Premium Wordpress Plugins - Is the price worth it?

Cristian Level X³

6

November 19, 2017, 3:45 pm

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Premium Wordpress Plugins - Is the price worth it?

Wordpress plugin counts a lot of what makes the Wordpress content managing system so great and popular.
Most of the times, most based Wordpress websites out there use free WordPress plugins, very few people go for the premium version of every single plugin they have.

Usually, they go for the premium version ONLY when the premium plugin offers some essential feature that is crucial to their overall business plan. If the plugins are doing the job just fine with the free version, most people won't switch to the paid version. Of course, there are some exceptions out there where businesses or people have a considerable budget and don't mind paying the premium price for every single plugin need and install. Below I'll list the main pros and cons of buying premium WordPress plugins.

Main advantages of buying premium versions of your favorite WordPress plugins:

- The free alternative may not be enough.
I remember a day when I refused to pay for any premium WordPress plugin thinking it can be a waste of money and somehow there is a free alternative out there. Most of the times I was right, a free option was available but often was full of bugs, not regularly updated and didn't work like it was supposed to. In essence, it partially did the job.

When I finally understood the value of paying for premium WordPress plugins I discovered that most creators offer constant updates, their fixing bugs and will help you with support if you ever run into problems. You are getting a full service, and I find it only reasonable to pay for it.

- For all popular WordPress plugins, the free version is supposed to be just an incentive, a demo, a way of making you realize how good their services are and why you should pay for them. So if you want to be a professional, pay for them! Especially if you use them in commercial purposes, purchase WooCommerce Extensions if you really enjoy, use and make a profit out of WooCommerce as a whole.

- If you really want to own a professional WordPress website, you should also pay for your plugins. You are paying for a hosting package; you did pay for your domain name, right? You hopefully paid for a custom WordPress theme, and you still refuse to pay for your needed plugins?
If you are making money out of your website, you should totally go for the premium versions. You will get way better features, and in essence, you are going to make more money.

Main possible disadvantages of buying premium WordPress plugins:

- You may not need to go premium for all of your plugins. I, for example, do fine enough with Yoast SEO because I have other tools to fill up the gaps, I own a Screaming Frog license as well as other premium SEO tools I can use to make up not going premium with Yoast. You need to figure out for which features it is worth paying extra and which plugins do you enjoy and use so much that you have to pay for a premium version even is it is strictly a donation.

- Cost. Yes. I believe costs may be a problem for a lot of people. Especially people that don't really turn a profit around with their blog or website. If I had bought a premium version of every plugin I used, the total cost would have been substantial. Truth is I always wait to turn a profit around before "investing" in premium features.

- Some premium features some plugins offer are totally worthless. I've discovered a lot of plugins that offer premium solutions don't really work as promised. On the other hand, some premium plugins don't really offer good premium deals, to begin with, because the free version does the job perfectly.
Sure, you may buy it as a form of appreciation for the free version, but you need to understand that some plugin developers have zero marketing skills.

So what do you guys think about buying premium plugins?
Do you prefer seeking free alternatives?

Comments

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anwebservices

All depend what you want to gain with some plugin for WordPress. I would always advice do some research of free plugins. After find some premium plugin and compare it with free one. Many times there is free plugin which can be upgraded to premium version, but as i said, all depend what you wish to get out of it. Many times free plugins working just fine for our needs, while sometime we want some specific features added to our website and no free plugin offering such feature...
If free plugin is not good enough for our needs i would always go with premium ones and i used many free and premium plugins on my blogs. Perhaps you can even hire some coder to build custom plugin for your needs and it's not always so expensive, in some cases it can be cheaper option then buying premium

1 7 years ago

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kgord

I think if you want to make a splash in the blogging world it might be worth it to use those plug ins. However, after experimenting with them you may find that you don't really need them, or that they are no really worth the cost.

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Barida

That should depend on how smart the blogger uses it. It's not all premium packages can benefit the clients, but utilizing the benefits is one important aspect of it.

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seolads

Is the price worth it?
Well i used some premium plugins and price didn't worth it. In some case it worth even more. But there is also some free plugins out there that i would really pay for even if they are for sale.
I am more curious, does people "donate" to free plugins if they offering really great features??

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wiseagent

Some features really aren't worth the price and some of them are extremely expensive for the simple functions they have to perform (but sometimes, the brand with which they are associated causes prices to become too high).

0 7 years ago

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wiseagent

It all depends on how professional you want your project to be. I mean, everything you buy has the goal of improving what already exists, but it's no use buying and not knowing how to use (this happens to many people and then, they complain about the bad experience they had).

P.S.: In my opinion, is extremely useful.

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Barida

Not understanding how it is being used is one issue most might encounter and it's not fair when they say not all are worth it.

0 7 years ago

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wiseagent

I agree with you.

The fact that people get frustrated because they don't know how to use them shouldn't be mixed with the effectiveness of the products (which are really good). It's very easy to criticize without saying anything constructive.

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cmoneyspinner

Not sure if I'm "different" but I always seek free alternatives first. So far I've never paid for a Wordpress plugin but that's because I don't have my own WP blog. My blog is published as a part of a blogging community and whatever plugins the site owners offer, I accept. But there are some WP plugins I've seen that might be worth paying for.

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vinaya

I have never used a premium plugin, therefore, I understand the limitation of using free plugin. Well we can customize our website through free plugin, however, if the premium version is available for the plugins we are using, we will always lack the full potential. I am using free version of wordfence security plugin, this is a good plugin that secures your wordpress site, however, there is limitation on how it functions.

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DenisP

I don't know if this is a saying back in the United States, or anywhere else for that matter, but where I currently live there is a saying that goes "How much money, that much music." This is implying that when you have a live band playing for you, you're only going to get as much music out of them as you can pay for.

The reason I bring this up is because the same logic can be applied to premium plugins and really any form of investment. You have to analyze just how much you need and see if it is worth investing in relative to your potential profit. Any sort of endeavor is going to require a degree of personal investment, you just have to be smart about what and how much you invest.

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overcast

I think some of the paid plugins are definitely worth it. For example if you are into course formation plugins, then sensei plugin. And the plugins such as the plagiarism finder which connects with some paid plans for this. Those are surely going to be expensive. So I think paying for them is definitely worth it. It depends on how you're planning to execute those plugins though. if they are not much used then they are not much worth it.

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TimothyAlex

I have been tempted to go premium with several of my plugins. The reason that I have not is (1) I have found ways to make due, or (2) the cost outweighs the benefits. Sometimes, with so many available, you can actually find free alternatives.

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DarthHazard

This is exactly what I said. Because of the fact that Wordpress is such a popular software and the fact that it has such a large community behind it means that there are always such a large choice of plugins available meaning there will always be a free alternative to a plugin that you need

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augusta

This simply boils down to the benefits one get from any premium stuff.if it beneficial to one blog I don't think it will be too much to buy sometimes we should look beyond money and go for quality.. When it comes to plugins free version aren't enough unless we just need a basic blog but if we need an outstanding blog then we should look beyond the cost and get the best plugins which is the premium version to work with.
I will go for the premium version if that's what I need despite the cost.

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Tronia

I have never purchased any premium WordPress plugins, why? Because I simply don't have to. There are just so many awesome, free plugins that you can combine to get anything you want. I have been tempted a few times but whenever I looked at the overall cost of buying the premium, it put me off. Some plugins are just overly expensive and I couldn't afford to keep paying for it. I think that if you're a bit clever you can fill the gaps that each plugin lacks in by combining a few of them.

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Barida

I can always go with the free alternatives and if they are not working to my taste, I might consider the other option, but one thing that is very important to note is that not premium plugins can bring the expected result.

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Soulwatcher

I have bought lof of premium plugins in the past and if you have the money to spend they are well worth it. Having said that I think that your average Wordpress user can get buy with the free plugins without a problem. Matter of fact my website uses free plugins and works just fine.

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potentialwriter

Premium WordPress plugins are worth much more than the price. This is the tool that begins every online success. This is the indispensable tool for all successful online entrepreneurs. It's the best technology for SEO and it makes Google and search engines love your website. There is no shortcut to online success as there are no other kinds of SEO technology so powerful and capable of getting your website indexed almost instantly.

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keen2write

At the minute I use free plugins, I have never thought about buying a premium plugin before. I know Yoast does one but not sure as I found a few different ways to do some SEO on my blogs recently. All tho the free Yoast is handy but I do think it is a bit harsh sometimes with the scoring.

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DarthHazard

There are quite a lot of Wordpress plugins available which means that chances are there will always be a free alternative which is what makes Wordpress great. I personally have never bought a premium WordPress plugin because a free alternative has always been available and has always been good enough for me.

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itommy

I bought many Premium Wordpress Plugins and themes because they are supported and I don't care about problems on security or features of them.

If you don't have a good budget to buy then you can go with free option but make sure that you need to check them carefully before using.

0 6 years ago

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Corzhens

I have read in another discussion that some premium plugins for Wordpress are great provided you will be using it. Some Wordpress users are paying for the premium plugins but they don’t really get to use it. My question is what happens when you pay for a plugin but later you realize that you don’t really need it? Will you be able to get a refund for that mistaken purchase?

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