The beauty of WordPress is the accessibility to themes and plugins that you can use to customize your website in minutes. There are millions of free and premium themes as well as plugins that work with WordPress.
However, talking about free and premium should not make us think that these are only the only options that exist. Several plugins and themes use the Freemium model, according to which you have a free product, which however offers additional features or paid extensions.
In this article, we will together go through the different themes and WordPress plugins that follow the “Freemium” model.
1. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is definitely one of the WordPress plugins the most popular. With millions of active installs, WooCommerce has become a brand and it is used to build online stores.
WooCommerce is a free plugin, but in the background it offers paid extensions and "addons" which usually are. You can download these extensions directly from the WooCommerce plugin directory or from CodeCanyon.
Originally developed by WooThemes, WooCommerce was acquired by Automattic along with all WooThemes products for nearly $ 30 million last year. This is one of the main reasons that the success of WooCommerce is quite easy to understand:
- It allows you to quickly create an eCommerce store in a few steps.
- Unlike shopify and other similar products, WooCommerce really doesn't require you to make a purchase up front. The free version of the plugin fulfills most of the needs, for more specific needs you will need extensions.
- WooCommerce is integrated with WordPress, one of the most popular CMS (Find out why in this article)
2. Easy Digital Downloads
A little like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, is also a WordPress Plugin which will allow you to create an eCommerce store on WordPress. Just like WooCommerce, this plugin is originally free, but also offers paid extensions.
However, unlike WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads focuses on digital products. WooCommerce on the other hand focuses on products that have material consistency. Easy Digital Downloads isn't as popular as WooCommerce, but it's a plugin that can be used to build a store with a lot of ease. Since its specialty is digital products, it goes without saying that it offers better functionalities in the sale of this type of product and therefore is preferred by photographers, musicians, ebook writers etc.
3. Ninja Forms
Ninja Forms is a WordPress Plugin which will allow you to create contact forms, surveys, Quizzes and more. In other words, it's plugin that you will use to get feedback from your users.
The basic version of the plugin is also free. It offers paid extensions. The freemium model on which this plugin is based, has contributed to the evolution of its popularity in a short space of time. It's now a popular plugin that has made a name for itself among the existing plugins, just like Gravity Forms. The basic version of the Ninja Forms plugin is actually quite powerful. With the latter, you can create a wide variety of forms (not just contact forms). So if you are looking for a simple solution that will allow you to quickly add forms to your blog, you can rely on it.
4. Awesome Support
Awesome Support is a WordPress Plugin which will allow you to add a help area to your website. If you are using WordPress for your blog and want to create a help area, or ticket system where your customers can seek help for problems they are having, then this plugin is for you.
This plugin is completely free and available on the directory WordPress plugins. It offers a set of free features. However, to do more with it, you will need to purchase paid extensions, which include integration with WooCommerce for example, as well as the ability to respond to tickets by email among others.
Awesome support is a different plugin from others. This plugin has a well-defined audience. You probably won't need to add a “support” section to your blog, but if you want to create an “support” section in a business website, then this plugin is for you.
5. Layers for WordPress
Unlike most plugins in the list, Layers for WP is a theme and not a plugin like the others. However, this is not just a theme. It also offers a suitable constructor (Drag and Drop).
Layers offers a Drag and Drop interface and several customizable sections, templates for pages, shortcodes as well as several features, which will allow you to create a website from scratch. No matter the nature of your website, Layers is quite customizable, responsive and compatible with WooCommerce.
The basic version of the theme is free and moreover open-source. You can extend its functionality by adding premium extensions or addons, or upgrade to the Pro version which offers even more customization options.
Layers is one of those few site builders that quickly gained popularity in a short space of time. One of the reasons is that it ends up on Themeforest. And you will also find a lot of child themes there.
6. Ultimate Member
Ultimate Member is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to add communities to your WordPress website. It allows you to add registrations, login pages, custom fields and roles. You can control the user access privilege, it is a plugin which is also compatible with Mandrill. For additional features, you can migrate to the Pro version with more features.
Of course, Ultimate Member is a unique WordPress plugin that allows you to build a community around a website. The free version is sufficient, but you may need additional features and for that you will need to take the available extensions. This plugin easily integrates with Instagram and WooCommerce.
That's it for this list of WordPress plugins that use the freemium model and have had success. Feel free to share this with your friends on your favorite social networks.
