WordPress is well known for having millions of Free Plugins within its repositories. And many of them are maintained quite well. WordPress provides a way to see the plugins review and rating that makes it easy to select the plugins needed to be installed within your website.
I have been using few free plugins within most of my WordPress projects. I include them as most of my custom wordpress development. To name the few, some of the plugins that I love include, Advanced Custom Fields, WordPress SEO , iTheme Security, Contact Form 7, etc. All of these plugins are amazing and serve their purpose. They have good code base, well written and can be extended to add more functionalities.
But depending upon various factors such as complexity of the project, time vs cost, support of the plugin etc., there might be cases when choosing a premium plugin can be a good option. Some of the premium plugins that I have used and would like to refer include WordPress Stripe , Gravity Forms , Advanced Custom Field Pro etc.
Why Use Premium Plugins
In most cases, the main reason behind using a premium plugin is the case where you want added functionalities that a free plugin cannot provide.
But to be aware that not all paid plugins might be the best option. It’s your responsibility to do proper research, go through the list of added functionalities that the plugin provides, look at the reviews and feedback of the plugins and make your mind.
Saying so, a well selected premium plugin brings so many added functionalities within the website as well as save time and money.
Hereby listing the main advantages of premium plugins.
Premium Plugins add new features
Premium Plugins come with extra and specific functions. These will in turn provide flexibility to add new feature within the website.
Well Maintained and Well Supported
Premium Plugins in most of the cases have a team working behind it. The team makes sure the plugin is maintained well, updated and tested to be compatible with latest version of wordpress, fix the security and bug issues submitted by the user etc.
Some of the premium plugins make revenues in millions and there are many plugins making revenue in six figures at the moment. The main revenue comes from selling new licenses as well as upgrade. Reason behind this, being well maintained code as well as fast support too.
Code Quality and Frequent Updates
As stated above Premium Plugins are maintained well and by team of developers, which in turn lead to better and manageable code quality.
There might be case of adding new update, for example, if plugin uses third party APIs or tools, and for some reason there is an update on API, the team makes sure the next version of the release comes with the compatibility.
Documentation
Another reason using Premium Plugin is the quality of documentation. Most of the premium plugins have well maintained documentation and resources. A well written documentation or even some sample codes save lot of time and effort of adding new functionalities within the website.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a properly selected plugin can save time and effort and add new functionalities within your website. As mentioned above, to better suit the plugin as per your requirement a careful and proper research is needed.