WordPress Community Thrives with Global Partner Support in 2026
The WordPress project has seen significant engagement from its five Global Partners—Jetpack, WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Bluehost, and Hostinger—during the first half of 2026. These partners actively supported various community events worldwide, including the inaugural WordPress Developers Day and a series of WordPress Campus Connect gatherings. Their involvement included staffing booths, sponsoring sessions, and fostering connections with developers, freelancers, students, and agency owners across multiple regions.
A Global Footprint
The year commenced with WordCamp Nepal in January, where Jetpack participated in the Kathmandu event. This momentum continued into India with two major events: WordCamp Kolhapur and WordCamp Pune. Both events attracted an audience primarily composed of students, totaling around 200-250 attendees. Notably, a session discussing the integration of AI workflows with WordPress garnered significant interest in Pune, as attendees expressed curiosity about upcoming features on WordPress.com and Automattic’s offerings for agencies.
In February, Jetpack made its way to Nigeria for WordCamp Port Harcourt. The well-organized event featured 256 attendees and focused on themes of inclusion and accessibility. Locally produced merchandise was particularly well-received, highlighting the global reach of the WordPress community beyond traditional strongholds in Europe and North America.
Across Europe
As spring arrived, a series of European events unfolded. At WordCamp Madrid, which attracted 280 participants, WordPress.com served as a Global Sponsor and organized a Wapuu treasure hunt that engaged 97 participants. Meanwhile, in France at WordCamp Nice, Jetpack connected with 247 freelancers and developers who sought straightforward solutions regarding newsletters and security features.
WordCamp Vienna stood out with its developer-centric audience of 277 attendees. The Jetpack team engaged actively at their booth over both days of the event, addressing numerous inquiries about WooCommerce security features while securing eight agency meetings. Interest in AI tools also emerged strongly at both WordCamp Torino in Italy and WordCamp Leipzig in Germany. At Leipzig alone, 109 agencies and freelancers attended discussions primarily focused on AI applications within the platform.
The European stretch concluded with events in Slovenia and Portugal. At WordCamp Slovenia in Ljubljana, WordPress.com maintained a booth presence while at Porto’s WordCamp Portugal, it partnered with WooCommerce to cater to an audience rich in e-commerce builders and payment providers. The first-ever WordPress Developers Day held in Novi Sad introduced a new format that facilitated nearly 30 detailed conversations about Jetpack’s capabilities alongside WooCommerce performance metrics.
Community Engagement in Uganda
May brought forth another notable gathering: WordCamp Kampala themed “Tech for Social Good.” This event featured all four Global Partners—Jetpack, WooCommerce, Bluehost, and WordPress.com—and welcomed over 200 attendees from a rapidly growing local community.
Support from Global Sponsors
A robust layer of support underpins these events that often goes unnoticed by attendees. In 2026, Bluehost and Hostinger joined Jetpack and WordPress.com as top-tier Global Sponsors within the community sponsorship program. Their contributions are crucial for funding the global WordCamp initiative as well as other community events throughout the year. This backing enables local organizers from Kathmandu to Porto to bring their visions to life effectively.
Campus Connect Reaches Over 6,200 Students
A standout initiative this year is not a traditional WordCamp but rather the WordPress Campus Connect program. By early June 2026, this initiative had successfully engaged over 6,200 students through 25 completed events this year alone—totaling 45 events since its inception—with an additional 42 planned or scheduled for later this year. Throughout these gatherings, WordPress.com has played a pivotal role by providing hosting services for Campus Connect events globally.
The connections formed during these events have proven impactful; for instance, an organizer who met at a previous event went on to lead Campus Connect efforts in Uganda. Similarly, students who built their first sites during Campus Connect workshops have since participated in larger gatherings like WordCamps.
Looking Ahead
The developments observed throughout 2026 indicate an increasing interest in both the WordPress platform and the services offered by its Global Partners worldwide. The questions posed at booths have become more insightful; audiences are diversifying; and the community’s outreach is genuinely global. The collaborative efforts of Jetpack, WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Bluehost, Hostinger—and all event organizers—have been instrumental in shaping this vibrant ecosystem.
For those interested in future engagements or learning more about how organizations can support the ongoing work of the WordPress project can visit resources like WordCamp Central or explore opportunities within the community sponsorship program.
What This Means
The active participation of Global Partners not only enriches individual events but also strengthens the overall fabric of the global WordPress community. As interest continues to grow among diverse audiences worldwide—from students to seasoned developers—the future looks promising for collaborative ventures that foster innovation within this open-source platform.
For more information, read the original report here.
