You may be wondering who am I to say what you MUST avoid? And I don’t blame you if you’re a little skeptic. But if you want to keep your business or website afloat, stay with me and you will soon realize that there are indeed some themes and plugins that you absolutely can’t afford to choose.
Many newbies who are going to start building new websites or who have just started their journey, are prone to get trapped by using nulled WordPress themes or plugins. As they are often looking to cut down cost, they’re likely to be tempted to use these types of themes and plugins instead of buying the premium one. Therefore, for all of them, this article could work as a remedy.
Before going into the definition, let me tell you something. I know that using null products can give you access to premium features for free. But the fact is it’s extremely risky as most of the time they are riddled with malware.
Eventually, the malware infects your site and allows hackers to break into your system. This will cause severe damage to your website in various ways. For instance, hackers can display unwanted ads, send spam emails, and most importantly, try to redirect users to malicious sites. Moreover, Google penalizes your site on SERP.
I often get questions like is it okay to use nulled WordPress plugins and themes? To those who are still wondering about this issue, this article is for all of you guys. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
This post includes:
- Why you must not use nulled WordPress plugins and themes
- Security issues
- No support from the developers
- Privacy issues
- Absence of new features and compatibility
- Legal issues
- SEO compatibility issue
- Support and documentation
- Using nulled products is discouraging
- An optimal solution
What are the nulled WordPress plugins & themes?
Nulled plugins and themes are basically pirated copies of different premium WordPress based products. Most of the time, they are obtained from a third-party website that is essentially not the original creator.
These third-party folks are redistributing nulled WordPress plugins and themes arguing that any derivative works are licensed under GPL, that’s why it’s completely okay to copy and distribute it among other consumers. Though that’s happening on the internet, most importantly, it compromises the security and integrity of websites.
Yep, it is true that using these nulled WordPress plugins and themes can be the prime reason for your website getting hacked. Therefore, here I’m picking some of the core reasons that tell you why you MUST not use nulled WordPress plugins and themes.
Why you MUST not use nulled WordPress plugins and themes?
Here, take a look at some of the prime reasons why you mustn’t be using NULLED WordPress plugins themes.
1. Security issues
When it comes to measuring the performance of any website, security comes first. Using nulled WordPress plugins and themes are extremely risky as they may breach the security system of your website. They are essentially the threads for WordPress security.
Usually, in the process of installing and running these themes and plugins, malicious code are injected with the respective items. That’s why they are known as a carrier of the malware. Moreover, you could also lose your site, and ultimately, the site also could be de-indexed from the SERP. So, as per security, you must not use any of these types of tools on your website.
2. No support from the developers
Now I understand that getting premium products for free seems rather nice but you better stop and think! These plugins will not be supported by the respective developers of the company. It means you’ll not get any support that a genuine customer gets. In fact, the products will not even get the automatic update.
Dealing with the nulled WordPress plugins and themes means you will have zero support facilities. If you’re using a free version from the WordPress.Org, you may get a notification, but to be honest, it’s more like playing the lottery. Developers are simply not bound to support you for free.
3. Privacy issues
As nulled plugins and themes bear numerous types of malicious codes within, they can steal your confidential information. This will compromise the privacy of your website. Eventually, hackers will make this information available on the dark web.
The confidential information could be your username, email address, passwords, and so on. If you are earning online through an online store or membership websites, then all of those can also be at risk.
4. Absence of new features and compatibility
Adding different new features over time is one of the traits of a quality theme and plugin. It determines that the plugin is active and up to date with the customer’s current needs. But nulled plugins and themes are not up to date as they can’t be updated over time.
Developers of paid products consistently take care of their customers and they’re always busy improving the existing products. Moreover, they update the themes and plugins with the latest version of WordPress. On the other hand, nulled plugins and themes do not get that opportunity.
5. Legal issues
Basically, plugins are open source, and mostly, many of them are sold with mixed licenses that are protected by the copyright laws. In the true sense, nulled WordPress plugins and themes don’t have any legal permission to do so.
So beware, you could end up paying a huge sum of money to lawyers just for the troubles brought on by these themes and plugins.
6. SEO compatibility issue
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the core component to get the maximum exposure of your products organically on SERP. But using nulled WordPress plugins and themes can ruin your WordPress SEO performance.
Nulled WordPress plugins and themes are risky to use as they can inject spam or malicious links to the website and make your users visit some unwanted or substandard websites. This will ultimately penalize your website in the SERP.
7. Support and documentation
Most of the WordPress users need to have support and documentation facilities to operate the respective product accordingly. All premium products provide such types of documentation and support facilities. Usually, nulled plugins and themes don’t offer this opportunity for its users.
Developers of the products spend lots of time supporting and creating documents for their users. Even, most of the product development companies are hiring support agents to ensure instant support facility for its users. If you’re using the nulled plugins and themes, you’re likely to have no such facility on your website.
8. Using nulled products is discouraging
Nulled WordPress plugins and themes can ruin the reputation of your products and business as well. You may say that you don’t have enough money to put in, and justify using nulled products. News Flash: it’s still a bad choice for your website.
Furthermore, to create a successful product, developers put their talent and hard work into it. That’s why they deserve the value against their service. But using nulled plugins and themes, you’re taking that away from those developers.
An optimal solution
Ideally, no matter which themes or plugins you want to use, there is no need to use any nulled WordPress plugins and themes where there are free alternatives out there in the market. You can easily find a suitable alternative, there’s absolutely no shortage of that.
Moreover, so many WordPress themes and plugins offer free versions to help you get started with their product. For instance, if you want to have a contact form, get started with the WP Fluent Forms Lite. Need a WordPress table plugin? You can try Ninja Tables Lite for better performance. Want to have a payment gateway plugin? Paymattic Lite could be the best fit for you.
Final Notes
Nulled plugins and themes are always a vulnerability when it comes to serving your purposes. To ensure the security of your site, you MUST not use any of them. If you are unable to purchase any pro plugin, still there are tons of free plugins you can resort to.
Some of the free plugins are even better than many premium versions. RankMath is the perfect example in this occasion. Most significantly, you can use products legally with all the support from the developers’ side.
I hope the article helps you learn more about the adverse effects of nulled WordPress plugins and themes. Do you have any bitter experiences of using any nulled plugins and themes? If you do, do share with us for the others to know!
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