Kirki Customizer Framework Plugin to be Discontinued by Developer
David Vongries, the developer of the Kirki Customizer Framework plugin, has announced that he will be discontinuing development and support for the product. Vongries had acquired the plugin from its original creator, Ari Stathopoulos, in 2020 and had grown its user base from 400K to 600K active installs. He had also launched Kirki PRO with additional extensions in March 2022.
Vongries stated that he had big plans for the plugin when he first acquired it, but he lost passion for the project due to the direction WordPress core has taken with Gutenberg. He said that he was too ambitious in taking on the project and that the death knell for the Customizer had already rung years ago.
Kirki’s customizer framework allowed theme authors to add custom controls and advanced features to the customizer, including the ability to style it and add a custom header. However, block theme adoption has been a slow process, and the potential for Kirki to extend Gutenberg did not materialize.
Vongries is now looking for someone to acquire the plugin but is committed to providing limited support to users in the meantime. He will fix critical bugs and compatibility issues that happen as a result of WordPress core updates. The current active install count in the WordPress repository is 600,000, which presents a great opportunity to revamp the plugin and get it in front of actual users.
Vongries has put a price tag of $30K on the plugin, which includes all the assets – the website, GitHub, and PRO extensions. No further active development or updates are planned unless Kirki gets acquired by someone who wants to carry it forward.
In conclusion, the Kirki Customizer Framework plugin will be discontinued by its developer, David Vongries. The plugin had grown its user base from 400K to 600K active installs, but Vongries lost passion for the project due to the direction WordPress core has taken with Gutenberg. He is now looking for someone to acquire the plugin and has put a price tag of $30K on it, which includes all the assets.
