Are you someone who has been working as a WordPress Developer for a long time? If yes, then you must have heard about the WordPress Nulled Plugins & Themes. If you haven’t, then let us clarify this issue for you all in our next section.
What Do You Mean By Nulled Plugins & Themes?
There are various definitions related to the word nulled and therefore, if you search on the web about this term, you will find a lot of different opinions about this, and it may lead to confusion. However, to avoid that confusion, we have simplified its meaning.
If you’re working as a WordPress Developer, then you must be knowing that there are two types of plugin & themes available on the web – Free and Paid.
Now, nulled plugins or themes are a type of paid or premium version which have been modified or hacked to cause harm to the users or to collect some private information. These plugins or themes are generally from a third-party website and not from the original author or creator.
The use of nulled plugins and themes have boomed a lot in recent times and slowly companies have are opting for hire offshore developers from trusted development companies to cut down the complexity and build robust solutions that will safeguard the users from any harm.
Sometimes these plugins or themes are manipulated in such a manner that it can also work without any license key. In software terms, you can say it’s the cracked version. Not all nulled plugins & themes are illegal, but it’s advisable not to use these things for your website.
Now, you all may be thinking about what could be the possible reasons for not Using Nulled WordPress Themes & Plugins? To make it clear, we have created this blog. In this blog, we’ll provide you with a list of reasons for not using nulled themes & plugins.
Reasons To Stop Usage Of Nulled WordPress Plugins & Themes
So, let’s get this started, right now.!
You Don’t Know What Else Is In The Code
Whenever you download a plugin or theme from a third-party rather than from the original author, you’re not guaranteed that the code will only contain functionality that you need.
There is every chance that code may contain some malicious thing which can enter into your system & break it down or collect your private information.
The same logic applies to the case of nulled themes & plugins where you’re creating an opportunity for the hacker to manipulate your website.
Unless you’re an experienced developer and you’ve got the time to dig through all the code, you won’t have any idea what else there could be in addition to the original code.
In addition to all these, if you’re utilizing nulled plugins or themes, then there won’t be any help from the original author in case of hacking. So, try to avoid using these types of things.
No Support From The Developer
It is another primary reason for stopping the usage of nulled WordPress themes & plugins. Nulled themes or plugins will provide you with all the features that you get with any premium theme or plugin, but they can’t deliver the benefits that a genuine customer gets.
The reason behind that is, when you buy any premium plugin or theme, the money will go to the developer for GPL (General Public License). In addition to that, when you buy a product, you get the option of reaching out to the developer in case of any issue or bug.
On the other hand, with nulled plugins or themes, you won’t get any support from the developer. The reason being, you’ve not paid any amount to the developer and as you know that, no one wants to work at free of cost.
Any developer puts in a lot of hard work and effort to make any premium plugin or theme and their ultimate aim is to solve the burning issue of the customers. So, they deserved some amount in return and a nulled plugin or theme won’t make your life more comfortable as well.
Therefore, you should avoid using nulled themes or plugins for your WordPress website.
No Automatic Updates
As you all know that to enable the updates for premium plugin or theme, you will require a license key. Without having a license key, there won’t be a chance of automatic updates. You’ve to manually update the plugin or theme whenever any new update arrives.
However, there are two significant problems with this kind of approach – [1.] It’s time-consuming. You’ve to delete the plugin or theme every now and then, re-upload the plugin or theme, which is extremely annoying. [2.] There is no notification regarding update which means that you’ve to check for the update on a frequent interval manually.
Imagine a situation where a developer releases an urgent security update, but you don’t get a notification for that. In this situation, you’re exposing your website to the Most Common WordPress Attacks. In today’s age, you can’t take this type of risks, and therefore, it’s better not to utilize any nulled plugin as well as nulled themes.
Plenty Of Security Issues
Nulled WordPress themes & plugins are extremely dangerous for the security of your WordPress website. For those who don’t know, there are plenty of WordPress Security Vulnerabilities that are due to the usage of nulled extensions.
The nulled WordPress themes & plugins code can contain malware. If this is the case, then there is every chance that the malicious code can spread across your WordPress website and can cause havoc. The reason behind that is, malware can disguise themselves and therefore, it becomes hard for you to detect it. You may also lose your data in the hacking process.
Affects Your SEO
The nulled WordPress plugins & themes can eradicate your website’s SEO. The reason behind that is, nulled WordPress themes & plugins can add spammy links to your WordPress website, and it can redirect them to bad sites which affect your user-experience.
Now, it is a known fact that user-experience plays a big part in your site’s SEO and therefore when user-experience is not good, the SEO will get affected. These are the activities which are hard to detect by human eyes. The reason behind that is, when you log into your WordPress website, you will not be redirected. So, you will always be in the illusion that your site is safe.
However, search engines can notice that change and therefore, it will penalize your website and your ranking will get dropped which will affect your business revenue. Therefore, not using nulled themes & plugins would be a great option.
To know in detail about null plugins & themes, you can hire WordPress developer from a reputed organization.
Legal Issues
Most of the WordPress themes as well as plugins are open-source. However, some of the plugins as well as the themes can be mixed-source. What we mean by mixed-source is that the copyright laws protect some of part of the code. Now, if you’re using a nulled plugin or theme, you don’t have the privilege to use this code & therefore, there’s a chance of legal action against you.
In addition to all these, nulled themes or plugins can also result in data theft, data loss or distribution of illegal material. All of these can lead to legal proceedings where you’ve to pay a massive chunk of money to lawyers. Therefore, it’s advisable not to make use of nulled extensions.
No Documentation Available
Even the most experienced WordPress users need documentation to understand any new plugin or theme before they can start using it on their WordPress website. That’s why developers spend a lot of time on creating proper documentation. In fact, for this purpose, they hire support specialists who can answer all the things related to user queries.
If you’re using any nulled theme or plugin, then they won’t provide you with any documentation. The reason behind that is, documentation, as well as the tutorial videos, are only given to the premium users. In addition to that, you can’t contact any developer for any help.
It Discourages Innovation
Usage of nulled themes and plugins discourages innovation. Now, many of you would argue that plugin or theme is just a tiny piece of software and we’re using nulled ones because we don’t have an enormous amount of money that one can spend behind the premium version.
However, someone’s hard work and dedication has achieved this tiny piece of code. Now, if you’re utilizing nulled themes or plugins, then you’re taking away the money from the developers which they rightly deserve.
The developers not only spend their time on writing code, but they also provide support, create documentation, make a website, hire dedicated staff, etc. All these things require spending a lot of money, and by using nulled themes or plugins, you’re not providing them with this money.
If this is the case, then it will discourage the developers from making something innovative as well as useful for the audience. Therefore, you should avoid using nulled plugins & themes.
Many Free Alternatives
As you know, WordPress provides you with plenty of free themes and plugins which one can use as an alternative for the premium version. So, why opt for a nulled plugin & theme? Just find out its free replacement on the web and proceed with that.
There are many premium plugins and themes which provides you with the limited free version to get you started. For example, if you need a contact form plugin, you can try the free version of WPForms Lite. If you need a plugin for Google Analytics, try the free version of MonsterInsights. The same applies to the case of the plugin as well.
The important thing here is that, if you’re using free plugins or themes from WordPress, then you will have no legal burden as well. Also, you are not affecting the WordPress community.
Can’t Update WordPress
If you’re a WordPress Developer, then you must be knowing that the WordPress ecosystem releases new versions regularly to improve the security of the platform, fix any bugs and enhance the performance of your WordPress website.
However, if you’re utilizing nulled WordPress plugins or themes, then you won’t be able to update the version of WordPress. The reason behind that is, they’re not legal. So, no support will be provided by WordPress to your website. In addition to that, you also can’t improve the performance without updating your WordPress software regularly.
Therefore, you should always avoid using nulled WordPress themes as well as plugins.
Conclusion
Nowadays people are always looking for things at a free of cost. In this race, most of the time they forget to give importance to aspects like security, privacy & performance.
The same applies to the case of plugins and themes, where people tend to run behind a nulled version. The reason being, they give premium version features at a free of cost.
However, while using this thing, most of them forget about the disadvantages that come with that. There are many WordPress Plugin Development and WordPress Theme Development companies who’re conducting an awareness program about nulled plugins and themes.
Taking this scenario into perspective, here we have provided you with a list of 10 reasons which will help you to understand why you shouldn’t be using nulled plugins & themes.
If you’ve any questions or suggestions regarding this blog, then feel free to ask them in our comment section. We’ll try to respond to each of your queries. Thank You.!
