I’ll get straight to the point: as of OMGF v4.5 some features will be removed from the free version in favor of superior and more flexible features in OMGF Pro.
This post is to timely inform you of these changes, so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
If this news pisses you off, let me start off by saying: I get you and I got you. Just stay calm and read this post to the end. Then decide your next move.
It’s not about forcing you to Pay
Let me start off by saying that this isn’t just a matter of free options moving to premium, or forcing you to pay.
It’s much more than that and you can take my word for it that this was a tough decision to make, but. There’s a but.
As a WordPress developer I want to make my plugins live up to the highest possible standards, and…
As an entrepeneur I want to create incentive for users of the free version to buy the Pro version.
I’m sure you get that.
Quality & Sustainability VS Asshandery
OMGF v4 was the beginning of a major refactor in OMGF’s legacy (built on PHP ~5.6) code. To maintain and increase compatibility and extendability with future WordPress and PHP versions, this had to be done.
Since then almost every update contained minor or major compatibility fixes and I’ve had quite a few moments where moving — or even removing — a piece of code or feature would make more sense. Sometimes it would even save me a lot of time.
Each time I decided against it, because it felt like “bad sportsmanship” and, to be frank (no, not you, Frank), I didn’t want another last November on my ass.
But recently I met a crossroads. Where some of OMGF’s features (implemented years ago) felt bulky, outdated, too complex and simply put: inconvenient.
Basically, I had to choose between trying to please everyone and getting my ass handed to me by the WordPress community again while maintaining the quality of my plugins and the sustainance of my business.
Suffice to say, I chose the latter.
A Clear Division between Free and Pro
As an entrepeneur, every decision is a business decision. You can’t just do it stuff.
Before Pro existed, I basically just did stuff. If anyone asked for a feature and it seemed like fun to program it, I’d implement it. Only to remove it again 4 updates later.
Because of that, there was never a clear division between OMGF and OMGF Pro.
Together with all of the above, this has been bothering me for a while:
Why would basic users (personal blogs and local businesses) have to worry about some really complex features, making the free version waaay to complicated?
What incentive do professional users (design or development agencies and big corporations) have to upgrade to Pro?
By now, I’m sure you understand that it’s time for major changes.
Major changes in OMGF v4.5
To create a clear division between OMGF and its premium upgrade, and to increase quality of code and usability, the following features will be dropped as of v4.5:
- Optimization Mode > Automatic,
- WOFF2 only,
- CDN URL,
- Alternative Relative Path,
- Use Relative URLs.
The Automatic optimization mode will move to Pro, because it’s mainly agencies and (professional) webdesigners that often use page builders to create their pages and use different fonts on different pages — even though they shouldn’t. For basic (non-professional) usage, the manual mode should suffice.
WOFF2 only is for fine-tuning purposes, and a basic user shouldn’t have to worry about what to do with this feature.
That’s why it’ll be superseded by a more flexible solution. OMGF Pro’s Include File Types will offer more flexibility in terms of stylesheet optimization and allow you to select which file types to include.
In general, a CDN is used by blogs/businesses with an international reach and has no added value for personal blogs or local business owners.
Serving your fonts from an Alternative Relative Path is only relevant when a website is using security by obscurity plugins. These plugins are mainly used by businesses aiming to protect their customer and business data.
The Use Relative URLs option was implemented to make it easier for agencies to migrate their projects from staging environments to production environments.
All these options have one objective: to modify the src URL for each of the font files defined in the stylesheet.
To simplify this process, they will be replaced by the Pro feature: Fonts Source URL. Which allows you to override the default value and change it to anything you like!
src URLs.I’ve got Your Back!
To guarantee compatibility with WordPress 5.8, OMGF v4.5 and OMGF Pro v2.4 will be released on July 26th and include other new features (e.g. AMP handling and increased PHP 8 compatibility).
If this update “forces” you to upgrade to Pro, I’ve got your back. You’ll receive a 20% discount using the following (appropriately named) link:
GET 20% OFF NOW!
(Simply click the link and the discount will be applied at checkout.)
This coupon is valid throughout 2021 so you have plenty of time to decide your next move.
To remind you of this coupon and this blogpost, I’ve included a bulletin board feature that’ll notify you from within WordPress’ update screen once the update is released. So make sure you install OMGF v4.4.4 if you haven’t done so already.
Conclusion
While it was a tough decision to make, there was no more time to lose. In the end I’m happy with the changes I’ve made to OMGF and OMGF Pro.
The result is a clear division between both plugins and its users (i.e. personal blogs/local businesses and professional users), enhanced usability and increased code quality.
Because this might result in you having to pay for features that were previously free, I’ve timely notified you thru this post and included a coupon code to soften the blow.
This coupon code will be valid throughout 2021 to give you plenty of time to upgrade.
I’m always curious about what you think, so please let me know in the comments. But please, keep it respectful!
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Hi Daan – thanks for the update.
The code link does not seem to be working for the discount 🙁
Cheers,
Phil.
Hi Philip!
You’re right. I had it set to start at the 26th. On 2nd thought it should start earlier. So I changed it to now 🙂
Try again?
Thanks Daan – will give it a go today 🙂
Cheers,
Phil.
all good here 🙂 Thanks and appreciate the frank (lols) and honest explanation.
Thanks!
Hey Daan, I’m using OMGF on some of my sites and I like it a lot. Thanks for all your efforts! I think it’s totally legitimate to change your approach to a pro model. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Good work must be paid and paid well.
I personally find the pricing a bit too steep to be honest. If I want to continue using your plugin on all my relevant sites, I would need to go with the Agency tier, which will still be limited to 50 websites for 99 bucks a year. The hugely popular GeneratePress theme (which is really extensive and well maintained, not talking about the excellent support) goes for USD 59/year for up to 500 websites. By those means I’m not quite sure if EUR 99/year add up for a pure utility plugin (not meaning to be disrespectful here) like OMGF. Just my 2 cents though.
All the best,
Marc
Hi Marc,
Thanks for your compliments and feedback!
While I understand your reasoning, you’re comparing apples and oranges. Yes, both are WordPress, but that’s where the similarities stop.
GeneratePress is an excellent theme (this blog runs on it, too), but a theme has one luxury: it doesn’t have to keep anything (plugins) in mind. If it does (GP has advanced support for e.g. WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads) that’s extra, but not required. Also, the amount of research that goes into building a theme is limited to theming, some basic SEO elements and (again) in the case of GP, studying a few popular plugins to add advanced support.
So, in short, while building an advanced theme like GP will definitely take up many hours, it doesn’t mean that e.g. OMGF (and its Pro equivalent) didn’t take as many.
OMGF Pro being a plugin, means it has to play nice with other plugins (which means studying lots of plugins) and it being an optimization (or utility) plugin, means it has to be able to fix issues caused by themes and/or (other) plugins (which means studying more plugins ;-)). It also means I have to keep up with web standards (i.e. PageSpeed Insights) that Google reinvents whenever they feel like it. Some recent examples being: preload, font-display and AMP.
Can you imagine the amount of time I’m saving you with this plugin? 🙂
Then ofcourse there’s the economic differences. They’re located in Canada (I believe) and sell in USD (which is more profitable for them). I live in The Netherlands (EUR) and selling in USD would mean I’d be losing money.
However, you’re confirming a doubt I’ve been having for a while about the no. of sites foreach license, that’s why I just changed the structure to: 1 site = 24, 5 sites = 49, 10 sites = 74 and 50 sites = 99.
I don’t know how many sites you have, but this might help you out?
As for the limit of 50 for an agency license; I used to offer unlimited licenses (uncapped), but pretty soon people started reselling those licenses for cheap. I’ve had a few licenses that were active on 10.000+ sites. I’m simply not a big enough company (it’s literally just me here) to not worry about the stealing, so I had to do something about that.
Btw. I’ve emailed you to discuss this topic further, if you’re open for it?
Hi Daan,
I really like your plugin and appreciate your work. And with 40k active installations, OMGF has reached a really high number of users. But I have the same concerns, Marc has. Divi Theme for example is sold for 169 EUR one time payment. I can use it on unlimited websites for lifetime. Complex Plugins like DiviGear (48 different enhancements), Mailster (eMail Marketing), Youzify (Community plugin), Ajax search pro, All-in-one-WP migration pro and thousands more, work the same way. Paid once, they do their job.
I’m 100% on your side: good work must be paid. And I’m willing to pay for good plugins. But as I sell websites to customers, the websites must be up and running without causing yearly costs for my customers. Imagine 10 plugins used with recurring costs – this would mean that my customers get 10 different invoices from 10 different companies every year. And if its a package like 25 websites included in this plugin and 30 websites in that plugin, the calculation is getting even more complex. My customers would not accept that – so I can’t offer that.
Much better is the concept of the above plunges with one time payment. And yes, I would instantly pay 99 EUR for OMGF plugin lifetime updates on 50 websites.
And second point why I didn’t buy OMGF Pro so far: you require to install a second plugin. But as I like to keep the number of plugins low, this is not an option. All of the above mentioned plugins run (and get updates) without a second plugin.
Kind regards,
Christian
Hi Christian,
Thank you for your great feedback! I really like the fact that everyone’s joining the conversation 🙂
I definitely see your point when it comes to one time payments. I will do some research about this and see what I can stir up. Would you like me to notify you about this when I came up with something?
As for the add-on structure: there seems to be a division in WordPress-land about this 🙂 Some plugin developers use the add-on structure, like me: e.g. RankMath, Easy Digital Downloads, WPOvernight, MonsterInsights, etc. And some have a separate Pro version of their plugin.
So, it’s a choice. And I believe it’s not the no. of plugins you use that slow your site down, it’s the plugins you choose. I guarantee you I can wreck a site choosing only 3 crappy plugins. 🙂 Just like I can assure you that I can build a blazing fast site using 70 plugins. It’s all about picking and choosing carefully and keeping the amount of bloat to a minimum. But, I think I could do a better job hiding the license manager.
Thanks again for the interesting feedback! You (and Marc) have got me thinking!