Free version useless, Paid is way overpriced

  • usawebdev

    (@usawebdev)


    2 months, 3 weeks ago

    Skip downloading this plugin! I’m sure the paid version is great, but who is actually going to spend $600/year for a social media feed plugin for their website? Yeah Coca-Cola and Mariah Carey, but for the average SMB with tight budgets and CEO’s not making millions a year? Yeah I thought about grabbing the Black Friday special for $179 but it’s not a LIFETIME discount like it should be. I don’t feel like getting bent over and spanked this time next year for the full $600. I’m just really having a difficult time how any business could justify the ROI on a $600 plugin. I tried the free version of the Facebook feed and it’s utterly worthless. I simply wanted something to showcase FB feed posts via the image on the post and of course you have to pay for that, along with any other function of this plugin. They claim it’s SEO friendly, but if your website is relying on SEO from a social media feed plugin you’ve got bigger problems, again not worth the money there. Also, I noticed they’re missing LinkedIn which is huge for B2B websites. Don’t waste your time with Smashballoon.

    • This topic was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by usawebdev. Reason: Star review was supposed to be 1-star rating, not 5 you tricksy tricksters no wonder their rating is so high lol
Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
  • Plugin Support Smash Balloon Joel

    (@joelsmashballoon)

    2 months, 2 weeks ago

    Hi @usawebdev,

    Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re sorry to hear that the free version didn’t meet your specific needs and that the pricing for the Pro version felt out of reach. We appreciate the opportunity to clear up a few misunderstandings regarding the costs and features!

    Regarding the Pricing: It sounds like there is some confusion here. The pricing tier you mentioned (approx. $179 during Black Friday then $598 annually) is actually for our All Access Bundle, which includes licenses for all 8 of our plugins and can be used on an unlimited number of websites. This is indeed designed for agencies or power users managing many client sites.

    For a single business wanting to showcase photos and images in their Facebook feed (the specific feature you mentioned), you definitely do not need that bundle! That feature is included in our standard Pro Basic license, which starts at an initial $49. We strive to keep our pricing accessible for individuals and smaller sites, and many of our users find the ROI on the single license to be excellent for the engagement and social proof it adds to their site.

    Regarding SEO: You make a valid point; a website certainly shouldn’t rely solely on a social feed for its SEO strategy! We completely agree. However, the benefit of our plugin compared to standard iFrames is that our plugin renders crawlable text in the HTML, and it does not rely on an external service or server to keep displaying this. While an iFrame is invisible to search engines, our plugin ensures that the keyword-rich content in your social posts actually contributes to your page’s relevance. It is just one of many features designed to add incremental value to your site, rather than being a “reliance” for ranking.

    We hope this clears things up! We’d love for you to reconsider the rating now that the pricing entry point is clearer. If you have any questions about the $49 license, or you want to get a refund under our 14-day refund guarantee, please feel free to reach out to our support team directly.

    All the best,
    Joel, The Smash Balloon Team

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