Licensing nagging on the free version is next level

  • Callum

    (@aic_technologies)


    10 months, 3 weeks ago

    After using Wordfence on client sites for years the assumed new requirement to obtain a license for each site using the plugin, when the plugin is obtained from the WordPress repository rather than elsewhere is ridiculous.

    We have WordFence installed on roughly 100 sites and the plugin is now essentially acting like Malware on each site until you pay or delete the plugin. There’s no explanation for the sudden nagging for the licence or even an explanation of a change in policy. The plugin really should be removed from the repository until it actually offers a free version, and the malware-like behaviour is stopped. It even goes so far as to tell you when you dismiss the incomplete setup that it will be back in 12 hours, and the goal is clearly to freak people out and get them to pay. or wear them down. A 12-hour dismissal of a notice is probably the lowest I have ever seen. Aftewards, it just resumes hijacking the top of every page on the admin part of the site continuously.

    Just a shame they couldn’t hijack the interface in advance of the change to explain the change in policy.

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  • WFSupport

    (@wfsupport)

    10 months, 3 weeks ago

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Wordfence. Though we’re not allowed per forum rules to offer support in the review section, and since you haven’t posted your concerns in the support forums, I’ll give some insight as to what happened here so I can clear up any misunderstandings. If you still have issues please create a forum post and we’ll be glad to assist further.

    You said “After using Wordfence on client sites for years the assumed new requirement to obtain a license for each site using the plugin, when the plugin is obtained from the WordPress repository rather than elsewhere is ridiculous.”
    This is not true. The Wordfence plugin is available in the WordPress.org repository just as it has been for years. The only difference is that new installations of the free plugin need to get a free license from Wordfence. The license costs nothing and you don’t even have to go to Wordfence.com to get it. The free license is sent to the email address you provide. If you are reinstalling the plugin you can even use the same license again. Just save it before you delete everything and then during the installation process indicate that you already have a license and simply add it.

    You said “We have WordFence installed on roughly 100 sites and the plugin is now essentially acting like Malware on each site until you pay or delete the plugin.”
    This is not true. The continued popup you reported is being caused because *you haven’t completed the installation process.* When you complete the process, the message goes away forever. The free license is still free. You just have to enter your email to get it. And to be clear, this email is not used for anything other than sending you the license. You aren’t registering on Wordfence.com. You can even use the same email address for the sign up flow on as many sites as you like. Characterizing us as ‘malware’ is a bit of a stretch.

    You said “the goal is clearly to freak people out and get them to pay”
    This is not true. The goal is to be able to accurately tell how many actual installations of Wordfence there are. To explain further, you mention specifically that you have the plugin installed on “roughly 100 sites”. 90% of our users are using the free version just like you. Providing an email, even if it is from a temporary email account, allows us to know how many sites Wordfence is actually installed on. On WordPress.org we can only tell how many times the plugin has been downloaded. To ensure that we are able to continue to provide our users with a free fully functional security plugin, continue the plugin’s development, continue the research that leads to new firewall rules and scan signatures, and continue to fund the infrastructure necessary that pushes our rules and scan signatures out to your sites without the need for updating the plugin, we have to be certain that we are investing wisely. Investing wisely ensures that you’ll be able to enjoy the protection Wordfence gives you for years to come.

    You said “Just a shame they couldn’t hijack the interface in advance of the change to explain the change in policy.”
    Great point! However, this change only affects new installations. Sites that already have Wordfence Free installed don’t have to do anything. Since many of our Wordfence Free users are just single site users and not part of an agency using the free plugin, ‘hijacking the interface in advance’ wouldn’t have effectively communicated the change. We did post about this on our blog. We even have a helpful video to walk people through the installation process here: https://youtu.be/uU43V3gnL9U I do think that there are other ways we can make others aware of the changed signup flow and we plan on adding a sticky to the top of the support forum on WordPress.org in the next few days that will outline helpful resources and information to hopefully answer questions about the free signup process.

    To summarize, Callum, the plugin is still free. Wordfence Free still scans the same, the firewall is still the same, and the same free options like Rate Limiting and 2FA are still free. Wordfence Central, our security monitoring tool, is still 100% free too. The only thing that changed was the installation process to get a Free license.

    Mia

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