Visitors to the Cwicly website received a pleasant surprise yesterday: the Home page was updated and Cwicly is now available for free download.
Back in March 2024, Louis-Alexander Désiré, Cwicly’s founder, announced that the team would discontinue Cwicly’s development due to “the relentless onslaught of destructive posts and comments by certain WordPress influencers”. They refunded new subscribers and shared on Discourse that support would continue for all users until 2024.
Louis had also shared then that from 2025 onwards, maintenance plans would be available at discounted rates for those who wish to continue receiving Cwicly updates, but no new features would be introduced.
Interestingly, their social media pages have not been updated about their return. Yesterday, Louis announced in Discord that “Cwicly is now available to use for free,” with support reserved for their previous paid customers.
Loius also shared this on Discord: “Cwicly will be coming to the WordPress plugin directory soon we hope. As already discussed, bug fixes, potential security vulnerability patches, and WordPress compatibility will continue to be addressed. With Cwicly making its way to the directory, we also plan to add a few more features/improvements also.”
The community response is mixed. Some are excited, while others are a bit cautious, given that the discontinuation decision was totally unexpected.
It’s worth noting that although the Home page has been updated, the discontinuation statement is still available on the website as of today.
Cwicly was the only builder that interacted directly with the entire Gutenberg ecosystem, adding specialized blocks that were complementary and fully compatible with Gutenberg. When they announced the discontinuation, the community hoped the team would reconsider and return later. Only time will tell if that wish has now come true.