Premium plugins have been around for a while now. They started off as a way for people to express their support for a plugin developer and over the past year have started to take off. GravityForms, PluginBuddy and CodeCanyon have all contributed to the rise to prominence. But where next for premium plugins? This post explores.
What makes a plugin premium?
For argument’s sake, premium means paid for. So, by that definition, a premium plugin is a plugin which you must purchase.
Places like CodeCanyon, pictured above, have a huge range of genuinely great plugins available for you to buy. CodeCanyon and other plugin marketplaces also represent a move away from “buy the premium version of my plugin to show your appreciation” and a move towards “buy my plugin cause I spent ages making it and it offers some brilliant functionality that you can’t get elsewhere”.
I’m not for a second saying that you shouldn’t support the development of free plugins, just that premium plugins appear to offer a more sustainable and attractive business model.
People will also buy plugins that save them a lot of time. 🙂 At least that’s what we’ve found.
aside from that, people are willing to buy a plugin that is well-supported.
This is true and what I was trying to get at in the post 🙂
[…] Pienaar wrote a bit about how he sees success in the small victories at WooThemes. Alex Denning started a discussion about paid WordPress plugins at WPShout.Siobhan Ambrose at WPMU.org thinks everyone should get a […]