The GPL License, which is the foundation of all WordPress templates and plugins and their repository, is an excellent license, without a doubt. It allowed WordPress to become what it is today, and have a wonderful community form around it.
There has been a small increase in the number of people taking advantage of the LPG in a way that many do not consider to be ethical. I'm talking about plugin stores that are selling plugins created by other people.
We are not talking about ripware sites, but about new businesses built solely around selling products not developed by the sellers.
Which raises some questions:
- Is it ethical to profit so much from other people's hard work?
- How will we ensure that users know they will be choosing between purchasing from the original developer or a third party?
- What kind of support can reseller companies offer?
- Are these companies sustainable? How long will they last?
- Isn't it bad for customers that some of these companies operate anonymously?
There are strong opinions both for and against in the WordPress community. From observations that say the proliferation of these stores has not had a negative effect on plugins and their original stores. In fact, most of the developers we spoke to are not concerned and don't care about exposing resellers. They prefer to focus on improving their product and their customers who continue to pay annually for the support provided.
The people behind these companies (most of them anonymous, due to the stigma), maintain that everything they do is legal, and they are doing a job comparable to that of a modern-day Robin Hood in making the themes and plugins more accessible.
Here are some of the most famous websites that resell WordPress templates and plugins, licensed under the GPL.
GPL Vault
It is one of the newest sites, and it has a very professional appearance. It's the most legitimate website we know, with many plugins and themes from the best WordPress companies. It also has the most affordable plan and has no download restrictions.
GPLGuru
GPLguru provides WooThemes,WooCommerce, Gravity Forms, Elegant Themes, iThemes, WPMU-Dev etc. You can get a number of premium plugins, addons or extensions from 5$. It has a simplified price with regular product updates, and discounts for those who subscribe to a 6-month or annual plan.
CMSMarket
CMS Market provides around 3400 themes and plugins for WordPress, making it probably the largest collection on any website of its kind. It has premium themes and plugins for Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal and OpenCart at good prices. These products have unlimited domain use, 24/7 technical support and free updates.
Presidency
Presidency.io is another site whose aim is to provide premium plugins at a low price, without including support. They only focus on premium add-ons for WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads e-commerce plugins. Not all add-ons are currently available, those that are are up to date.
WooSociety
Woosociety has many premium WooCommerce extensions and some plugins for every need. You can buy plugins individually or join WooSociety to get 190+ tools and plugins worth 10,000$ for just 15$ per month.
WooGang
Subscription for 15$ month. Around 2000 members and growing. Includes WooCommerce themes and plugins, as well as Storefront extensions. Other non-Woo plugins are also included: BacukpBuddy, Gravity Forms and Affiliates Pro.
GPLPlugins
Subscriptions at 19$ per month or 99$ per year. It includes many WooCommerce plugins and themes as well as many other premium plugins like WP All Import, WPML, AffiliateWP, Advanced Custom Fields Pro, WP Job Manager and Gravity Forms.
GPL Club
A payment of 179$ per year or around 10$ per plugin. It includes WooCommerce extensions and themes as well as other premium plugins like WPML and BackupBuddy.
Andy Sozot
Subscription of 15$ per month. Individual purchases are also possible. Includes WooCommerce and other plugins. Some examples: Advanced Custom Fields Pro, Events Calendar Pro, BackupBuddy, Gravity Forms, iThemes Security Pro and more.
WP Null
A Russian site that offers a huge collection of themes and plugins. One of the best in terms of its vast collection of WordPress themes. It has a point-based system for downloading files.
Ultimate Woo
This one is quite different. The owner of this website decided to sell 72 WooCommerce modules in one big package.
There are three pricing tiers as shown below, along with a free version that includes 15 WooCommerce extensions.
UltimateWoo also provides support and automatic updates for its plugins, which again is very different from other stores that only offer plugins without automatic updates or any type of support.
Woo GPL
It offers 170+ WooCommerce plugins and has 1000+ happy customers. The website has an ultra professional appearance.
Subscription worth 10$per month or 89$ per year.
Apart from numerous WooCommerce plugins and themes they also provide other plugins such as iThemes BackupBuddy and Security Pro, AppThemes, Affiliates Pro and Gravity Forms.
GPLDL
Another well-organized site that provides over 700 premium themes and plugins. The main objective is to sell Woo themes and plugins, but there are also many plugins from other sellers. Some of them WPML, events Calendar Pro, ACF Pro and several plugins from Elegantthemes and OboxThemes. This is the only plugin that has WPMU Dev Plugins (the complete set)
The GPLDL is currently free.
WPSpring
15$ month. You can also upgrade to a subscription that includes all themes for 25$ per month.
They also sell StudioPress themes (the complete set) for 10$ per month. Apart from the WooCommerce plugins, this site also has other plugins such as Gravity Forms, BackupBuddy, Events Calendar Pro and iThemes Security Pro. It is one of the few sites that offers the Yoast Premium SEO bundle.
Proserve
99$ per year or lifetime for $299. All plugins are available for 15$ each. There are updates, although it is not known whether they are automatic or only available if we return to the website to download new versions.
Owlego
Most plugins are available for 10$, and subscriptions can be purchased for 25$ per month or 99$ per year. There are a large number of plugins available, which include WooCommerce, EDD, Yoast and AffiliateWP. They also have a large collection of themes.
ThemeCanal
15$ month or 60$ per year. Individual items can be purchased for prices up to 5$. There are no automatic updates or support, one year of access to updates.
GPL.Life
Individual plugins or themes available from 5$. No support. Subscriptions of 99$ per year or 14$ per month.
96Down
Includes all types of WordPress themes and plugins. This site adds credits within the plugins so for those looking for plugins identical to those sold by the original sellers, this will not be a good choice. Plugins and themes are absolutely free.
WPEka
Now it also sells its own plugins.
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