Following an extensive period of review which delayed the initial April time frame, the core development team behind WordPress has officially set the launch date for WordPress 7.0 on May 20, 2026. The new date gives the development team enough runway to resolve outstanding issues with real-time collaboration, the headline feature bringing live multi-user editing with synchronized cursors to the block editor. For hosting providers supporting WordPress sites at scale, that confirmed date is less a finish line and more a deadline for preparation work that needs to happen before then.
Real-time collaboration cleared release candidate status but surfaced issues during broader testing, particularly from web hosts putting the feature through realistic conditions. The core team responded by restructuring the release process rather than shipping and patching. RC3 now functions in practice as a new Beta 1, and RC4 functions as a new RC1, though both carry release candidate version strings in the software to avoid conflicts with WordPress‘s internal version comparison functions. All commits to the 7.0 branch require sign-off from two core committers, with only bug fixes, stability improvements, and real-time collaboration tooling changes permitted until the release ships.
The PHP requirement change carries the most immediate operational weight for hosting providers. WordPress 7.0 raises the minimum PHP requirement from 7.2 and 7.3 to 7.4, with 8.3 as the recommended version. Providers still running PHP 7.2 or 7.3 as a default will create direct friction for customers upgrading to 7.0, and May 20 leaves a narrowing window to update those defaults and communicate the change proactively to customers rather than reactively after complaints arrive.
Aside from upgrading the PHP version, there is a new requirement on the server side when it comes to the real-time collaboration component. The development team will make public information about infrastructure nearer to the deadline of the update, hence hosting companies must be prepared for that.
The development branch for the next cycle, WordPress 7.1, stays closed to new commits until 7.0 ships, keeping the team focused on a clean release rather than splitting attention between versions. For hosting providers, the May 20 date now anchors everything, and the work between now and then determines how smooth that transition feels for customers on the other side.
