ConFab
Create professional conference schedules with responsive table and grid layouts. Security-hardened, accessible, and built for modern WordPress.
Use with caution
ConFab works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 8 months ago, and scores 42/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- Only tested up to WordPress 6.9 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where ConFab stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| Conference | >100 |
| conference schedule | #47 |
| events | >100 |
| session schedule | >100 |
| sessions | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About ConFab
From the official readme · v2.2.0Description
ConFab transforms your conference website with professional session scheduling capabilities. Display your conference sessions in beautiful, responsive table or grid layouts that work perfectly on all devices.
Key Features
- Modern Block Editor – Gutenberg-native block with live preview and intuitive controls
- 26 Color Schemes – Choose from Light, Dark, Earthtones, Jeweltones, Pastels, Ocean, and Forest (each with dark variant)
- 3 Table Styles – Bordered (traditional), Borderless (minimal), or Rounded (modern card-style)
- Grid Layout Option – Modern card-based display with automatic global session detection
- Multi-Day Tab Navigation – Client-side tab switching with keyboard support for multi-day conferences
- Smart Empty States – Professional branded display when no sessions scheduled
- Responsive Layouts – Table and grid views that adapt perfectly to mobile devices
- Security Hardened – Built with WordPress.org coding standards and comprehensive security validation
- Accessibility Ready – WCAG compliant with proper ARIA labels and keyboard navigation
- Translation Ready – Full internationalization support for global conferences
- Custom Post Types – Dedicated session management with tracks and locations
- Professional Templates – Clean, modern design that works with any theme
Display Options
- Multiple Layouts – Table (traditional time-based grid) or Grid (modern card-based display with time slot grouping)
- Multi-Day Schedules – Automatic tabbed navigation for conferences spanning multiple days
- Extensive Theming – 26 color schemes × 3 table styles = 36 unique combinations
- Session Types – Normal, Featured, and Alternate for semantic scheduling
- Track Filtering – Display specific tracks or all sessions
- Session Linking – Permalink, anchor, or no-link options
- Content Control – Show titles only, excerpts, or full content
- Mobile Optimized – Sessions reorganize beautifully on smaller screens
Technical Excellence
ConFab is built from the ground up with modern WordPress development practices:
- WordPress.org coding standards compliant
- Comprehensive input sanitization and output escaping
- Modern REST API integration for block editor
- No external dependencies or bloatware
- Professional PHPDoc documentation throughout
Attribution
ConFab 2.0 represents a complete modernization and security overhaul of the original WP Conference Schedule plugin. We acknowledge and thank the original contributors who built the foundation:
Original WP Conference Schedule (versions 1.0.0 – 1.1.1):
* Road Warrior Creative – Original plugin architecture and design
* alh0319 – Core development contributions
* stevejonesdev – Development and feature implementation
The 2.0 rewrite maintains the core functionality users loved while implementing modern WordPress standards, security best practices, and accessibility compliance. All original code has been reviewed, secured, and modernized for current WordPress development standards.
Installation
- Upload the ConFab plugin to your
/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Navigate to Appearance > Confab to configure your preferences
- Create sessions via the new ‘Sessions’ post type in the main admin area.
- Add a date, start time and stop time for your session. Select a track.
- Add the Conference Schedule (Confab) block to any page or post and select the date for the conference schedule.
Frequently asked questions
IMPORTANT: New Installation – Set Timezone First!
Before creating ANY sessions, set your WordPress timezone correctly. This is the single most important step for ensuring your session times display correctly: Go to Settings > General in WordPress admin (not ConFab settings) Scroll to Timezone and choose a city in your timezone (e.g., “Los Angeles” for Pacific Time) Click Save Changes and verify it saved correctly NOW create your first session – your times will be stored and displayed correctly Why this matters: – ConFab uses your WordPress timezone to store and display all session times – If you change timezone AFTER creating sessions, all…
How do I display my conference schedule?
Use the ConFab Schedule block in the WordPress block editor. You can customize the display with 12 color schemes, 3 table styles, and control which tracks appear, how sessions link, and whether to show excerpts or full content.
What are the different session types?
ConFab uses three semantic session types: * Normal – Standard conference sessions with alternating row backgrounds * Featured – Highlighted sessions (keynotes, special events) with theme-specific featured colors * Alternate – Sessions with alternate styling, ideal for breaks, meals, or social events
Can I show schedules for multiple days?
Yes! Use comma-separated dates in the block’s date attribute (e.g., 2025-06-15,2025-06-16,2025-06-17) to create tabbed multi-day schedules with client-side navigation.
What’s the difference between table and grid layouts?
ConFab offers two layout options: * Table Layout – Traditional time-based table with track columns, perfect for dense schedules with many concurrent sessions * Grid Layout – Modern card-based display with time slot grouping, ideal for schedules with fewer concurrent sessions and mobile-first designs Grid layout automatically detects global sessions (spanning all tracks) and displays them full-width, while concurrent sessions appear in responsive columns.
How do I customize the appearance?
ConFab offers extensive theming options: * 12 Color Schemes – Light, Dark, Earthtones, Jeweltones, Pastels, Ocean, and Forest (each with dark variant) * 3 Table Styles – Bordered (traditional), Borderless (minimal), Rounded (modern card-style) * All combinations work together for 36 unique looks Note: Table styles apply only to table layout, not grid layout.
Can I control how much of the session description shows?
Yes! You can either create a specific excerpt in the session post editor, or rely on the auto generate excerpt system. The excerpt system intelligently respects paragraph boundaries, showing complete first paragraphs when they fit within the configured character limit. This creates more natural, readable session descriptions.
Does ConFab work with my theme?
Yes! ConFab is designed to work with any properly-coded WordPress theme. The schedule display uses semantic HTML and CSS custom properties that adapt to your theme’s styling.
Is ConFab translation-ready?
Yes! ConFab uses WordPress translation standards with the ‘confab’ text domain and includes translator comments for context-dependent strings.
Can I upgrade from WP Conference Schedule (WPCS) or WPCS Pro to ConFab?
Not recommended without extreme caution. ConFab performs well as a new installation, but it is a separate plugin, not in any way a formal update to WPCS. ConFab does include automatic migration code for certain WPCS data structures (post types, taxonomies, session types), but this functionality is untested in any environment and may not cover all WPCS configurations. Critical differences: * ConFab does NOT include the sponsor/exhibitor system from WPCS Pro * Metadata structures have changed * Custom modifications to WPCS may not transfer * Theme template overrides will need complete rewriting…
Why don’t my session times display correctly?
CRITICAL: Set your timezone BEFORE creating sessions! Before creating ANY sessions in a new ConFab installation, go to Settings > General > Timezone and set it to your conference location (e.g., “Los Angeles” for Pacific Time). Save and verify it’s correct, THEN create your first session. If you change your WordPress timezone AFTER creating sessions, all existing sessions will display in the new timezone. This is WordPress standard behavior but can cause confusion if you’ve already published your schedule. For sites migrating from WP Conference Schedule or upgrading from ConFab 2.1.3 or…
Changelog
Major feature enhancement with 12 color schemes, 3 table styles, grid layout, multi-day tab navigation, and semantic session types. Includes automatic migration for legacy session type names.
2.2.0
- Complete timezone system overhaul
- Improved WP Conference Schedule migration
- Fixed Session times display consistency
- Enhanced Timezone handling
2.1.2
- Security and maintenance updates
2.1.1
- Fixed timezone handling for UTC storage and display
- Enhanced layout consistency across table and grid views
- Improved track ordering with custom sort capability
- Refined table styling for professional appearance
2.1.0
- Added 26 professional color schemes and 3 table styles
- Introduced modern grid layout with card-based design
- Added multi-day tab navigation with keyboard support
- Implemented semantic session types (Normal, Featured, Alternate)
- Enhanced excerpt system with paragraph-aware behavior
- Modernized admin interface
2.0.0
- Complete plugin modernization and security overhaul
- Added Gutenberg block with live preview
- Implemented comprehensive accessibility and WCAG compliance
- Enhanced mobile responsiveness
- Introduced translation-ready infrastructure
- Requires WordPress 6.0+ and PHP 7.4+
Previous Versions (1.0.0 – 1.1.1)
Original development and maintenance by Road Warrior Creative team.
See legacy changelog in earlier versions for historical development notes.
Screenshots
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Best ConFab alternatives
All Conference plugins →
FAQ
ConFab: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 4, 2026
Is ConFab free?
Yes. ConFab is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is ConFab safe to use in 2026?
ConFab works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 8 months ago, and scores 42/100 on our health check.
How many websites use ConFab?
ConFab is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 602 times since it launched in October 2025. It was downloaded 63 times in the last 30 days.
Does ConFab work with WordPress 7.1?
ConFab is officially tested up to WordPress 6.9.9, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does ConFab need?
ConFab requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was ConFab last updated?
The latest version, 2.2.0, was released on February 8, 2026 (8 months ago).
Who makes ConFab?
ConFab is developed and maintained by LaughterOnWater.
What are the best alternatives to ConFab?
The most popular alternatives to ConFab are Events Addon for Elementor (7K+ installs), FlexMeeting (1K+ installs) and BuddyMeet (600+ installs).
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