Liveblog
Empowers website owners to provide rich and engaging live event coverage to a large, distributed audience.
Use with caution
Liveblog works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 2K+ sites, is rated 2.9/5 and was last updated 4 months ago, and scores 53/100 on our health check.
- Mixed reviews — 2.9/5 from 15 ratings
- 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 Liveblog stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| live blog | #47 |
| liveblog | #1 |
| news | >100 |
| real-time | >100 |
| sports | #29 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 2.9 from 15 reviews
About Liveblog
From the official readme · v1.12.2Description
Your readers want your updates as quickly as possible, and we think we provide the easiest and most flexible publishing environment to make that happen. Sometimes though, that’s just not enough.
When you’re covering a fast-paced event — the latest Apple unveiling, an F1 Grand Prix or the Super Bowl — a full blog post for each individual update is a poor experience for your authors and your audience.
The WordPress.com VIP Liveblog Add-On was purpose-built to address these issues.
Here’s what makes it special:
- Post updates right from the front end of your site (no need to use the
/wp-admindashboard). - Viewers of your liveblog get new entries served to them instantly and automatically, without needing to refresh.
- Authors can drag and drop photos straight into the liveblog area, without separate browser tabs or windows.
- No need for a separate site dedicated to liveblogging — every post can be a liveblog, even existing ones.
If you’d like to check out the code and contribute, join us on GitHub — pull requests are more than welcome.
Documentation
Developer and end-user documentation lives in the docs/ directory:
- End user guide — for editors and site administrators.
- Customization — entry features, key events, hashtags, commands, emoji, shortcodes, template overrides.
- Extending the admin meta box
- Hooking into entries
- Auto-archiving
- WebSocket support
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to set up the development environment and submit changes.
Installation
- Upload the
liveblogfolder to your plugins directory (e.g./wp-content/plugins/). - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
- Enable the liveblog on any post’s edit page.
Screenshots
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Liveblog alternatives
All live blog plugins →
FAQ
Liveblog: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026
Is Liveblog free?
Yes. Liveblog is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Liveblog safe to use in 2026?
Liveblog works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 2K+ sites, is rated 2.9/5 and was last updated 4 months ago, and scores 53/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Liveblog?
Liveblog is active on 2K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 99,662 times since it launched in August 2012. It was downloaded 731 times in the last 30 days.
Does Liveblog work with WordPress 7.1?
Liveblog 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 Liveblog need?
Liveblog requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Liveblog last updated?
The latest version, 1.12.2, was released on June 3, 2026 (4 months ago).
Who makes Liveblog?
Liveblog is developed and maintained by Automattic.
What are the best alternatives to Liveblog?
The most popular alternatives to Liveblog are Arena.IM (100+ installs), DmiMag LiveBlog. Live broad… (30+ installs) and Live Blog WP (10+ installs).
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