I wrote about WPMU DEV back in 2018 on my personal site. Well it has been a couple years and now, they got some new options.
Who is WPMU DEV
WPMU DEV is a plugin provider for WordPress sites, and they have been around since back when WordPress was called ASCII-Press and it was a giant typewriter. Basically, a long time ago.
There are tons of fantastic plug-ins and authors, but WPMU DEV’s niche is that they offer ALL their plugins in one place, and they have over 100 of them. They essentially have an app store that they build into your WordPress, and then you can pick any number of their plug-ins for use in your site(s).
Any Freebies?
Yes! WPMU DEV offers some handy plugins for free hoping to lure you into the premium version. Plugins like "Branda" which can be used to brand your site, "Defender" which is a fantastic security plug-ins for WordPress and "Forminator," which allows you to build forms that collect data, pop polls an even collect money (Also supports CAPTCHA).
Why go Premium
If you have been out plug-in shopping, and I mean $$-shopping with an eye for procuring professional plugins that are a step up from the free versions you can normally acquire, you can easily rack up quite a bill: $50 here, $90 there, and sometimes much higher. On one hand, you might be able to find the right mix of plugins at a lower price, but given WPMU DEV’s longevity, membership base, market penetration and variety of offerings… it is easy to argue, just on those points alone, their monthly membership (which lets you use ANY of their 100+ plugins across ANY number of sites) becomes appealing quite quickly. They provide a solid foundation at a base monthly price, and then you can search their stuff first, branching out to other tools as needed.
Will you find EVERY plug-in you need? Probably not. But will their support help you even with OTHER vendor's plug-in issues? Yes - they will at least try. For reals.
Quality of Experience
The above “blurbling” is enough to recommend anyone to give WPMU DEV a shot, but Instoll recommends businesses that offer Quality of Experience.
WPMU DEV hits the marks. I mean, really hits the marks:
- Human Contact: One measure of Instoll QoE is the ability to reach a human being. We've reached out to WPMU DEV’s support crew at all hours of the day via their chat line, and they are ALWAYS there. Kris, Violeta, Steve are just a few of the staff who have helped answer all kinds of questions and get their products configured on our sites. But it goes beyond that… they have a remote access tool that allows customers to grant support access to the site and they can remotely configure and fix things for their customers. That’s amazing!
- Truth in Pricing: Another measure is the “no surprises” in advertised pricing. WPMU DEV, for the hundred+ options they offer, has a flat pricing model. In fact, it is SO flat, I think they should reconsider their model and charge more for what they do!
- Privacy: You get their plugins, they get your money, everyone is happy. And that is as far as it goes - they don't use your data to do anything but help your WordPress sites be awesome. Box checked.