When you work on something remotely digital, you most probably have come across sites and plugins that claim to provide freebies. With enticing and tempting offers that can save you a lot of money. Whether you are just getting started with WordPress or are over halfway through, it is impossible to avoid finding ways to cut costs. People frequently use nulled themes and plugins on their websites as a result of this ambition. These nulled WordPress plugins or themes can cause severe consequences to your website.
What Are WordPress Nulled Plugins?
Nulled WordPress themes and plugins are copies made illegally on the internet of premium WordPress themes and plugins.
It is claimed by those who redistribute nulled products that it is legal to duplicate and distribute WordPress as well as any derivative works (such as plugins and themes) because they are GPL-licensed.
As an open-source CMS, WordPress allows anybody to write plugins and add-ons. Nevertheless, updating current plugins frequently results in both data loss and website crashes.
WordPress’s general public license applies to both its themes and plugins (GPL). So, it is entirely acceptable to distribute any plugin or composition that has been stolen.
Nonetheless, despite being legal, such a practice has more drawbacks than advantages. For example, it causes WordPress developers to lose out on revenues that they could have made by marketing genuine themes and plugins.
Right At The Core
While it seems like a pretty good deal for a company to choose the cheaper option, there are actual developers whose career goes at stake. If one chooses to go for these WordPress LMS plugins, these developers lose their money. The developers who would’ve put in personal efforts and thought to your website lose their money.
WordPress LMS Plugins and themes provide several security concerns in addition to this moral one. Nearly all of these tools contain flaws that could jeopardize the integrity and security of your website.
While you might enjoy premium services without having to pay for them, there is a risk that the nulled product is what led an attacker to hack your website.
- Privacy Issues
It would be impossible to identify the types of harmful code contained in a nulled plugin or theme’s files. Never even think about using a nulled product if you value the privacy of your data.
Such files may contain malicious malware that can steal important data from your website and spread it across the dark web. Confidential information like usernames, passwords, or email addresses is at risk if are somehow connected to the website.
- Website Damage
Nulled plugins and themes may begin to conflict with other plugins on your website, which could cause a full crash. This is the second equally critical problem.
The creators of licensed plugins and themes put a lot of time and effort into making sure their products are of high quality and won’t hurt users’ projects. These goods don’t have any negative effects and are safe to install. Fraudsters aren’t concerned about your site’s fate because they don’t care about their reputation.
- Users Experience Can Be Hindered
Whenever you go on one of those sketchy-looking sites- pirated movie websites, for instance, you are most likely to see inappropriate ads and messages. Such messages and pop-ups are 100% seen on pirated websites.
Now imagine such experiences and pop-ups going your viewers and users’ way. Using nulled WordPress plugins or themes can hinder and damage your users’ interaction and experience with your website.
- Affects SEO Position
SEO is a somewhat complex process. Years can pass while you build a solid reputation, gather reliable links, and produce worthwhile content. Yet, a few links to questionable websites might permanently banish you from the search results.
Such links might be concealed in the code of a nulled plugin, and you won’t likely detect them right away.
- Legal Consequences
WordPress themes and plugins come in a wide range. Some, however, are offered with mixed licensing. A mixed license denotes the fact that a portion of the product’s code is covered by copyright regulations. Hence, if you decide to utilize a nulled plugin or theme, you do not have the right to do so.
You can only use themes and plugins with copyrighted code if you have purchased a license directly from the software provider.
You can easily run into data theft, trafficking, and other issues.
Are You Unknowingly Using A Nulled WordPress PlugIn?
If you have bought the copy or lifetime license of a premium WordPress plugin or theme from a third party, chances are you are using a tool’s nulled version. If the transaction happened at a lower price than usual, the chances of the same happening are high.
The commendable thing about these nulled plugin tools is that they are so identical that it is hard to differentiate. Although your dashboard may show that your premium version is operational, such installations lack the valid license key needed to access the premium features. As a result, these plugins or themes aren’t fully functional.
