In Roger Montti’s article “WordPress 7.0 Will Ship Without Real-Time Collaboration,” published in Search Engine Journal, he reports that WordPress has officially removed the anticipated Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) feature from the upcoming WordPress 7.0 release due to unresolved technical and stability concerns.
WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg announced the decision, stating that the current implementation was not sufficiently robust for inclusion in the WordPress core. He identified concerns such as server load, memory efficiency, race conditions, scalability challenges, and bugs discovered during extensive testing. Mullenweg further noted that ongoing legal proceedings involving WP Engine have diverted significant time and resources from key contributors, potentially slowing development.
RTC was intended as a key component of Phase 3 of the Gutenberg roadmap, enabling multiple users to edit posts and pages simultaneously within the WordPress editor. This feature aimed to replace the traditional post-locking system and enhance collaboration for editorial teams, agencies, and organizations managing shared content.
Although RTC has been available in a controlled beta environment for WordPress.com VIP and Enterprise customers since late 2025, Montti observes that finalizing the feature for the broader WordPress ecosystem has been challenging. Consequently, developers will prioritize removing RTC from the WordPress 7.0 release to maintain the overall launch schedule.
The WordPress community’s response was largely positive. Many developers and business owners supported the decision, emphasizing that stability should take precedence over releasing a complex feature prematurely. Others reiterated the ongoing debate that real-time collaboration may be more appropriate as a plugin rather than a core feature, given that not all users would benefit from its inclusion.
Despite this setback, community members generally interpret the decision as a delay rather than a cancellation. Several commentators expressed confidence that RTC will be reintroduced once the technical challenges are addressed.
Montti also highlights the potential for real-time collaboration between users and AI tools, which has generated significant interest. Although WordPress has released few public details, Mullenweg previously suggested that RTC could eventually support AI-assisted editing workflows, increasing its relevance in an AI-driven future.
At present, WordPress 7.0 will proceed without RTC, enabling the project to prioritize a stable release while developers continue to refine this ambitious feature.