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This post recaps how the WordPress project’s five Global Partners — Jetpack, WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Bluehost, and Hostinger — supported community events during the first half of 2026. Across more than a dozen regional the first WordPress Developers Day, and a growing network of WordPress Campus Connect events, Global Partners staffed booths, sponsored sessions, and connected with developers, freelancers, students, and agency owners around the world.
A global footprint
The year began in January with WordCamp Nepal, where Jetpack joined the community in Kathmandu. The momentum carried into India, where WordCamp Kolhapur and, a week later, WordCamp Pune brought Global Partners face-to-face with a student-heavy audience of roughly 200-250 attendees. In Pune, a session on connecting WordPress with AI workflows drew a large crowd, and attendees were curious about WordPress.com plans, new AI features, and Automattic for Agencies.
In February, Jetpack traveled to WordCamp Port Harcourt in Nigeria, an inclusive and well-organized event with 256 attendees that featured talks on inclusion and accessibility. Locally produced swag was a standout success there, a reminder that the WordPress community’s reach extends well beyond Europe and North America.
Across Europe
Spring brought a wave of European events. At WordCamp Madrid, with 280 attendees, WordPress.com served as a Global Sponsor and ran a Wapuu treasure hunt that drew 97 participants.
Down the coast in France, WordCamp Nice gave Jetpack a chance to connect with 247 freelancers and developers, an audience that appreciated concrete, easy-to-explain solutions and asked questions about newsletters, security, and Jetpack’s broader feature set.
WordCamp Vienna stood out for its developer-heavy crowd of 277. From a Jetpack-branded booth staffed on both days, the team engaged with agencies and merchants, fielded numerous questions about WooCommerce and security, and booked 8 agency meetings. Many builders were interested to learn that Automattic stands behind both WordPress.com and WooCommerce. In Italy and Germany, WordCamp Torino and WordCamp Leipzig both reflected growing curiosity about AI, a theme that resurfaced throughout the year. At Leipzig, with 109 agencies, hosting companies, and freelancers in attendance, WordPress.com staffed a booth where tote bags were in high demand, while conversations kept returning to AI and WordPress Studio.
WordCamp Slovenia and WordCamp Portugal closed the European stretch. WordPress.com brought a booth to Ljubljana, and in Porto, it appeared with both a booth and logo presence alongside WooCommerce, which suited an event filled with e-commerce builders and Woo payment providers. The first WordPress Developers Day in Novi Sad introduced a new format, with Jetpack as a global sponsor and nearly 30 in-depth conversations on Jetpack, WooCommerce, performance, and the realities of client work.
Community in Uganda
In May, WordCamp Kampala brought four Global Partners onto the sponsor roster: Jetpack, WooCommerce, Bluehost, and WordPress.com. The event, themed “Tech for Social Good,” welcomed more than 200 attendees and reflected the energy of a fast-growing local community.
Support from Global Sponsors
Behind every one of these events is a layer of support that does not always appear at a booth. In 2026, Bluehost and Hostinger both joined the WordPress community sponsorship program as top-tier Global Sponsors, alongside Jetpack and WordPress.com. Their contributions help underwrite the global WordCamp program and the community events that make a year like this possible. That program-level backing is what allows organizers in Kathmandu, Porto, and Kampala to bring their events to life, and the WordPress community is grateful to every partner that invests at that scale.
Campus Connect reaches 6,200 students
One of the most notable stories of 2026 is not a WordCamp at all. It is WordPress Campus Connect. As of early June, the program has passed 6,200 students, with 25 events completed in 2026, 45 events all-time, and 42 more in planning or already scheduled. WordPress.com has played a direct support role throughout, including providing hosting for WordPress Campus Connect events around the world.
The connective tissue between these events and the broader community is real. An organizer first met at WordCamp Mukono went on to help lead WordPress Campus Connect work in Uganda. A student who built her first WordPress site at a WordPress Campus Connect event later attended a WordCamp. These events serve as a pathway for the next generation of WordPress contributors, builders, and professionals.
Looking ahead
If 2026 has shown anything, it is that interest in WordPress, and in the tools and services that Global Partners provide, continues to grow around the world. The questions being asked at booths and in sessions are sharper, the audiences more diverse, and the community’s reach more genuinely global. Thank you to Jetpack, WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Bluehost, and Hostinger for being part of that story this year, and to every organizer, volunteer, speaker, and attendee who made these events possible.
To find an upcoming event near you, visit WordCamp Central. To learn how organizations can support the WordPress project, see the community sponsorship program.