{"id":164969,"date":"2017-05-29T13:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/premium.wpmudev.org\/blog\/?p=164969"},"modified":"2017-10-15T08:05:25","modified_gmt":"2017-10-15T08:05:25","slug":"determining-quality-free-wordpress-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/determining-quality-free-wordpress-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ways to Determine the Quality of a Free WordPress Plugin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you\u2019re a developer who loves to code or you\u2019re an implementer looking to design high-quality sites without breaking too much of a sweat, at some point you\u2019ll want to turn to WordPress plugins for help.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, it\u2019s not worth it to try and figure out the manual way of adding popup messages<\/a> to your site or animating your new landing page<\/a>. With so many awesome plugins out there, why spend your time coding that functionality from scratch when someone else has already done it for you?<\/p>\n

Granted, there\u2019s always the cost issue to worry about. Well, not all high-quality and useful plugins cost money to use. In fact, many of the top-rated and most commonly used plugins are free (think of ones like Jetpack<\/a>, Akismet<\/a>, and W3 Total Cache<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The only problem with saying that free WordPress plugins are just as good as premium plugins is\u2026 well, that\u2019s not always the case.<\/p>\n

So, how do you know when a free plugin can be trusted? Are free plugins better than freemium? And which free plugins do you actually need to use without going overboard on your WordPress site? I\u2019ll cover all of these points as we review what to look out for when choosing free WordPress plugins.<\/p>\n

A Guide to Choosing Free WordPress Plugins<\/h2>\n

In this guide, we\u2019re taking a look at free WordPress plugins. This means that both free plugins and freemium plugins are fair game.<\/p>\n

Now, a \u201cfree\u201d plugin means exactly what you think it would mean: the plugin does not cost any money to use. Period. \u201cFreemium\u201d plugins, on the other hand, are still technically free to use; however, they also come with a paid version that you can upgrade to. In other words, freemium plugins are the option between free and paid.<\/p>\n

Why do I bother mentioning this if free and freemium are basically one in the same for the purposes of this argument? Well, there are some who may wonder if freemium plugins are better than free ones.<\/p>\n

In all honesty, that\u2019s not necessarily the case. There are some really awesome and totally free plugins out there. But a freemium plugin usually means there\u2019s more support, documentation, and updates available since there\u2019s a developer maintaining a paid version of it. They\u2019re also a great option if you\u2019re hoping to scale your website as traffic grows, giving you more room to grow with your plugin.<\/p>\n

Having established the two types of free plugins available for WordPress, let\u2019s now get into what the pros and cons are in using free plugins on your website.<\/p>\n

Weighing the Pros and Cons of Free WordPress Plugins<\/h3>\n

While I\u2019d love to say that the pros outweigh the cons, this is sort of like a buyer beware situation. Typically, when someone gives you something for free, there\u2019s a caveat. That\u2019s not to say that you should avoid free plugins. I\u2019d argue the opposite. It really just means that you need to be extra careful when choosing them.<\/p>\n

Here is a quick rundown of the good and the bad:<\/p>\n

The Pros<\/b><\/p>\n