WPBeginner Spotlight<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0brings you a monthly roundup of the most important WordPress news, updates, and community happenings. \ud83d\udcc5\u2728<\/p>\n Got something to share? Whether it\u2019s a new product launch, a significant update, or an exciting event, reach out to us through our\u00a0contact form<\/a>, and your news could be featured in the next edition!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n WPForms<\/a> is officially celebrating their 10th anniversary<\/a>! <\/p>\n This is a monumental milestone for the most popular WordPress form builder, which is trusted by over 6 million websites.<\/p>\n WPForms was launched in 2016 to make it easier for users to add a contact form to their WordPress website. What started as a contact form plugin<\/a> has now become an AI-powered solution that works with all the popular tools a website owner may need.<\/p>\n Over the last decade, WPForms has consistently led the way in making form creation easy, accessible, and powerful for non-techy users and professionals alike. <\/p>\n Last year alone, they released major new features each month including addons for Quizzes, PDFs, Camera and Map fields, and integrations for Google Drive<\/a>, Google Calendar, Airtable, Make.com, n8n, and more.<\/p>\n To celebrate this occasion, WPForms is offering 60% discount (for a limited time).<\/p>\n To make this occasion even more special, the WPForms team has also released a highly requested feature: a Universal PayPal integration <\/a>available to all<\/em> users.<\/p>\n Whether you are using the premium version or the free WPForms Lite<\/a>, you can now seamlessly connect your forms to PayPal to accept payments, donations, and online orders. <\/p>\n This update completely democratizes online payments for the WordPress community. It means anyone can start monetizing their website without any complicated eCommerce addon. <\/p>\n The Duplicator<\/a> team has officially launched Activity Log<\/a>, a brand-new plugin designed to give site owners a complete audit trail of every action taken on their WordPress website. <\/p>\n This tool addresses a significant gap in default WordPress functionality by tracking who logged in, who changed settings, and exactly when specific content was modified.<\/p>\n Activity Log tracks over 60 different types of events across categories such as user sessions, content edits, plugin updates, and theme changes. <\/p>\n Each event is tagged with one of four severity levels\u2014Critical, High, Medium, or Low\u2014allowing administrators to instantly distinguish routine tasks from potential security threats like failed login attempts.<\/p>\n The plugin also provides a searchable timeline that can be filtered by date, user, event type, or IP address.<\/p>\n Beyond standard WordPress logging<\/a>, Activity Log monitors specific actions that other plugins often miss, such as featured image changes and custom field updates.<\/p>\n It also tracks critical background adjustments, including permalink structure shifts or admin email changes. This makes sure that significant configuration shifts never go unnoticed.<\/p>\n Users can also set up a flexible email notification system to receive real-time alerts for high-severity events. That way, they can respond to critical issues immediately without manually checking the dashboard.<\/p>\n For advanced users and developers, Activity Log includes full WP-CLI support for managing logs via the command line. <\/p>\n This allows for exporting data in CSV or JSON formats, as well as automating log management across a large portfolio of websites.<\/p>\n You can find out more about Activity Log here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The WordPress developer community has officially seen the launch of WP Packages<\/a>, which is a fully independent and open-source Composer repository.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udca1What is Composer? <\/strong><\/p>\n When developers build a WordPress site, they often use many different \u201cparts\u201d like plugins, themes, or specific sets of code (called libraries). Instead of the developer manually downloading each part, checking if it\u2019s the right version, and making sure all those parts work together, Composer does it automatically<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Developed by Ben Word and the Roots team (the group behind Bedrock and Sage) this project provides a modern way for professional developers to manage WordPress plugins and themes as PHP dependencies.<\/p>\n WP Packages serves as an open-source replacement for WPackagist by offering every free plugin and theme from the WordPress.org directory through a transparent build process.<\/p>\n By being community-funded via GitHub Sponsors, the project remains community driven and focuses entirely on serving the technical needs of the developer ecosystem.<\/p>\n Plus, transitioning to the new system is designed to be straightforward, with a dedicated migration script available for developers to update their existing projects.<\/p>\n WPVibe by SeedProd<\/a> has launched a new way to control your website using conversational AI. <\/p>\n It lets you connect your self-hosted WordPress site to tools like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor. Instead of digging through complicated WordPress menus and settings, you can now perform complex admin tasks just by typing out what you want to do.<\/p>\n While other similar tools focus on local developer environments, WPVibe provides remote access. This enables you to manage your site from any AI web interface while keeping your data on your own hosting.<\/p>\n This ultimate \u201cAI Site Assistant\u201d simplifies management with several key features:<\/p>\n How Does it Work? <\/strong><\/p>\n WPVIbe offers an MCP server (a small program) that acts a bridge between your AI tool like Claude or ChatGPT and your data like your website, files, databases, etc.<\/p>\n This allows your AI to access and understand your WordPress site in a safe and secure manner, allowing you to work on your site directly by typing simple prompts. <\/p>\n Security is built-in to keep your data safe. WPVibe uses AES-256 encryption for credentials, and ensures that all new content defaults to \u201cDraft\u201d mode for your review. It also protects against accidental data loss by moving deleted items to the trash for 30 days rather than permanent removal.<\/p>\n Setup takes less than 60 seconds with a simple server URL and a one-click magic link. <\/p>\n WPCode <\/a>has hit an absolutely massive milestone: 3 million active installs<\/a>!<\/strong> It continues to be the best and safest way to add custom code snippets, tracking pixels, and PHP scripts to WordPress without editing your theme files.<\/p>\n To celebrate this phenomenal growth, the WPCode team has debuted a game-changing new feature: the Visual CSS Picker. <\/p>\n This incredibly intuitive tool allows you to point, click, and customize the design of any element on your website visually, without needing to inspect elements or guess CSS classes.<\/p>\n This is a big time-saver that enables beginners to safely tweak their website\u2019s design while offering advanced users a blazingly fast workflow. It completely removes the intimidation factor of customizing your theme\u2019s appearance, making styling your site easier than ever before.<\/p>\n Plus, WPCode has released custom event tracking for their Conversion Pixels addon<\/a>. It lets you easily track specific user actions on your WordPress site\u2014like video views, link clicks, and scroll depth\u2014and send that data to your advertising platforms. <\/p>\n This is a huge deal for beginners because it allows you to see exactly what visitors are doing on your site and optimize your marketing campaigns. All without having to write a single line of code or hire an expensive developer.<\/p>\n MonsterInsights<\/a>, the #1 Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, has launched a major redesign of its reporting dashboard<\/a>. <\/p>\n This new update makes it easier for site owners to visualize complex data without switching tabs.<\/p>\n The reimagined Overview tab introduces several key features for better site intelligence:<\/p>\n Beyond visuals, MonsterInsights also lets you export every report as a CSV or Excel file. This is a significant upgrade over static PDFs because it allows agency owners and marketers to run custom formulas in Google Sheets or feed raw data into AI tools like ChatGPT for automated reporting.<\/p>\n To keep your data organized, a new Export Queue has also been added under the Tools menu. This central hub lets you track and download all your recent exports in one place so that your analytics are always ready for clients or team presentations.<\/p>\n Overall, this new update makes MonsterInsights reporting a lot more easier and manageable. It enables business owners, agencies, and marketers to quickly find the data they need to grow their businesses.<\/p>\n WordPress has introduced my.WordPress.net<\/a>, a new platform that allows you to run a complete WordPress environment entirely and persistently within your browser. <\/p>\n Built on WordPress Playground<\/a> technology, this initiative removes traditional barriers like hosting plans, domain registrations, and sign-up forms. It\u2019s in the spirit of the \u201cfive-minute install\u201d for a new generation of creators.<\/p>\n This \u201cZero Barrier\u201d approach reframes WordPress as a personal environment where exploration matters more than public outcomes. It serves as a safe space for learning, where users can explore plugins and themes knowing that mistakes are easily recoverable and entirely private.<\/p>\n Plus, unlike temporary demos, my.WordPress.net is designed to be a permanent and personal workspace. <\/p>\n Key features of this browser-based environment include:<\/p>\n Important: <\/strong>Users should be aware that initial storage starts at roughly 100 MB and is tied to the specific device used for installation. Because the data is stored locally in the browser, it is recommended that users download regular backups to ensure their work is preserved across different sessions or devices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In other exciting news from the Duplicator team, their popular WordPress backup and migration plugin has introduced a major update designed to eliminate the risks of testing changes on live websites.<\/p>\n The new version features a true \u201cone-click\u201d staging system<\/a>. It allows site owners to create a perfect, isolated copy of their website for testing plugins, themes, or code changes without affecting the live site. <\/p>\n The staging environment is built to be a safe \u201csandbox\u201d that automatically applies several critical protection measures:<\/p>\n In addition to staging, the update introduces \u201cRemote Cloud Restores,\u201d which is a powerful disaster recovery tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n This feature allows you to restore your website directly from Duplicator Cloud even if your server is completely inaccessible or your WordPress dashboard is down.<\/p>\n By configuring a recovery connector with your FTP\/SFTP credentials, you can initiate a full-site restoration from any device at any time. <\/p>\n This ensures that even if a host suffers a catastrophic failure, you can get your site back online by simply selecting the latest backup from your cloud storage and launching the restoration wizard.<\/p>\n For agencies and developers, the new Duplicator Cloud dashboard serves as a centralized control center. You can now monitor the backup status of hundreds of websites from a single view and perform centralized restorations without jumping between different WordPress logins. This makes portfolio management significantly more efficient.<\/p>\n Thrive Themes has released a major update for Thrive Suite<\/a>, including upgrades to Thrive Quiz Builder, Thrive Leads, and Thrive Architect.<\/p>\n This update focuses on giving site owners better access to their data and reducing the time spent on repetitive manual tasks.<\/p>\n A major highlight of this release is how much easier it is to move and manage your quiz data. Thrive Quiz Builder<\/a> now allows you to export all of your quiz results as a CSV file with a single click.<\/p>\n This ensures that valuable lead insights\u2014including names, emails, category scores, and individual answers\u2014can be easily moved into Excel, Google Sheets, or other marketing automation tools<\/a> for deeper analysis and lead segmentation.<\/p>\n The update also brings several key improvements to the user and builder experience:<\/p>\n For marketing teams, the one-click duplication feature significantly speeds up A\/B testing and seasonal campaign setups by allowing proven designs to be reused and tweaked in minutes. <\/p>\n Additionally, the new CSV export respects GDPR-safe anonymization settings<\/a> to make sure that your data collection remains compliant even when moving it between different platforms.<\/p>\n Overall, these improvements reflect an ongoing effort to help entrepreneurs make smarter, data-driven decisions without burning time on technical hurdles.<\/p>\n Charitable<\/a> has launched a brand-new Donations Feed feature<\/a> in version 1.8.13, which provides nonprofits with a powerful way to display social proof and build momentum.<\/p>\n This new block and shortcode allow organizations to showcase a live, customizable feed of real-time donations directly on any page of their website without needing a developer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s designed to turn silent donation pages into active communities by highlighting real names, amounts, and donor comments. By showing that others are already contributing, nonprofits can reduce donor uncertainty and give new visitors a clear reason to trust their mission.<\/p>\n The tool offers extensive control over how giving history is presented to the public:<\/p>\n For nonprofit organizations<\/a> looking to maximize social proof, the Donations Feed can be paired with DonorTrust, a platform that displays real-time popup notifications of verified donations.<\/p>\n Advanced Coupons<\/a> has announced a major integration with StoreAgent<\/a>, which introduces an AI coupon generator designed to speed up the creation of WooCommerce promotions.<\/p>\n This new tool allows store owners to skip the manual configuration of complex and time-consuming coupon settings. Instead, they simply need to describe their promotional ideas in plain language. <\/p>\n No more worrying about accidentally breaking a coupon rule or messing up minimum spend requirements. <\/p>\n The AI assistant ensures total accuracy by automatically configuring several key areas based on your simple description:<\/p>\n To use this feature, site owners need to have both the Advanced Coupons and StoreAgent plugins installed and activated. <\/p>\n MemberPress<\/a> has launched a powerful new AI Course Generator<\/a> that\u2019s designed to help online course creators transition from a blank page to a fully structured course in just minutes.<\/p>\n This new addon allows users to describe their course topic, audience, and goals through a simple chat interface and watch as sections, lessons, and learning objectives are generated in real time.<\/p>\n The tool uses a two-panel interface where users can chat with the AI on the left while a live preview of the course structure updates on the right. <\/p>\n To flesh out the actual course material, MemberPress<\/a> has introduced two supporting AI features:<\/p>\n Plus, site owners remain in total control of the final product, as every AI-generated element is fully editable.<\/p>\n The AI Course Generator is available for MemberPress<\/a> Launch, Growth, and Scale plans and operates on a simple credit system.<\/p>\n Fix WordPress Email Delivery with WP Mail SMTP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Fix your WordPress email delivery issues by routing emails through a trusted SMTP provider. WP Mail SMTP ensures your contact form notifications and reset password emails actually reach the inbox instead of the spam folder.<\/p>\n![\"WPBeginner](\"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/spotlight-march-2026-featured.jpg?resize=640%2C362&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nWPForms Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary and Releases a Universal PayPal Integration<\/h4>\n
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<\/figure>\nPayPal Integration for All WPForms Users<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Monitor Your WordPress Site with New Activity Log Plugin by Duplicator<\/h4>\n
![\"Activity](\"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/activity-log-plugin.png\")
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WP Packages Launches as an Independent, Community-Funded Alternative for Developers<\/h4>\n
[New] WPVibe by SeedProd \u2013 Manage Your WordPress Site Directly from Claude Code, ChatGPT, or Cursor <\/h4>\n
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WPCode Reaches 3M Installs, Debuts New Visual CSS Picker and Custom Event Tracking<\/h4>\n
![\"WPCode](\"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/wpcode-css-picker.png\")
MonsterInsights Unlocks Smarter Data Visuals and Flexible Report Exports<\/h4>\n
![\"MonsterInsights](\"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/monster-insights-reports-dashboard.png\")
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![\"Improved](\"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mi-advanced-filtering.png\")
my.WordPress.net: A Permanent, Private WordPress Environment That Runs in Your Browser<\/h4>\n
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Duplicator Launches One-Click Staging and Remote Cloud Restores<\/h4>\n
![\"Create](\"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/duplicator-staging-sites.png\")
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Thrive Suite Update Simplifies Quiz Data and Lead Form Creation<\/h4>\n
![\"Thrive](\"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/thrive-export-csv.png\")
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Build Donor Trust Instantly with Charitable\u2019s New Donations Feed<\/h4>\n
![\"Charitable](\"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/charitable-donation-feed.png\")
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Automate Your WooCommerce Promotions with AI-Powered Coupons<\/h4>\n
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MemberPress Unveils AI Course Generator to Build Full Curriculums via Chat<\/h4>\n
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\nIn Other News<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n