Update: If you don’t want to pay $39 for All in One SEO Pack PRO here’s a free alternative that has the exact same functionality. It also doesn’t require that you continue to pay $39/mo for updates.
As I installed the All In One SEO Pack (AIOSEOP) plugin on a new site today, I noticed the admin panel was promoting a new PRO version of the plugin.
My first reaction was “Awesome! I wonder what kind of cool new features they’ve come up with.”
Unfortunately, I was met with serious disappointment after clicking over to WPplugins.com.
Apparently Michael Torbert, the creator of AIOSEOP, didn’t feel the need to actually introduce any cool new features before releasing the “PRO” plugin.
So what does that $39 (soon to be $69 if WPplugins is to be believed) actually GET you?
Why it removes the ads from your AIOSEOP admin panel of course!
Call me crazy, but I just don’t think that’s worth $39.
As if that weren’t enough, you have to pay an extra $39/per month for support and upgrades!
Now I could MAYBE understand someone paying the one time $39 fee to receive support in getting the plugin set up. But those settings aren’t something you should be changing on a regular basis. There really should be NO need for ongoing support, especially not at price of $468 a year!
To top it all off, the upgrade process (which was an automatic process with the free version of AIOSEOP) is now a manual process that will be over-written if you accidentally use the automatic upgrade.
For those of you keeping score at home, we’ve taken a free plugin, added no new features, removed the ads, removed the automatic upgrade feature, and slapped a $39 price tag on it that explodes into $468 per year if you want support & upgrades.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like the plugin. I use it on several of my sites. But I just can’t get past these facts:
- There’s still a fully functioning version of the EXACT SAME PLUGIN for free download
- There are several other free plugins that offer the same functionality
- And most importantly… The Thesis theme has 95% of the functionality BUILT IN
I mean if Thesis would allow control over Tag pages, there’d be no need for AIOSEOP at all, not to mention an expensive but featureless PRO version. If you don’t use tags on your blog, take part of that $468 annual fee, buy the Thesis Theme and migrate all of your settings from All In One SEO Pack into Thesis using this handy tutorial.
And, when you consider the $468 annual price tag of the All In One SEO Pack PRO plugin with support & upgrades, the Thesis theme becomes an even better bargain.
Personally, I’d recommend taking that $39 and buying yourself a license for the Gravity Forms plugin which, by the way, includes lifetime support & updates.
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That’s REALLY bad! I saw the plugin on WPPlugins, and I thought how could it improve what was a great plugin.
Turns out, it can’t!
Rhys, yeah, I was excited about the possibilities but I don’t see how this is anything other than a big credibility hit for AIOSEOP…
We’re lucky there is a free version at all aren’t we?
Adam, we are lucky there’s a free version. It’s one of my recommended plugins.
However, that doesn’t make the PRO version any more valuable. Anyone who purchases the PRO version at this point (especially if they pay for a year of support & updates) is being had. You can buy a developer’s license of Thesis theme & Gravity Forms and still have money left over at that price!
I’m new to the whole thing and an admittedly ignorant to much of what is discussed on this blog (I’m reading and learning). But this seems to be a simple case of someone trying to take advantage of someone else who maybe isn’t paying attention or who just doesn’t know. Someone like myself for example might not have known what the difference was and paid for this plugin.
As I’m learning the ropes, are there any tips on how to avoid getting ripped off?
Ben
I asked the SAME QUESTION and never got a response… and I’ved talked with Michael before about the plugin but he never replied to this tweet:
http://twitter.com/ChuckReynolds/status/7019060126
So I’m in the same boat as you man – I love the plugin but he keeps advertising the pro version and I finally just had to ask… what’s the point? And now your post… so… I’ll keep an eye on this and see what comes of it.. hopefully Michael says something.
and I forgot to mention… Gravity Forms friggin rocks! I’ve set it up on 4 of my client’s sites and have drastically hacked one of them to do some cool stuff the client needed – very extensible and very reasonable price for the benefits of that plugin. I’m actually converting all my personal stuff from CF7 to GF’s… bought the developers license… I was whining about no good contact form to database plugin forever…
Okay I’ll get off my knees for GF now lol… later
@chuckreynolds
If it sounds too good to be true…it usually is…
I wonder how many suckers bought it already?
Supporting plugin developers is something I’m fine with, but admittedly the plugin owner could’ve handled this one better.
There are other plugins that do the same thing for anyone that isn’t using Thesis. I actually never moved to All in One SEO and instead just SEO Title Tags and one or two more to achieve the same results.
Marios, I’m right there with you. I don’t mind supporting plugin developers or even premium plugins. I don’t mind if they have ads in the admin panel or anything like that.
But to charge for something that you can get for free (from the exact same source) doesn’t sit well with me & $39/mo for support & updates is outrageous!
Thanks for the tip man!
Light SEO is ripped version of All In One SEO and you can have All In One SEO for free as well, see the only difference between the free and paid version is that free one comes with two small banners listed under the plugin option page, that’s all.
I use this plugin since the launch and never had a single problem with it. And also very happy with free version, who cares about the banners, they don’t bother me at all.
Thanks,
Emil
Hi,
I paid the $39 but the plug in is faulty and does not work. I even approached the plug-in creator on his website and asked for support but got none. I have requested a refund. On principle I will not use the free version either.
@Johannes, how was the plugin faulty? Most people won’t offer refunds on digitally downloaded products since you can’t return them like you do a normal product. I’m not sure if AIOSEOP Pro will do that or not but I certainly wouldn’t.