PluginTheme.net Review: How Safe Is It?
WordPress is fortunate to have countless developers building plugins and themes that make website customization quick and easy for users. Many plugins follow a freemium model, where basic features are free, but advanced ones come at a cost.
This article takes a closer look at PluginTheme.net, a platform offering WordPress items at reduced prices. But before diving into PluginTheme.net, we need to understand what the WordPress GPL license is all about.
🔥 We highly recommend you take a look at our masterpiece, GPL themes sites and plugin sites, to make the best decision.
What is GPL in WordPress?
Before understanding how WordPress is linked to GPL. Let’s first understand the term —
The term GPL stands for General Public License. It’s an open-source software license that gives users the freedom to use, modify, and share software. The purpose of the GPL license is to encourage collaboration between users and to fit the open-source nature of WordPress.
WordPress as an open-source platform is licensed under GNU GPL.
The GPL license is also open-source, which is why WordPress went with it in the first place.
As a platform under such a license, it basically means that all WordPress works (not just the cms alone) but also its derivatives (i.e., themes and plugins) are all inheriting the open-source nature.
Being open-source means everyone can see the source code and can modify the software as they see fit.
WordPress had intentionally adopted the GPL license to maintain its steady growth as the #1 content management system. Meanwhile, the fact that WordPress is open source is the reason why it has made lots of progress over the years.
The GPL grants four main freedoms:
- Use the software for any purpose.
This means you can install the software and use it however you see fit — whether for personal projects, client websites, or even to test new ideas. - Access and modify the software’s source code.
With GPL-licensed software, you’re not limited to the original design. You can tweak or enhance it to suit your preferences or business needs. Developers give users full access to the their code. - Distribute the original software.
If you download a GPL product, you are free to share it with others just like the original developer does on their platform. - Share modified versions under the same GPL terms.
Any changes you make to a GPL product are still governed by the same rules. If you share your modified version, it must also be under the GPL license. This keeps it open and accessible to others.
What Do These Freedoms Mean for Developers?
Developers working under the GPL model (i.e., producing themes/plugins for WordPress) must accept the reality that they don’t have complete control over their software. Once a plugin or theme is released on WordPress, anyone can share or modify it legally — even without the developer’s permission.
What Do These Freedoms Mean for WordPress Users?
For users, the GPL provides freedom and flexibility. You don’t need to be confined by a product’s original design or pay every time you want to use or tweak it. However, many people are unaware of these rights and as a result, do not take advantage of them.
Platforms like PluginTheme.net use the freedom to legally redistribute premium GPL products, so that everyone can have access. This not only help users save money but also contributes to improvements.
Understanding these principles clears any doubt about the legality of platforms like PluginTheme. They operate well within the bounds of the GPL license.
What is PluginTheme.net?
PluginTheme is a GPL (General Public License) site that offers a wide selection of WordPress themes and plugins to users for free.
The platform works under the umbrella of the GPL license used by WordPress, allowing it to legally distribute plugins and themes to benefit everyone.
What GPL websites like PluginTheme.net normally do is to get a premium license from main developers and then redistribute what it has acquired, as it’s a GPL product.
GPL products refer to WordPress Plugins and Themes released under the open-source license.
PluginTheme.net offers original products but they aren’t untouched — Geeks are hired to bypass the premium license field which developers normally use on their product.
This way, it is accessible to everyone and for unlimited sites.
Let’s now go to the main business.
We’ll review PluginTheme.net in terms of legality, rate at which Plugins/themes get updated and pros and cons.
How Legal is PluginTheme? Is it Safe to use?
PluginTheme is one of the platforms that is making use of the GPL freedoms explored above to share WordPress plugins and themes, perhaps to benefit the entire community.
PluginTheme obtains software tools from actual developers directly and then distributes the products themselves for free (without customer support, though).
The distributed products are backed up by the freedom of redistribution, allowing the platform to share free premium WordPress plugins and themes.
This means PluginTheme is a lawful platform in terms of legality, as they operate within the GPL license freedoms.
Typically, platforms like PluginTheme.net share only GPL products that have already passed safety guidelines for building for WordPress.
Note: All WordPress plugins and themes are GPL products. GPL (General Public License) means the freedom to use, modify, and distribute WordPress products.
In essence, what GPL platforms like PluginTheme are sharing are the original versions of WordPress themes and plugins that can be downloaded from actual developers, but in this case, they are shared for free.
In most cases, the only changes that platforms like PluginTheme.net make on products — is bypassing the premium license field so that people can have access.
The changes called “nulling” doesn’t mostly produce any threat, therefore PluginTheme.net is mostly safe to use.
However, users shouldn’t rely wholly on the fact that the platform is using GPL freedoms for redistribution, because even when that is the topic, threats can come up. That’s why it’s always good to rescan whatever Plugin or theme you’re getting from PluginTheme.net, before finally uploading it to your site.
It’s worth mentioning that most GPL sites charge a small fee to keep renewing their subscriptions with the main developers. The same can be seen on PluginTheme.net.
Are the Products on PluginTheme Updated?
Another key area to explore in this review of PluginTheme.net is the rate of their update! Do they even offer it?
Yes, PluginTheme offers updates for any theme or plugin you download from the site.
Some products are prioritized in terms of upgrades and others receive updates on an irregular basis.
We noticed that top plugins and themes for WordPress like as you would find if you make a search are mostly up-to-date. After a while following developer’s release, the latest version is uploaded to the platform and potential users will be able to have current versions.
For items that aren’t commonly used, updates can be challenging as the platform focuses on what users are downloading most. However, our evaluation found out that — even if the product isn’t in the latest version, it mostly won’t be far behind what is current.
Why can’t I find a particular Theme or Plugin on PluginTheme.net?
There are many reasons that can cause PluginTheme.net to miss a particular theme or plugin in their set.
One of the reasons is the nature of the Plugin.
Developers are getting wise these days. Because GPL sites like Plugin Theme have one way or the other reduced their sales.
So instead of fully releasing their stuff under the GPL license, they release part of it under another license which won’t permit platforms like PluginTheme to tamper with.
Another reason why you didn’t find your desired Plugin or theme on the platform is that, it has limited availability of WordPress solutions.
The library size (3,000+) of the platform isn’t the biggest, so you might not find a particular solution there.
In such cases, you can review other GPL theme sites and browse their library for the stuff you’re looking for.
🔥We do recommend platforms like Srmehranclub, Pluginsforwp and WorldPressIT over PluginTheme because of their huge library size and other amazing features like automatic updates right from the WordPress area.
Visit the masterpiece — Best WordPress GPL products Re-distributors and make the best decision.
PluginTheme.net Pricing Breakdown
Unlike some GPL platforms that don’t allow one to purchase single products, PluginTheme’s pricing plans serve every use case.
- Starting from $4.49 per item
- $15 month (unlimited downloads)
- $69 yearly (unlimited downloads)
- $99 lifetime (unlimited downloads)
PluginTheme Alternatives and Competitors
The urge to type “PluginTheme Alternative” on search can come up because of these reasons —
PluginTheme lacks a good number of plugins and themes, let’s say unpopular ones that can enable a particular function on your site.
PluginTheme.net also doesn’t automatically update items from WordPress directly. This gives users the headache of manually downloading and uploading new versions.
PluginTheme only distributes WordPress products. If you want items for Shopify, and other CMS (that works like WordPress), then the platform is not a place to find them.
Here are the best PluginTheme.net alternatives you might consider exploring before going with the platform.
- Pluginsforwp, best overall GPL site for WordPress themes and plugins (10,000+ products)
- Srmehranclub, a GPL site that offers solutions beyond WordPress (33,500+ products)
- WorldPressIT, the best GPL site for single-download preferences (3,500+ products)
- GPL Vault, another great place for GPL Downloads (4,700+).
Other PluginTheme alternatives
Here are other alternative platforms to PluginTheme.net. Unlike the previous ones, they aren’t the leading ones, so they may lack important features like the ability to get Automatic Updates on WordPress.
We also haven’t deeply covered or tested them. Therefore, do your homework properly before giving any of them a try.
Clicking the links lead to our review pages. Note: We highly recommend you use the ones that made it to our list – Best GPL Websites.
PluginTheme Pros and Cons
If you decide not to patronize actual developers; if you decide not to buy from leading GPL websites, here are the pros and cons that comes from doing so.
PluginTheme Pros
- Useful for short-term usage and testing of products without paying the original price
PluginTheme Cons
- Uncommon Plugins and Themes are mostly not in its library
- No automatic updates directly from WordPress unlike the likes of Srmehranclub
Conclusion
PluginTheme exists as a platform that exploits WordPress GPL to distribute its derivative work at ridiculously cheap prices.
The goal of the platform is to share WordPress items to benefit the entire community and it aligns with the freedoms from the GPL license.
In terms of legality and safety, PluginTheme.net aced the test, respecting GPL freedoms whilst also taking advantage of it.
The platform can be a game changer for those who are financially incapable of building a desired site or it can be a place of testing before final order from actual developers.
While people can create WordPress websites at a low cost using PluginTheme.net, we don’t recommend it at all because it’s a threat to those who own the WordPress items.
Unless for testing or for review purposes, intentional use of platforms like PluginTheme should be seen as an unethical practice.
FAQs
Is PluginTheme Legal?
Yes, the platform operates within the GPL license freedoms for redistributing themes and plugins, which would otherwise cost more from the developers’ end.
Is PluginTheme Legit?
Yes, PluginTheme is a legit place to get themes and plugins for WordPress at a ridiculously cheap price.
However, potential users are advised to exercise caution by rescanning the products for 100% security.
Is PluginTheme an ethical place for a WordPress Plugin/Theme store?
The platform is mostly unethical. The same can be said of other GPL platforms.
Because even when the law permits it, it’s not fair to exist as a platform where such are distributed.
These developers in question are actually humans and they spend a considerable amount of time building for WordPress.
Can I buy from a GPL site for testing or review purposes?
Yes, a person with the right mindset can only use these GPL sites for a short-term period.
But the mind can still go shady anytime. And there’s a high chance of getting stuck at GPL sites after the first encounter.
What I can say is that – only use GPL sites like PluginTheme for short-term use cases. Then do well to pay actual developers for the products you like.
Customer support service and 99.9% security comes by doing so. And before I forget, early UPDATES.
What’s the best GPL platform?
The best GPL site can vary based on the pattern of judgement.
GPL websites are constantly changing and new ones do come up.
To find the best one at the time of your reading, visit our masterpiece — The Best GPL Websites to buy premium WordPress plugins and themes.
