Are free WP plugins worth it considering update hells ?

by 5 replies
6
Hi, I have just had some bad experience with a free plugin on wordpress.org . It was working great for a few days but then it just stopped working.

WordPress › JQuery Html5 File Upload « WordPress Plugins

Contacted support and others did too but no answer.
It seems free plugins are completely useless and asking someone else to correct it cost the same as creating it from scratch.

I am having a membership site where I need each member to be able to upload images of their certificates and a few other images for storage (Maximum 100-200 images but most will probably only need about 30-50).

So the above plugin was perfect because it automatically created a directory for each member and showed thumbnails of each image too.
The upload page was generated on a WP page inserting a shortcode and worked perfectly with the membership software.

It seems I must have a programmer and a designer to be able to make a great site. Updates needed constantly (?) and WP plugins seems to be very unstable. I wish there was something more stable to rely on but I guess there isnt ? HTML ?
#programming #free #hells #plugins #update #worth
  • Did you install any new plugin recently?

    If so try to uninstall it and check the plugin again. Actually it is the truth that you can not expect premium support like paid things but in my experience I got good support from free plugin writers.
  • Sounds like you've just had a bad experience and it's certainly not fair to discredit all plugins in the repository. Especially as the poster above mentioned, it may have nothing whatsoever to do with the plugin but could instead be related to something else you've installed.

    I use a combination of free and premium plugins on all my sites and have done for many years. I can't really say I've had too many problems to be honest and if I have I'll either try to get support from the WP community, do some sleuthing and try to figure it out for myself or find another solution for what I'm trying to achieve.

    Don't lose faith with WP and the repository. There's 1000's of great plugins on there and a lot of talented coders.

    Steve
  • Hi, most free plugins work well but since they are free you aren't going to get dedicated support.

    It will cost you money to have an expert correct a problem on your site. Websites are basically software, so those skills are very handy (but not cheap) if you want to run a pro website.

    If you're stuck, try a different plugin that performs the same function.
    • [1] reply
    • I think there should be an update fee for plugins so that great plugins gets updated. A sort of a update backing system where every user can add some $ to get it updated. And when the amount is reached the programmer start working on it. Would be better than have to make a completely new one which it seems that I need. I have search a lot for a plugin where users can upload and have their own database/section.

      I understand 100% why an author wouldnt continue for free year after year, obviously.

      Steve Fleming: I just notice how a lot of plugins have unanswered support posts in the wordpress.org forum and the plugin has stopped working or have a serious problem. In this particular case it is the plugin which was working from the beginning and then a few days later it was not. I had done no changes to my site and others have the same problem.
      I guess I have actually lost faith a little. Thanks for your inputs...
  • What theme are you using with the plugin? Did you try using one of the default themes? Twenty xxxx?

    There are many themes where the developer is quite active supporting them, this particular one is somewhat lacking in the last few weeks at least in that regard.
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