WPML Multilingual CMS 5.0.2

Released: September 22, 2026
Channel: Stable
Tested with WordPress: 7.1.1
Product: WPML Multilingual CMS

Changelog

WPML 5.0 brings a redesigned admin, languages as language and country pairs, and Translate Everything Automatically running in the background. WPML 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 fix issues some sites ran into after updating to it. The full list of what is new in 5.0 comes first, and the fixes follow.

What’s new in WPML 5.0

A redesigned WPML admin

WPML now has one menu: Translations, Settings, Support, Activate & Update, and AI Translation Billing when automatic translation is set up.
All settings live on one Settings page, with a search box that jumps to the section holding a setting.
Links and bookmarks to the old WPML admin pages redirect to their new places.
String Translation and Media Translation are tabs under Translations; Sticky Links, CMS Navigation and Export and Import sit under an Add-ons group.

Languages are now language and country pairs

Languages are set up as language and country pairs, with regional variants such as Spanish (Mexico).
You can add custom languages, upload your own SVG flags, and edit language labels in one place.
When you add a language that shares a name with one already active, WPML adds the country to the new language’s name, so you see Spanish and Spanish (Mexico).
A regional language you add is ready for automatic translation without any mapping step; where the engine has no regional variant, WPML translates it as the base language.
Custom languages that cannot be translated automatically are labelled “Manual translation only”.
Existing sites are updated automatically; your languages, URLs and settings carry over.

Translate Everything Automatically runs in the background

Once Translate Everything Automatically is on, WPML keeps sending and receiving translations with no browser tab open.
Background translation needs a site the translation service can reach from the internet; on a private or password-protected site, WPML tells you to keep the page open, as before.
Content written in any of the site’s languages is translated into all the others, not only content in the default language.
You can set a cut-off date per post type so content published or edited before it is left untranslated, and adjust it later without turning Translate Everything Automatically off.
The setup wizard and the Translation Dashboard show what will be translated per content type, the word count, and the total cost before you turn Translate Everything Automatically on.
You can turn Translate Everything Automatically on from the Translation Dashboard without sending a test translation first.
Adding a language picks up background translation for that language. Making a post type translatable opens the cost table so you choose what to include before anything is translated.

Pay once per page and language

With Translate Everything Automatically on PTC, each page translated after you turn it on is billed once per language, and later edits are free until the content grows past what you already paid for.
Content that was translated before you switched Translate Everything Automatically on counts as done and is not billed again.
Translation credits are now called words across WPML, and WPML shows the words it will charge before you send.

Taxonomies are translated like posts

The Translation Dashboard has a Taxonomies section for sending categories, tags and custom taxonomy terms for translation.
Taxonomy labels can be translated from the Translation Dashboard alongside the terms themselves.
Under Translate Everything Automatically, new and edited terms are queued automatically and re-translated when they change.
Term descriptions and SEO fields from Yoast SEO and Rank Math are included in term translation jobs.

Translation engines

PTC, WPML’s own AI translation engine, is the recommended engine. DeepL, Google and Microsoft remain available and are labelled “Legacy”.
Translate Everything Automatically needs PTC and a site description. If your site uses a legacy engine, switch to PTC from the Translation Dashboard in one dialog before turning it on.
After switching to PTC, new translations are published without review by default; with a legacy engine they wait for your review by default.
The Improve Translations tab under Translations suggests fixes based on the edits you keep making and applies the ones you accept to future translations, with a badge when new suggestions are waiting. Available with PTC only.

Also in 5.0

WPML 5.0 is tested on PHP 8.5, including its bundled libraries.
Translators can open any translation in a language pair assigned to them, without being assigned the job first.
The Translation Dashboard now flags categories and tags that changed after they were translated, alongside posts.

Security

This release includes a number of security hardenings, including one reported by Wordfence, whose collaboration we are grateful for.

Fixed in WPML 5.0.1

This release fixes issues some sites ran into after updating to WPML 5.0, including a fatal error on sites whose database table prefix starts with a digit and an update that would get stuck.

Updating to WPML 5.0

Sites whose database table prefix starts with a digit no longer get a fatal error on the front end and on the Custom Fields Translation screen after updating to WPML 5.0, and the “could not save” notice that came with it clears itself once your settings save again.
Updating WPML from 4.9.x to 5.0 from the Commercial tab of the Add Plugin screen no longer spins endlessly without finishing.

Translation Dashboard and setup wizard

The Translation Dashboard no longer sends taxonomy terms to every language when you have chosen specific languages and reviewed the cost.
The setup wizard’s “Calculate Translation Costs” step no longer shows 0 words with a disabled Continue button until you refresh the page.

Translation settings and jobs

Saving translation settings on a site without the Advanced Translation Editor no longer stores an invalid editor value that crashed every page in wp-admin.
Translation jobs no longer show an invalid deadline when none was set.

Also in this release

A translated product category whose slug matched another term in the original language no longer redirects visitors to the wrong page.

Fixed in WPML 5.0.2

This release fixes more issues some sites ran into after updating to WPML 5.0, including database errors and login timeouts on multisite networks, and makes the download smaller.

Updating to WPML 5.0

Multisite networks no longer log “Unknown column ‘l.country’” database errors, or time out at login, while their sites are still being updated to WPML 5.0 one by one.
After an update, browsers load WPML’s new scripts and styles instead of cached copies from the previous version.

Translate Everything Automatically

Translate Everything Automatically no longer sends a draft for translation before you save it again.

Also in this release

Translated pages no longer answer 404 when a product, media item or other content shares their slug.
A malformed string-package setting left by a page builder no longer causes a fatal error.
The root page setting accepts only published pages. Its “HTML file” field now says which files it accepts and rejects the rest.
The download is smaller, 17.4 MB instead of 22.6 MB, because packages no longer include .po translation source files. Your translations are unaffected.

Update or download

The update is available to all WPML clients with an active subscription — it appears on the Plugins page in your WordPress admin within 24 hours of release. You can also check for it right away under Plugins → Add New Plugin → Commercial. To download and install manually, go to Downloads in your wpml.org account (see the installation instructions) and remember to update all components together without mixing versions.

Need help or want to give feedback? Please use our technical support forum.

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