Note from Joost: Marieke and I have decided to start taking turns writing this weekly column, to even better reflect the multiple worlds within WordPress. So, this week, it’s me!
When I started building plugins in 2006, premium plugins did not exist. I just built plugins because I felt functionality was missing in the WordPress ecosystem. I developed several plugins that later became WordPress SEO, which in turn was rebranded to Yoast SEO. Currently, I am – once again – building plugins. I do that for the same reasons I started building plugins in 2006. I miss functionality and features in WordPress core or in existing plugins. While I am doing the same thing as I was doing back then, the WordPress ecosystem has changed tremendously. In this post, I reflect on the two biggest changes in the WordPress plugin business.
Premium plugins
The biggest change in the WordPress plugin ecosystem is that, nowadays, plugins are a way to make money. In 2008, my employer asked me whether ‘I thought these plugins were ever going to make money.’ In 2010 – I founded Yoast and was making money with consultancy – WordPress SEO had over a million installs. I got so many support questions. I could not deal with that. I had been building plugins for over 4 years, yet the plugins did not make me any money (this led to me talking about the Victory of the Commons at WordCamp Europe in Leiden).
It makes sense to have a premium model for a plugin. It’s the best way to ensure the code’s quality and answer your users’ questions. However, nowadays, many businesses start with a plugin because they want to make money, which leads to a different dynamic. You should start a plugin because you’ve found a way to improve the WordPress experience. With that, you’ll probably be able to make a lot of money, but in my opinion, money should never really be the sole reason to do anything.
The role of hosts
The second change in the WordPress ecosystem is the role hosts play. When I started releasing plugins, users would install them themselves. Later, when we started selling premium plugins, we would sell them directly to the users. That dynamic has changed. Nowadays, hosts do a lot of pre-installing of plugins. Plugin owners and hosts sometimes collaborate and share profits on the premium sales.
There are also “ecosystem plugins” like Elementor that create more of and more of their own marketplaces within their environments. They’ll market your plugin but have their own requirements (in Elementor’s case, being compatible with the last 3 versions of Elementor, for instance). By trying to promote plugins that integrate well with their plugin, they’re trying to limit their support burden (and sometimes make some affiliate revenue).
What are the consequences?
It’s harder for a small plugin without connections to grow in this new WordPress ecosystem. You’ll probably need to talk to hosts and major other players to be able to grow. BTW, Post Status is, of course, the place for that. Hosts also play a role in the sales of plugins, which was not the case when I started out. At the same time, they do part of the marketing and could help with the rapid growth of innovative plugins.
Focusing too much on making money is not necessarily beneficial to the ecosystem. The focus should always be on adding value to the user and creating features that benefit the user — making all of WordPress better in the process. So, was it better in 2006? No. It was just different. Very different.
