• One thing that I find frustrating from a user perspective is that it’s not clear enough which plugins are free vs limited/demos.

    I understand that dev’s do this to upsell their premium plugin and I’m not against offering these limited versions. I just feel that plugin publishers should be required to clearly state if they’re offering “extras” on top of the free plugin.

    My suggestion:
    Perhaps WP could add some filters that require dev’s to clearly indicate whether their plugin includes sign-ups, upgrades or any other paid options, even if just for an extra template. Even a filter as simple as “Free” vs “Free (Limited)” would help out a lot of users trying to find a suitable option.

    It’s clear that this is a problem considering most plugins that adopt this upsell strategy tend to attract 1 star reviews from disappointed users who wasted their time installing just to find out features were locked. In some instances features listed / visible in screenshots are also locked. This is like selling a car without wheels, while the advertisement clearly shows a car with wheels.

    What do you think? Sure this might make it slightly harder for some dev’s to sell their premium content, but ultimately users will have an improved browsing experience. Not to mention plugins that are completely free will also benefit as they won’t be competing as much against plugins masquerading as free.

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  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    If you find a plugin in the directory which advertises a feature without clearly disclosing that the feature requires payment, that plugin is absolutely a violation of the terms of the plugin directory here, and please do report it to plugins (at) wordpress (dot) org.

    Plugins provided in the directory here must be 100% free with no features requiring payment to “unlock” unless specifically disclosed in their descriptions.

    Some great examples of that are https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/better-wp-security/ which specifically lists which features are in the Pro version, and https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/vaultpress/ which openly lists that it is a subscription service.

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