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Good morning, good afternoon, good evening ………. I’m your host, John Overall— Welcome to Episode 23 of Plugin Pulse: Sexy Spam and the State of the WordPress. This week we dig into the real numbers behind plugin sales, skim the usual WordPress drama cycle, look at what’s actually landing in 7.2, and talk about the one dedicated WooCommerce conference that keeps coming back. Plus the tip of the day is a mildly addictive game about the realities of running a plugin business, and the pet peeve is a pitch so off-topic it almost feels on-brand for the episode title.
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The Weeks Discussions:
Plugin sales down Katie Keith from Barn 2 has given us some info https://x.com/KatieKeithBarn2/status/2109570970834894859
Katie Keith of Barn2 Plugins shared that new sales are down 48% over the past two years while renewals are up 32%, leaving total revenue only about 6% lower. The pattern is not unique to Barn2; Paid Memberships Pro and GravityKit reported nearly identical new-sales drops over the same period. Renewals are currently cushioning the impact and buying time, but they lag new sales by two to three years, so the longer-term trajectory depends on whether new customer acquisition recovers. After filtering out bots and AI crawlers, real traffic proved to be the core problem rather than on-site conversion, which actually improved.
The five reasons she identifies are:
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Search traffic has collapsed, especially how-to and commercial queries, as Google AI Overviews and zero-click results reduce visits even when rankings hold or recover.
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The overall market is smaller, with WordPress and WooCommerce facing slower growth and stronger competition from platforms such as Shopify.
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Many plugins are easy to vibe-code, so narrow utility features are increasingly replaced by custom snippets or AI-generated alternatives.
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Market leaders with popular free versions on WordPress.org get preferential treatment from both Google and AI recommendations.
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Some features have moved into core or the host platform, shrinking demand for dedicated plugins that once filled those gaps.
The forces compound, and Katie’s take is that recovery will come less from chasing lost organic search and more from community channels, partnerships, email, product scope expansion, free versions for credibility, and selective pivots beyond pure WordPress plugins.
Katie Keith (@KatieKeithBarn2) posted on 12 October 2026 (status 2109570970834894859) that Barn2’s new sales are down 48% over two years. She linked a detailed write-up on WP Product Talk: Five Reasons our Plugin Sales Fell, and What We Can Do About Each One (published the same day).
Core numbers (12 months to Sep 2024 vs. 12 months to Sep 2026)
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New sales revenue: down 48%
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Renewal revenue: up 32% (now ~74% of total)
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Total revenue: down only ~6%
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Company still profitable and over $100k/month; team reduced from 20 to 15; internal AI tools used to cut costs
Nearly identical drops reported by Paid Memberships Pro and GravityKit over the same period. Renewals are currently buffering the hit, but they lag new sales by 2–3 years, so a larger decline is expected unless new acquisition recovers.
Katie also noted (in a follow-up post) that after filtering bots/AI crawlers, real engaged sessions were far lower than raw GA4 suggested, and conversion rate actually improved (from ~1.2% to ~1.8%), pointing to traffic volume rather than site performance as the main issue.
The five reasons
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Search traffic has collapsedOrganic search visits down dramatically (86% fewer in the first seven months of 2026 vs. 2024 in her data). How-to, commercial, and long-tail queries hit hardest. Google AI Overviews, zero-click results, and preference for high-authority sites (Reddit, YouTube, WordPress.org, etc.) are major factors. Rankings can recover while clicks do not. AI referrals are small relative to lost Google traffic and often convert worse because they list multiple options (including free/native workarounds) without driving users through product pages, testimonials, or design that builds confidence.
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The market is smallerWordPress market share has declined (roughly 65% → ~59% range in recent years cited); WooCommerce faces stronger competition from Shopify on larger sites. Fewer new stores/sites mean a smaller pool of potential customers with the same number of plugins competing.
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Your plugin is easy to “vibe code”Small utility/feature plugins that solve a narrow problem are most exposed. People (or AIs) can generate a custom snippet or lightweight alternative faster than buying and installing a plugin. Smaller products have been hit harder than broader platform-style ones.
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Somebody else is the market leaderFirst-mover advantage has eroded. AI and Google increasingly favor plugins with popular free versions on WordPress.org (high install counts + reviews signal credibility). Premium-only or lower-authority options get downgraded in recommendations.
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Features moved into core (or the host platform)Classic platform risk. When WordPress, WooCommerce, or related tools absorb basic functionality, the need for a dedicated plugin shrinks. Not the biggest factor for Barn2 overall, but it affects certain product types and the bottom end of the market.
The five forces compound: lost discovery channels + smaller addressable market + AI substitution + leader bias + core absorption.
What she’s doing / suggesting
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Focus on recoverable channels: community (Reddit etc.), video/YouTube, guest content on sites that get cited, partnerships/integrations, and email (she has a large list).
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Product strategy: expand scope of vulnerable plugins, add free versions where feasible for credibility, or accept some lines will shrink and pivot resources.
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Business-level options: run leaner and more profitably at a smaller size, expand beyond pure WordPress (Shopify apps, Wix, SaaS/hosted offerings, acquisitions), and prioritize products with stronger moats (workflow integration, harder to replicate, less dependent on pure organic search).
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Broader call: the pattern is widespread among plugin companies; transparency helps the community diagnose and adapt.
WordPress Drama:
There is always some drama week after week but I thought this week I would simply skim by it the highlights “matt stuck his foot in his mouth a couple times, people are leaving WordPress and people are joining WordPress. People hate WordPress, people love WordPress. The cycles continue.
There is always some drama week after week, but this stretch was classic WordPress cycle stuff rather than a single explosive new fight. Matt stuck his foot in his mouth more than once. The clearest recent example landed mid-week when he ordered a revert of accessibility work on admin notices that had been in progress for years (Trac ticket #50486). He told long-time core committer Andrea Fercia he no longer held any WordPress.org positions or authority and should take his talents elsewhere. Fercia’s account was briefly locked (later reversed after an apology that the lock wasn’t intended). The work itself got reverted shortly after as premature given the complexity of notices. Separate from that, Automattic’s interim CFO Jeremy Klaperman resigned after less than a month (TechCrunch, 9 Oct), following the September board episode that put Matt on leave for roughly 33 hours before he returned. Disagreement over an employee-performance-review project was part of the reported friction. Automattic also applied for a closed .wordpress top-level domain (among others including .woo, .tumblr, and .matt) in the current ICANN round; the WordPress trademark remains with the Foundation, which drew public criticism about control versus ownership.
People continue leaving WordPress and people continue joining or staying. W3Techs data shows the overall share has slipped from the long ~43% plateau down into the low-40s by early-to-mid October 2026 (one snapshot put it near 40%). The exits look concentrated: smaller marketing/brochure sites and some pure-play ecommerce moving to builders or Shopify, while universities, charities, membership sites, and more complex publishing setups mostly stay. Cancellation notes in plugin businesses increasingly mention “no longer using WordPress,” and AI tools are cited as one reason new sites skip it. At the same time, the platform remains dominant by a wide margin, renewals are holding up for many product companies, and new contributions and sites still appear every day. The WP Engine lawsuit grinds on in the background (judge leaning against spoliation sanctions over messages; antitrust claims still alive). The cycles continue: people hate WordPress, people love WordPress, the drama flares, the work mostly continues, and the market slowly shifts underneath all of it.
WordPress News and Items:
wp checkout summit 2027 https://x.com/rmelogli/status/2110300545860694232
Checkout Summit 2027 is happening again, organized by Rodolfo Melogli of Business Bloomer as the independent, in-person conference specifically for WooCommerce makers. Dates are April 28 through May 1 at the Saracen Sands Hotel & Congress Centre in Palermo, Sicily. This year’s focus is practical marketing and sales strategies that actually work for WooCommerce products, plugins, services, and agencies, drawing on real case studies rather than theory. It stays small and focused (around 150 people, single track, roughly 12 talks plus workshops and networking), deliberately without livestreams or recordings so people can speak more openly. Early-bird tickets are currently on sale, and Rodolfo recently opened hotel booking directly in the attendee dashboard so ticket holders can pick rooms with photos and live availability (starting around €80 per night including breakfast).
The call for speakers is open, with an honorarium of up to €1,000 for selected talks. Rodolfo has already published a public wishlist of people he’d like to hear from on stage (folks who have grown real WooCommerce products or agencies) while inviting anyone else with proven experience to pitch. It’s not affiliated with Automattic or WooCommerce itself, though the platform was a major sponsor of the 2026 edition. For plugin and product people who want the room full of other people building and selling in the same space, it’s one of the few dedicated IRL options on the calendar.
wordpress has new secrets
WordPress 7.2 is targeted for December 8, 2026, and the Secrets API is the clear standout for plugin and product people. Proposed by Eric Mann and committed to trunk on October 13 (Trac #66187), it finally gives core a first-class way to store credentials instead of dumping API keys, SMTP passwords, and payment tokens into the options table in plaintext. Encryption is mandatory and always on (libsodium envelope encryption, no off switch), with functions like wp_set_secret(), wp_get_secret(), and a WP_Secret object that requires an explicit reveal() call. It supports key rotation via current/previous slots, works with multisite, and ships with WP-CLI first. The admin UI is deferred to 7.3. As the Reddit thread notes, this protects database dumps, backups, and SQL injection reads, but it does not stop code already running inside WordPress from calling the API. Plugin authors can start testing it on nightlies; the practical advice is still constant-first for the highest-value keys, then Secrets API, with the old plaintext option only as a fallback below 7.2.
Beyond the Secrets API, 7.2 has a heavier security tilt than recent releases. Work is underway on a “sudo mode” that would force re-authentication for high-impact admin actions even when you’re already logged in, plus Application Password hardening (email notifications on new passwords, safer default roles, SameSite support, and better non-HTTPS detection). On the editor side, Notes picks up suggestion mode (propose-and-accept style edits) and emoji reactions. The new default theme is Ipsum, an intentionally minimal block theme that ends the 16-year “Twenty-” naming tradition and is built as a blank canvas around blogging. There’s also expanded form and responsive styling in Global Styles, a stabilized Table of Contents block, a new Description List block, and various media and admin refinements. Beta 1 is scheduled for October 20
Tip of The Day:
Satirical game on the realities of running a plugin business [FREE]
Link straight to the Game https://pressword.games/games/install-clicker/
Warning it mildly addictive…
Pet Peeve This Week Or WP drama:
Email asking for interviews unrelated but sexy:
Hi John,
I’ve been listening to WordPress Plugins from A to Z, and I wanted to reach out because the way you explore honest, practical reviews instead of hype really stood out to me. The way you give honest, practical reviews instead of hype resonated with me.
That depth and honesty immediately made me think of Dr. Stephen Paul Edwards as a potential guest for your show.
Dr. Stephen Paul Edwards is the author of The Venus Fly Trap: Sex, Lies, and Repercussions, a brutally honest memoir about passion, obsession, and self-reinvention. What makes his voice unique is his background as a PhD in Spiritual Counseling and an international speaker—he approaches the conversations most people avoid with clarity, humor, and accountability rather than shock value.
Based on your style and the way you guide conversations, I can already see a few directions that would resonate strongly with your audience, such as:
* Why modern culture is entering a quiet but powerful sexual and emotional revolution
* How vulnerability, when used honestly, becomes a tool for dismantling shame
* Mental health and the “spectrum of insanity” we all live on, whether we admit it or not
I believe a conversation like this would genuinely serve your listeners, especially especially those who are already engaging deeply with the themes you bring to the show. You can find Dr. Stephen Paul Edwards’ Media Kit here (skip the link no promo)
If this feels aligned, I’d be happy to share a few topic angles tailored specifically to your audience and recent episodes. And of course, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions at all.
Warm regards,
Raycah
Podcast Manager
Upcoming Interviews and Available times:
Reminder that we have no more interviews coming up but you can check out the past ones here https://wppluginsatoz.com/book-an-interview-on-wp-plugins-a-to-z-podcast/
Upcoming Interviews: None
Available interview dates: None.
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