Want to buy a plugin? Why not a free one? Why do you need the pro version exactly?
I am often asked by the newbies how to choose between free and premium WordPress plugins. What could be the advantages and disadvantages?
If you have those questions as well, then you are the right track. You just need to go through the track.
As time goes on, different types of technologies are revolutionizing over the years in various sectors. This is what I was discussing with one of my friends in the past week. Though the issue is now talk of the topic as science and technology is developing rapidly in modern time. There are tons of tools out there in the online market which are the key source of the modern revolution. WordPress is one of them as it creates a new dimension in the era of modern civilization.
We were discussing like the reason for buying a premium plugin instead of using a free one. This was a productive discussion we did for several hours. For being a rich discussion I would like to share a gist of that conversation so that someone might get the answers to those questions I mentioned before and as well as any kind of help from that.
WordPress is a giant platform because of its versatile functionalities. These functionalities happen by dint of different types of plugins. These plugins are made to suffice various kind of use cases. There are lots of plugins in the WordPress directory and all are categorized in a functional way. Such as to make a general table in WordPress you have to choose a table plugin, for creating a form you have to choose a form plugin, for the restaurant you can choose from restaurant menu plugin, for making a pricing table choose a pricing table plugin, etc.
There are different types of plans for selling the plugins. Usually, two types of versions are there in the marketplace for any kind of software. They are a free version and pro or paid version. Same things happen with the plugin itself. The free versions are usually free of cost and they just have some basic functionalities. On the other hand, paid versions cost in the different range prices. So the question is now, when to choose free and when to choose paid one? What is the reason for buying the pro/paid version of different plugins?
Reasons to Buy a Plugin for Premium
Here are the reasons why you should buy a premium WordPress plugin, not a free one. Have a quick look at a glance:
- Advanced Functionalities
- Better Coding Structure
- Continued Improvement and Updates
- 24/7 Dedicated Support
- Competitive Advantage
- Extensive Documentation
Now, I am describing all the things one after another. First of all, there are many reasons to buy a premium product like the plugin but the following could be the most striking reasons:
1. Advanced Functionalities
Owner of the plugin usually offers limited functionality in their free version. As it’s their business policy, they usually trigger the visitors by attracting through the free version then turn them into an active customer.
To get the advanced functionalities you have to purchase different plugins means have to choose the pro version of that particular plugin for the respective purpose.
2. Better Coding Structure
Sometimes plugins are developed by the hobbyists who don’t have a proper grasp of a proper coding guideline. This could result in a poorly coded plugin with low performances and security issues.
On the other hand, premium plugins are usually coded in a structured way as they provide a great performance with various functionalities. These kinds of plugins ensure a good site performance that wouldn’t go down after installing the plugin.
3. Continued Improvement and Updates
The developers of a premium plugin usually continue to update and upgrade their plugins by fixing different bugs. They usually add various types of features and functionalities over time as the time demands. If you are a premium customer of the plugin, you will get these updates for free.
Moreover, premium plugins always stay up to date as the developer always working on it. They always hearing what their clients say about the products they are working on. The Premium version also keeps you up to date with the latest release of WordPress. This ensures the adaptability of your plugin with the new atmosphere and most importantly you wouldn’t get stuck with an inappropriate plugin down the line.
4. 24/7 Dedicated Support
By dint of the internet, it’s pretty easy nowadays to keep connected 24/7 with your clients. In the free version, you don’t have any further customer support for your services. This is the case happens in most of the time. In this case, developers are offering a good quality support for the premium version of WordPress plugins which doesn’t happen in case of the free version.
5. Competitive Advantage
Premium version of plugin always provides more functionalities and advantages than that of the free one. And most importantly they provide superior back-end usability as it gives you an instant advantage over your competitors.
For instance, suppose, your competitor is using one of the premium plugins of a particular type, and you are using free one then you need to acknowledge that you are lagging behind and your competitor is using a better tool than you do. In this particular case, it’s very tough for you to win against a better tool your opponent is using.
6. Extensive Documentation
On top of the dedicated support, premium plugins may provide far better documentation than that of free version plugin. Of course, there might have some differences but this happens in most cases. in the many cases, you should check the documentation before you purchase. Then you will probably get the idea of the respective plugin.
In fine, I would say, if you have enough budget, you can give a try for a premium version of the plugin. This will ultimately give you a total solution for filling your purpose. Hopefully, this article helped you and if really did, please don’t forget to let me know your opinion simply by leaving a comment.
