WordPress 6.9 is here, bringing a handful of upgrades that make life easier for bloggers, creators, and site owners.
This release speeds up everyday work, improves how teams collaborate, and adds new block options that give you more room to shape your site the way you want.
Here’s a look at the standout WordPress 6.9 features that have arrived since the last update in April 2025, and how they help you build more with WordPress.com.
Collaborate and stage content directly in your posts
Explore the latest Site Editor updates, which make it easier to do more directly inside WordPress without relying on extra tools or touching backend code.
Block-level Notes
Block-level Notes make collaboration much easier by letting teams leave feedback directly on the block that needs attention.
You can add threaded, resolvable notes from the toolbar or sidebar, and authors automatically get email alerts when new comments come in.
This keeps all feedback — pre-launch edits, content fixes, design tweaks, and even post-publication updates like adding new links — in one place, without needing extra tools.
Hide and Show blocks
Hide and Show lets you switch blocks on and off without deleting them, making it easier to manage content you’ll need again.
Use the visibility toggle in a block’s toolbar to temporarily hide sections like seasonal promos or recurring announcements.
This gives you a simple, built-in way to stage updates without juggling duplicate blocks or storing drafts elsewhere, and your reusable content stays exactly where you left it for when you’re ready to bring it back.
Visual drag and drop
You can now see exactly where a block will land as you drag it.
The live preview makes it much easier to move things around without guessing or fixing mistakes afterward.
It currently works with single blocks, although multi-block dragging is expected in WordPress 7.0.
Allowed blocks UI and other workflow tools
The allowed blocks UI, found under Advanced settings (with a keyboard shortcut to copy settings: Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Option + V), lets you specify which block types are allowed within a given container.
Previously, this was only editable through block markup in code view.
By bringing these controls into the interface, WordPress now makes it easier to build more complex layouts and features without touching code.
Enrich your content with creative blocks for improved storytelling
Take advantage of new ways to display information visually within WordPress without installing additional plugins or using custom code.
Accordion block
The Accordion block lets you add collapsible sections with headings and panels, creating an interactive reading experience without requiring code or extra plugins.
It’s ideal for adding frequently asked questions (FAQs) or for expanding details and lists to add additional context within your content.
Term Query and companion blocks
The Term Query block simplifies building category and tag pages by offering a built-in way to display them, similar to the Query Loop block.
It supports sorting options (e.g., “order-by” sorting), design tools for styling, and a toggle to turn each item into a link.
When combined with the Term Description block, it offers a powerful setup for directory and magazine sites that use structured filtering or subpage navigation.
Supporting (companion) blocks include:
- Term Template block
- Term Name block
- Term Count block
Time‑to‑Read block
The Time-to-Read block sets expectations for readers by providing an estimated reading time (including a range) based on word count.
Although incorporating this information doesn’t directly correlate to better SEO performance, it can have an impact on user engagement, which is tangentially related.
Math block
LaTeX is a markup language and high-quality typesetting system for technical and scientific documentation.
The new Math block implements LaTeX for better visualizing mathematical equations and notations, making it especially useful for technical and educational posts.
Comment Count and Comment Link blocks
By separating the comment count from the comment link, the Comment Count and Comment Link blocks let you place comment access wherever it makes the most sense in a post.
It also lets you control which posts allow comments at all.
This functionality was once exclusive to the Site Editor, but it’s now available throughout the entire editing experience.
Create and manage reusable layouts with safe drafts and flexible templates
WordPress 6.9 introduces several exciting features that make life easier for anyone building across multiple sites — cutting down on repeat work and helping you move faster without recreating the same layouts from scratch.
Starter pattern modal everywhere
All post types containing patterns (previously just pages) now display the pop-up modal for using starter patterns.
This makes it easier for creators to drop in structured layouts across different content types, especially when working with varied or more complex designs.
Fit Text (stretchy text)
The new Fit Text option in Heading and Paragraph blocks automatically adjusts text to fill its container.
This gives you precise typographic control without writing custom CSS, making it easier to create eye-catching headers and hero sections that look polished across all screen sizes.
Gallery block aspect ratios and Cover block posters
The Gallery block’s new aspect ratio setting lets you apply a consistent ratio to all images with a single click from the sidebar.
No more manual edits or custom CSS are necessary to get a clean, unified layout.
Besides, you can add poster images to Cover blocks with video backgrounds, giving visitors on slower connections a still image to view while the video loads.
Find anything instantly with the Dashboard-wide Command Palette
You can now use the Command Palette across the entire WP Admin dashboard (not just the Site Editor), making navigation commands universally accessible.
With a single keyboard shortcut, power users and admins can bypass repetitive menu clicking and streamline their workflows.
Press Ctrl/Cmd + K on any admin screen (Posts, Pages, Media, Settings, the Site Editor, and more) to open the search/command bar and quickly run actions or jump to content.
Developers can also register custom commands through Extensible Commands, giving users even faster access to frequently used features.
Enjoy faster load times with no extra effort
WordPress is known for performance and is constantly raising the standard with new updates.
The latest technical improvements in WordPress 6.9 work together to boost performance without any extra setup on your part.
For example, these include:
- On‑demand block CSS: Loads styles only for the blocks actually used on a page, improving performance for classic themes that normally ship more CSS than needed.
- Optimized cron execution: Improves Core Web Vitals tangentially through better Time to First Byte, by scheduling tasks to run after the page loads.
- Template output buffer and hidden block styles: An updated system that template developers can use to optimize HTML outputs, which results in small improvements to page performance — loading block styles only when needed, moving them to the <head> section, and reducing CSS output. It’s enabled by default for classic WordPress themes and skips loading styles for hidden blocks.
Together, these changes help your pages load faster and feel smoother for visitors, all without any extra configuration.
Try WordPress 6.9’s new features today
WordPress 6.9 is already live on WordPress.com, so you can try the new tools right away and see how they fit into your workflow.
These updates might improve your experience as a content creator, boost user engagement, and ultimately increase blog traffic.
Test out Notes, the new storytelling blocks, and the template updates to get a feel for what’s possible.
If you create something you’re proud of, share it and tag us — we’d love to see it.
Want a faster, more reliable setup for everything in 6.9? Get started with WordPress.com.
