add newsletters, analytics, social integrations, or ecommerce (depending on your needs).

• Ownership and pricing: Choose an AI builder that lets you keep your content, scale affordably, and avoid platform lock-in.

For example, I’m using WordPress.com’s AI site builder. It can create a complete draft site from a single prompt — including webpages, copy, design, and navigation. You can then easily customize your site using AI or the Site Editor.

Step 4: Generate your first AI-built website draft

Next, create a detailed, specific prompt using the information that you’ve gathered in steps one and two. 

I used this prompt to create a website for my review site:

“Create a website called Snack Reviews that reviews popular snack options in the market for busy moms and health enthusiasts. The tone should be friendly and helpful. Include five pages: Home, Product Reviews, About, and Contact. Use a bright blue and crisp white color palette and Poppins & Inter fonts in the headings and copy, respectively.”

In a few minutes, the first draft of my website was ready.

The tool followed all the instructions given in the prompt — right from the name to the color palette to the font.

I will admit it has taken me some trial and error to learn how to prompt. 

The secret is to be as specific as possible — mention the pages you want on your site, who you are making the site for, and the tone you want your site to have. 

If something still doesn’t look the way you hoped, you can always prompt the AI again to work on it.

Step 5: Review and organize your pages and navigation

Next, make sure your website is smooth to navigate for your visitors. 

Once your site’s first draft comes to life, you can see how all the pages appear together — and decide whether to reorder them, add a new page, or delete any unnecessary pages.

For my site, I realized people often have questions about the authenticity of food reviews if they don’t know the methods used and aren’t aware of an affiliate partnership.

So I first made a dedicated new page to address the concern using this prompt:

“Add a new page titled “Learn how we pick and review snacks” that shows how Snack Reviews chooses and reviews all the snacks on the website. Include three sections inside this page — the first section is “Our reviewing process,” the second section is “How we choose snacks to review,” and the last section is “Do we earn a commission.” Add a call-to-action button at the end that says “See an example reviewing process in action.”

I picked one layout from three options.

I also added and edited some CTA buttons to ensure the navigation is just the way I want.

After adding a new page, I wanted to reorder how the pages appeared in the navigation bar.

You can prompt AI to do this, but I chose the manual route:

1. Click on the WordPress icon in the top left corner.

2. Go to Navigation.

3. Click on Header Navigation.

4. Drag-and-drop the pages in the order you want them.

Once your site has updated the pages and navigation according to your preference, start zooming in on the design.

Step 6: Customize your site’s design

Adjust the visual design aspects of your site to match your preferences. T

hese can be big changes — like changing your site’s layout — or small ones — such as making all the buttons on your site a particular shape.

Tip: Your site’s visual layout should be consistent across all pages. When your audience navigates between pages, they should feel oriented and familiar — as if they were under the same roof. This builds familiarity and trust.

In my case, I wanted to do three things:

• Use different fonts
• Rearrange the homepage
• Make all the buttons round

Here’s how I did it.

Change fonts

I wanted to check if there’s a different font pairing I could use. The current ones felt too sharp for my taste. I prompted the AI website builder this:

“Show me new font pairings that feel softer and more relaxed.”

The tool offered me several fonts for headers and body text that worked well together and matched the vibe I was going for.

I browsed all the options and went with the one that best aligned with the color palette and brand.

Change homepage layout

Next, I wanted to check if there’s a better way to arrange the homepage. 

The homepage is the most important part of the site because it’s the first thing someone sees when they land on your site.

I wanted the site’s homepage to be as striking as possible, but I couldn’t pinpoint which changes would improve it. So I used this prompt to get AI’s help:

“Suggest different layouts for the homepage.”

The various options helped me identify what I could add or remove from the homepage.

The previews are also helpful in gauging how the changes appear before committing to one option. 

I went with the first choice.

Change button shapes

Finally, I wanted to make all the buttons square. Here’s the prompt I used:

“Make all the buttons on the site square.”

Step 7: Refine your copy and on-page sections

The AI website builder will automatically generate the text for each section. Polish it for accuracy until it achieves your styleand goals. 

You can either edit the text directly by clicking on any block, or you can seek AI’s help. 

For example, I selected the text block on the homepage and asked AI to rewrite it in a friendlier tone using this prompt:

“Rewrite this paragraph in a friendlier tone.”

You can also ask the AI website builder to reword a section for brevity, expand descriptions, remove sections, add taglines, and more.

Tip: A good best practice here is to blend AI’s recommendations with manual adjustments. Doing so ensures your site copy doesn’t sound unnatural or dispaly any inaccurate information.

Step 8: Add images, logos, and visual sections

Next, complete the design of your website with additional elements, such as visuals and logos. 

For example, I wanted to update the hero image on the homepage. I prompted the AI website builder to help:

“Create a hero image for this page that shows a person in a laboratory conducting a lab test.”

You can also use similar prompts to rewire all visuals on your site to match a certain aesthetic — if that’s what you want. 

Image generation is honestly my favorite part of the AI website-building process. 

So many standalone image generation tools give you poor results (six fingers and a gazillion teeth smiles, anyone?), but WordPress.com’s AI website builder always aces the assignment.

It can also help you come up with a logo for your site. I used this prompt to create mine:

“Create a logo that says “Snack Reviews” inside of an icon of a chips packet.”

Step 9: Add engagement and monetization features

You can also add elements to your site that will encourage visitors to engage  — e.g., subscribe to a newsletter. 

For example, I used this prompt to add a newsletter form to my site:

“Add a newsletter signup form in the last section of the homepage with an ‘Email’ field along with a CTA button to ‘Subscribe.’ Name the new section ‘Stay in touch.’”

You can also use similar prompts to add monetization features, social media icons, donation buttons, or whatever else you might need for your website. 

AI produces editable blocks of your instructions, which you can configure to meet your requirements.

Step 10: Review SEO basics

Before you publish, check a few simple SEO essentials — titles, descriptions, headings, links, and image alt text. 

The good news is: WordPress.com already covers the technical side of SEO (speed, security, mobile optimization).

For on-page SEO, make sure you:

• Have a clear H1 (title tag) and clean heading structure
• Write readable, scannable content
• Add internal links to related pages
• Add descriptive image alt text
• Use a short, logical URL

You can use AI to make your search presence even stronger by asking it to provide SEO recommendations. For example, I used this prompt:

“Review this page for on-page SEO issues and suggest improvements — check my H1, headings, URLs, internal links, readability, and image alt text, then tell me what’s missing, what I should change, and give specific examples of better titles, descriptions, headings, and alt text.”

The tool then provided multiple suggestions related to keywords, headings, internal linking, and more:

Step 11: Ask AI for improvement ideas

Before launching your site, use the AI website builder to get smart suggestions to improve it. It can recommend:

• Creating new sections or pages
• Navigation simplifications
• Tone or clarity adjustments
• Content and site section ideas

For example, I asked the tool to provide some broad recommendations to improve my site using this prompt:

“Suggest improvements to make this site more engaging for visitors.”

It generated lots of ideas, like adding quizzes and images:

The best part: The AI website builder provides recommendations that are specifically tailored to your website.

Step 12: Launch your site

The final step is releasing your site into the world. 

Every new WordPress.com site starts in Coming Soon mode, so you can refine the design and content before going live. 

Once you’re ready to launch, just click on the Launch button in the top right corner.

After you click Launch, you can choose the pricing plan that fits your goals and set up everything you need to go live (e.g., a domain). 

Tip: If you already own a domain, you can also transfer it to WordPress.com.

Once you launch, your website is instantly live on a secure, fast WordPress.com server — no extra setup, plugins, or third-party services needed. SSL encryption, backups, and a global CDN are all included automatically.

You can continue using the AI website builder to customize your site even after launching it. Add new pages, update copy and images, and brainstorm new ideas to improve your site.

Create your new WordPress site with the AI website builder

Building a website used to take hours. With WordPress.com’s AI website builder, you can launch a polished site in minutes and keep improving it as you grow.

Once your site is live, you can continue using AI to refine pages, adjust your design, and publish new content quickly — without touching code.

Tip: Try the WordPress.com AI site builder for free. When you’re ready to launch, upgrade to a Premium or Business plan to take your site live.