Pier #119 - A New Alternative to Elementor Ally & OneTap

Stefan from Ahoi.dev | The Pier #119 | September 26, 2025

Welcome to the 119th issue of The Pier. FluentCart has shared its internal dev status. a possible release date for its new e-commerce plugin for WordPress. They are currently working on a new tax module, a rewritten reporting module, and rewritten Gutenberg blocks. The scheduled release date is within the next two weeks.

Launch: BdThemes has just released Sigmally, a new accessibility plugin for WordPress. Could it be a viable alternative to Elementor‘s Ally and OneTap?

Price Increase & Milestone: OttoKit has announced that it will increase the price of its lifetime plans on 28 September. Don’t miss out! They have also reached 1,200+ integrations!

Exciting: SureRank 1.4.0 introduces Google Search Console verification and focus keyword checks to the new WordPress SEO plugin. Meanwhile, SureRank Pro enters Alpha-3 with the addition of a new News Sitemap, automatic redirections, HowTo schema and Course schema.

Ending Soon: Now is your last chance to grab a Job Boardly LTD before it ends on 30 September! Get the no-code job board builder.

Here is a selection of the latest and greatest blog posts we published this week on Ahoi.dev. You will also find some interesting industry news, the latest directory listings on The Port, job openings, and deals. Enjoy!

👋 Supercharge Your Directory

Over the past two months, Serg from Directify has rolled out massive updates to the no-code directory builder. Directories now have interactive FAQ sections that automatically generate the correct schema markup to improve SEO.

The new Internal Analytics Dashboard includes built-in analytics showing page views, traffic sources and visitor insights, and will soon include device breakdowns and UTM parameter tracking. Finally, the AI content capabilities have been expanded with a new integration of Blogbuster, which is an alternative to SEOBot for automated article publishing.

🗞️ Bites & Pieces

WordPress

LatePoint 5.2.0 adds new option to import customers and the ability to remove the email field from the booking form. There’s also a new OTP login via SMS or Email and a new gorgeous admin interface.

FlyingPress 5.2.0 introduces real-user Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS & TTFB) tracking, enabling you to measure your site’s actual performance and identify what is slowing down visitors. Gain page- and country-level insights, filter by device and view trends over the last hour, day, week or month (video).

SleekPixel 1.1.2 comes with a new AI assistant and an updated UI/UX.

Voxel Toolkit 1.3 adds support for Google Analytics and custom tags. It also sends email reminders to users who have not submitted a profile, event or listing on your Voxel-powered site every “X” days. There is also a new, customizable ‘Users Purchased’ widget.

BuddyBoss now allows you to add featured images, post titles, headings and subheadings to your activity posts. Available on BuddyBoss Web and App.

GravityKit releases GravityMCP, a free MCP server that connects AI assistants such as Claude to Gravity Forms. This allows you to manage forms and entries via natural language commands.

A new competitor is emerging for SureDash and FluentCommunity: Developed by the team behind Academy LMS, ZenCommunity is an all-in-one plugin that combines community building, group chats, private messaging, support tickets and live chat.

Motion.page 2.4.0 introduces Lenis Smooth Scroll. You can also exclude pages where the Lenis library will not be loaded (video).

ZiziCache is an advanced WordPress plugin currently in closed beta, designed for comprehensive website performance optimization.

API Press is a new WordPress plugin that allows you to easily connect any external API to your WordPress site.

BricksExtras 1.5.6 introduces a new feature that allows you to generate custom QR code designs based on dynamic data. There are also new nestable elements for creating a sequence of popovers to guide users through product tours (in beta).

WP Armour Extended 1.40 adds a new option to disable jQuery.

E-Commerce

Conversion Bridge now supports Greyd.Suite, enabling you to track form submissions and button clicks directly within your analytics and advertising platforms (video). Upcoming features for Greyd.Forms include frontend post-submission and dynamic forms.

ThriveCart now supports Apple Pay and Google Pay for embedded checkouts. In other news, students can now manage their own billing directly in Learn.

LMS / E-Learning

Following the introduction of course gifting in version 3.8.0, Tutor LMS 3.8.2 now offers the option of enabling course gifting on your Droip-powered WordPress LMS site.

Cloud Computing

DigitalOcean‘s App Platform now integrates with AI coding assistants using MCP. It also offers VPC outbound integration, enabling your apps to connect to databases, Droplets and other resources privately.

Design Tools

Penpot 2.10 introduces Variants, allowing you to easily manage the states, styles and sizes of elements such as buttons, icons and toggles. Additionally, Design Tokens now offer a wider range of typography options (video).

Laravel

Laravel launches a new learning hub featuring two free mini video courses: an updated Laravel Bootcamp and a new PHP Fundamentals course.

No-Code Job Board Builder

With Job Boardly, you can now adjust the number of jobs displayed per page and delete all jobs at once. You can also hide the location filter. A new Turbo Backfiller filter option has also been added, enabling you to filter jobs imported based on the board’s Web Traffic Rank. A lower score only pulls jobs from sites with more traffic.

Customer Support

ThriveDesk introduces custom chatbot branding and AI-powered summary and draft actions, making Copilot more proactive in assisting with replies. There are also new custom toggle and step blocks to improve the knowledge base. Finally, the Auto-Advance to Next Ticket feature can now be disabled.

Marketing & Transactional Emails

Klaviyo introduces new AI agents that resolve issues and create campaigns in minutes.

MailerSend introduces Webhooks 2.0, which makes webhook payloads lighter for improved performance. In other news, you will also gain additional insight into why emails are deferred or bounced.

Experience Management

Formbricks 4.0 is now better suited to enterprise-scale usage, introducing quota management, audit logs, personal survey links, Swift and other mobile
SDKs, domain configuration, SAML SSO and RTL language support.

Social Media

Publer now features an upgraded Photo Editor and a brand-new Video Editor, built right into your dashboard.

E-Learning

In Uxcel’s new online course, Introduction to ChatGPT, you will learn how to use ChatGPT in design and product management. You will learn how to speed up your research, refine your UX copy and transform disorganized notes into clear, actionable plans.

Virtual Events

HeySummit now enables you to customize the appearance of your on-demand video player. You can also now assign a fixed number of base credits to be included on every attendee’s certificate, in addition to any credits they have earned per talk. Finally, organizers and speakers can now easily manage their polls directly from the talk list.

WhatsApp Automation

Pabbly Chatflow introduces new chat themes with light, dark and vibrant options, wallpapers, customisable chat bubbles and background colours, giving your WhatsApp inbox a sleek, modern look.

Final Cut Pro

MotionVFX adds the mMovie Lights collection to DesignStudio.

Reputation Management

Subject to Meta’s approval, EmbedMyReviews will soon allow customers to share reviews on Facebook, Instagram and Google. Reviews, captions and hashtags can be generated using AI.

From the Editor: Biff.codes

We’ve launched a new side project called Biff.codes, a free job board for WordPress developers and more. Find out why Biff can get paid in burgers. 🍔

🚨 Latest Posts

The following highlighted articles have been published in the last 7 days. All posts can be found on our blog.

👋 Latest Jobs

Looking for a new professional challenge? Find your new job.

🔥 Quayside Deals

A few irresistible offers that might be of interest to you, don’t you think?

⏰ Last Chance: Secure your Etch LTD before annual subscriptions replace them on 30th September.
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Exclusive: Save 10% on all CookieYes plans (valid for first billing cycle).
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LTD: Get Modern Cart for WooCommerce for $129 by CartFlows.
Last Chance: Get a Blockstudio LTD before it is retired on October 1.
New: Save 10% on all Greyd plans with code ref_10_SG563924.
Special Offer: Save $354 with the AffiliateWP + RewardsWP bundle.
First Year: Save 30% on Content Control for WordPress.
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Save $200: Get Breakdance Pro for just $199.99 per year.
Extended LTD: Don’t miss out on the Bit Flows lifetime deals.
Exciting: Save BIG on the SleekWP All Access Pass LTD, which includes SleekPixel, SleekAI, SleekMotion, SleekView and all future plugins.
Recurring: Save 10% on Publer, the social media management platform.
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That’s all for this week. We hope you enjoyed the 119th issue of The Pier. Until next week! Please tell your friends about The Pier if you like it.

Curated and published with lots of ♥ by Ahoi.dev!
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