In “WordPress’s Troubled Real-Time Collaboration Feature,” Search Engine Journal writer Roger Montti examines how WordPress’s new Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) feature has delayed the release of WordPress 7.0, while raising broader questions about scalability, hosting requirements, and the future direction of the CMS.
RTC is the third phase of the Gutenberg roadmap, coming after the block editor and Full Site Editing. This feature lets several users edit content and block-based designs at the same time in the WordPress editor, similar to how Google Docs works.
According to Montti, the feature has already undergone extensive testing through WordPress VIP and WordPress.com beta programs. Early feedback suggests RTC performs well on sites built with native WordPress blocks and modern development practices. However, scalability issues emerged when testing larger numbers of simultaneous collaborators.
One big technical challenge is how to store collaboration data. At first, the team used the existing WordPress database setup, but developers found this would not scale well. Now, they are building a special database table for RTC data, which is one reason WordPress 7.0 has been delayed.
The delay has started a bigger conversation about WordPress’s technical setup. Montti points out that Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast SEO, believes the RTC issue shows the limits of WordPress’s older data model and thinks some parts of the core platform should be updated. Others in the community disagree and say WordPress is still flexible enough to improve without major changes.
The article also brings up concerns for web hosting providers, especially those offering shared hosting. Because real-time collaboration requires constant syncing between users, hosts might need to assess how this affects server resources and whether they need to limit the number of people editing at once.
Montti also looks at another debate about whether RTC should be part of WordPress core. Matt Cromwell, a WordPress expert, thinks it should be a plugin instead, pointing to WordPress’s tradition of building for most users. But RTC supporters say collaborative editing is now very important for agencies, publishers, freelancers, and remote teams, so it should be built into the platform.
This discussion is happening as many WordPress users are also looking forward to more AI features in WordPress. Even though AI is getting a lot of attention, the collaboration project is still a big step in the Gutenberg roadmap and will likely stay a top priority, even with the delay.
Montti’s reporting suggests that how well RTC works could decide not just when WordPress 7.0 comes out, but also how WordPress manages innovation, performance, and its promise to serve a wide range of users.