This is fine, but taking that link you provided as an example, that doesn’t scale. This is why we opted for a locally installed database.
If we update the plugin to use his “free” service, who pays for it? Because there’s always a cost.
Does he pay for everyone to use it at scale? Is that really fair?
Why should he have to pay?
Can his little Digital Ocean server meet everyone’s requirements?
Free solutions rarely ever last. A mistake repeated for decades on the internet. I’m not comfortable building solutions where other people have to foot the bill. Time and again they get discovered and exploited and they become unsustainable.
What happens when the load on his servers gets too much and he pulls the plug? We’re right back where we’re started – in fact, we’re worse off.
I think we’d all do better to start looking for which paid services we can afford – which services we can help sustain and contribute to – rather than looking for which free services we can get for nothing.
Several times in this forum I have raised the idea that we dedicate resources – yep, our money – to rebuilding this plugin to use a more reliable system. Nearly every single time I’ve done that, that’s where the conversation ends. Proverbial crickets. Many are happy to get a service for free, but much less prepared to make it sustainable.
So I’m not updating this plugin to use his API, but thanks though for the suggestion and for passing it along. It’s given me some ideas for where to take it.
And please don’t take what I’ve said the wrong way. I’m not getting at you or your suggestion. I think it’s great that you were able to get something put together yourself and if it works for you, then sweet! ?? I want more people to start to see the false hope of “free”. Nothing, not even WordPress, is free. There is always a cost, even though you or I may not be the ones to pay it.
