A WordPress website costs money
And not so little if you have them professionally designed. The photographer asks for money, the copywriter, the web developer. Professional services don’t come for free.
Only WordPress, isn’t that free?
This idea is firmly anchored in many people’s minds, which is why WordPress is often recommended to others. Many customers are then surprised that one or the other plugin is not free after all. The following annual expenses are usually not expected:
- the Divi Theme* costs approx. USD 90,-/year
- Elementor Pro* costs approx. USD 50/year
- WPML * for multilingual websites costs approx. USD 80/year
- Setting up the WooCommerce store in a legally compliant manner costs approx. EUR 80/year for the plugins and a few hours of work by a professional
- Further extensions of WooCommerce cost USD 200,-/year
- a professional backup plugin(offline!) also costs from approx. USD 50/year
Great astonishment is then usually the result.
There are good reasons why plugins and themes for WordPress MUST cost money:
Reason 1: Because programming yourself would take much more time
Programming takes time. A lot of time. Much more time than you can imagine. In addition, it is often impossible to estimate the exact time. Some functions can be programmed in a few minutes, while other technical challenges take hours to solve.
A “simple event plugin” for WordPress or a “simple job board” (both quotes from customers ;-) ) can be created really quickly with the right tool.
BUT! Then the customer comes and wants special functions. Such as an Ajax search, filters, a calendar view, an application form and applicant management. And suddenly time, really a lot of time, flows into the project.
However, if I buy a ready-made premium plugin and customize it, I save a lot of time. And therefore costs.
Reason 2: Because customizing a free solution does not make economic sense
But isn’t “everything” available in the form of free plugins anyway?
I’ve had customers who spend hours installing, testing and deleting various free plugins. Apart from the fact that they catch data garbage and security holes, a lot of time is also lost.
Of course, with your own projects, it’s not a big issue how much time goes into them. My own website is also “hand-optimized” in some places and some little things have taken hours to adjust.
Only as a service provider I can neither know all 60,000 free plugins nor invest hours of time to try them out. Only to discover that a function is missing. Or the design doesn’t fit.
With professional, well-maintained premium plug-ins, you can achieve your goal much faster and therefore more cost-effectively. This also makes much more economic sense than spending hours testing plug-ins.
By the way: I have found, tested and correctly configured my favorite plugins for WordPress over the last few years. I call the entire WordPress installation“Clean WordPress” and you can also download and install it. Learn more about Clean WordPress.
Reason 3: Because you get support
If you purchase a premium plugin* or premium theme*, you will not only receive the plugin file, but also the option to contact the manufacturer.
This can be useful for setup problems, bugs with your WordPress installation or questions about functions. In my experience, actively maintained premium plugins are often answered within a few hours and the support team is eager to help.
In the event of tricky problems, the team members also log into your WordPress to analyze the error.
Of course, the WordPress community is also great and helps. There are great Facebook groups where beginners and advanced users can ask their questions. However, only the support team can make changes to the plugin itself.
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Reason 4: Because plugins should be of high quality
You have probably already experienced that there are countless plugins in the WordPress plugin repository for the same problem. However, most of the plugins are no good, as you will notice shortly after installation.
The reason for this is that the author of the plugin has the problem
- wanted to solve for himself,
- has solved,
- published the plugin and then
- has lost motivation.
Why develop a plugin further, answer questions and expand it when your own problem has already been solved?
The plugin still remains in the plugin repository.
Despite bad code, missing functions and/or security gaps.
As you can see, it takes a lot of time to create high-quality plugins* that cover many functions and work smoothly. However, high-quality plugins help you save time in the long term and keep your WordPress system secure.
Reason 5: Because you want to receive regular updates
The world is constantly evolving. WordPress Core releases new functions, security vulnerabilities are discovered or new browsers are released.
In many of these cases, it is necessary to adapt the plugins. Otherwise you have an outdated plugin that makes your WordPress vulnerable. Plugins that are not maintained or updated (after a weak password) are the main cause of hacked WordPress installations.
So you want to receive regular updates.
Someone also has to program, test and make these updates available.
This costs time and therefore money, which a programmer invests.
Reason 6: Because programmers also have families to support
Not all programmers are nerds who only live on cheap pizza and Coke ;-) And even they need money to exchange for pizza and Coke.
Just as you want to be fairly remunerated for your work, the programmer of a plugin also wants to feed his family.
But why don’t you want to spend money on it? Don’t you appreciate the performance?
You run your site to earn money, don’t you?
Your website should be worth (some) money to you …
The main problem I see is the greed-is-cool mentality that is unfortunately becoming more and more prevalent.
If you run your website purely as a hobby, ask yourself how much money you spend on other hobbies. Money that you might not even think about.
Perhaps you also want to show your appreciation in the form of a small amount of money once a year to those who develop secure plugins with great functions for you?
If you are an entrepreneur, then you want to earn money with your website. If you don’t give anything, why should others express their appreciation to you in the form of money?
I also often hear “I don’t know yet whether I will earn anything with my shop/my project/my website/my idea!” Well, that’s called an “investment” or “entrepreneurial risk”. Be honest – is EUR 80 really a “risk” for you?
Next time you find yourself spending a lot of time searching for a free plugin, pause for a moment:
- Ask yourself whether it’s worth the time to save a few euros.
- Think about what you get for your money (support, updates …).
- Think of the programmer who created the perfect solution for you in a wonderfully complex environment!
And then – invest in yourself and your online business:-)
Let’s just build websites,
Michael
