Updated January 2021.

WordPress powered 35% of the Internet – approximately 455,000,000 websites – in 2020, and for good reason: the user-friendly interface, coupled with the myriad plugins and add-ons that are available, make it a small business owner’s dream.

WordPress plugins are great for optimizing your website with special features quickly and easily without the need to write code. The WordPress Plugin Directory alone offers more than 50,000 plugins available for installation, with each plugin being subject to strict review for safety and usability before being listed. This includes free plugins, too.

However, though free WordPress plugins can undoubtedly be helpful, it’s worth it in some cases to buy the paid versions to get the job done. Why? Because paid, or “premium,” plugins offer an extra level of customization, control, and reliability for users that most free plugins don’t.

Pro Tip: Choosing Free vs. Paid Plugins on WordPress

A great rule of thumb for deciding whether or not to pay for a premium WordPress plugin is to ask yourself, “Does the monetization of my website rely on this plugin working properly?”. If the answer is “yes,” you’re better off paying for it.

Paid plugins include the support of a dedicated team actively working on issues reported by other users. This team’s job is to enhance and update paid plugins, thus saving you the hassle of constantly checking your website to ensure proper functionality. Additionally, most free plugins have limited features and lack customization and control. Their paid counterparts, however, are a different story.

Here are some instances where we always opt for premium plugins, and we think you should, too:

Spam Protection

A primary goal for any WordPress site owner is to get more traffic to their website. The more footing your website gains, however, the more likely you’re going to start noticing something else, too: SPAM!

Annoying spam comments that fill up your inbox and flood your website can be incredibly time-consuming to monitor and remove. More importantly, having spam comments and hyperlinks on your site puts you at risk of being penalized by Google. As a result, your site may be removed from Google’s search results, thereby undoing all the hard work you’ve done to increase traffic to your site.

Because we’re sure you’d rather spend your time doing things that don’t include sifting through your website for spam, anti-spam WordPress plugins are an excellent investment. Paid spam protection plugins block pesky comments and hyperlinks to ensure your site’s core functioning and integrity—making premium plugins an absolute must in this regard.

Website Forms

In our experience, users are always better off using premium plugins for web forms. With paid form plugins, you can show or hide fields, change field values, and list items based on user input. Paid plugins allow for more customization and control over form layout and appearance. They also enable you to create more interactive forms that adapt to user inputs.

Features Requiring High Levels of Customization

For the meticulous DIY Digital Marketers out there, paid plugins are perfect for transforming creative visions into palpable features on your website. Suppose it’s your goal to provide web users with an engaging, interactive homepage, landing page, or contact page saturated in high-end design that you can control down to the most minute detail. In that case, premium plugins are the way to go. Chances are— if you can dream it, there’s a premium WordPress plugin that allows for it, boasting seamless integration and endless customization the whole way through.

For more help navigating the world of WordPress plugins, get in touch with a TTG Marketing Mentor today!
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Sources:

https://www.bluehost.com/blog/the-difference-between-free-vs-premium-plugins
https://cgscomputer.com/wordpress-plugins-paid-vs-free/
https://winningwp.com/ninja-forms-free-vs-ninja-forms-premium
https://www.hostgator.com/blog/anti-spam-wordpress-plugins
https://blogvault.net/free-vs-paid-plugins-vs-wordpress-services/
https://www.wpexplorer.com/akismet-spam-plugin-wordpress/
https://wordpress.org/plugins/elementor