Back in 2020, I was working with a property with its own website, which I took over management of as part of my employer’s service. After my initial login, I discovered that the website designer who created the website had used a plugin called WPBakery, and after exploring it, I really liked what it had to offer.
I love the plugin so much that I recommended that my employer buy a multi-website license for it to use for future projects. Despite what I will be describing, I still love the plugin’s functionality.
When you purchase a license, or multiple licenses, from the time of purchase, you get a year of ‘support’, which I have never used because, in my view, it’s a plugin that does not need support as it just works.
It was bought as a one-time purchase, with support being an optional extra for those who want it. But the developer behind it is now really seeking to modify the agreement to be a subscription without absolutely denying updates, which would be against the terms of the original lifetime license many purchased.
I claim this because, despite the original set of lifetime licenses being well out of the support period, I could still get regular updates through the WordPress admin area until a recent update, version 8.01. After updating to this version, when I try to update through WordPress, I get a message saying, “Automatically updates for the plugin are available to the clients with a valid support period – you can renew it here. To update manually, visit our customer center to download the latest version.”
I have purchased 6 licenses, and every time I want the latest version, I have to download it from their website and manually upload it via FTP to each of the six websites, which is highly time-consuming. If this is the case, as I have already purchased 6 licenses, have a login, and can download the latest version, why do I need to buy another license? Besides removing the nag screen in the WordPress admin about purchasing a license, the software is fully functional, aside from some AI features I have never used.
Companies have to make money to survive, but this is not the way; modifying the license after purchase just pisses people off, hence why I am writing this blog. Although WPBakery has effectively implemented a soft subscription with a workaround, updates were available through WP admin for years outside the support period; this change happened in the past month. The developer hopes that the inconvenience factor will make website owners pay another $49 per year per domain for support just to simply hit update in the WordPress admin area, and in reality, many probably will; I am not one of those people.
I’m not against a company changing the product for new purchases, as long as the change in terms and conditions is made clear upfront. Based on this information, future purchasers can decide whether to buy, and the free market will determine its fate. However, I object to changing the product features after the customer has already purchased an unlimited license. Technically, it’s still unlimited, but how many will go through all that effort for incremental updates, which are mostly bug fixes, to the software?