Steve Dufresne 2:02 am on June 13, 2023
Tags: plugin directory ( 45 ), theme directory ( 17 )

New Filter Controls: Discover “Commercial” and “Community” in the Theme and Plugin Directory

In late 2022, new categorizations were introduced in the Theme and PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party Directory to enhance your browsing experience. These filters categorize plugins/themes as “Commercial” and “Community,” to help you find the most suitable options for your WordPress website. Here’s what you need to know about the “Commercial” and “Community” filters:

Commercial: The Commercial filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. allows you to discover themes and plugins developed by professional companies and individuals who offer their products for a fee. These premium options often come with dedicated support, advanced features, and customization options.

Community: The Community filter showcases themes and plugins created by the WordPress community. These products are often developed by passionate individuals who share their work for free or follow an open-source philosophy. It’s a great way to support the community while finding high-quality options without any financial commitment.

Your feedback has been invaluable in shaping these updates, and your ongoing input is highly appreciated.

While the filter controls have been introduced, work is continuously underway to improve the browsing experience and refine the visual aspects of the Theme and Plugin Directory as part of the site redesign.

We hope these new filter controls will make your exploration of the Theme and Plugin Directory more enjoyable and efficient. Give them a try and let us know your thoughts!

Screenshots

Plugins

Themes

How can I add these categorizations to my theme/plugin?

Read through @otto42‘s launch post for more details.

How can I provide feedback?

For general feedback, you can open a new trac ticket or comment on this post. For specific feedback, add your feedback to the appropriate issue:

How can I follow the redesign?

Read the latest update.
Join the dedicated slack channel.

Thanks!

+make.wordpress.org/themes/ +make.wordpress.org/plugins/

#plugin-directory, #theme-directory

Kevin Batdorf 3:11 am on June 13, 2023

Would a better classification system would be to just have either no label for the majority, and then something closer to “includes paid upgrades” that just implies they also offer additional services on top of their free (and often fully functional) version.

All plugins are open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. regardless of whether they sell something, and that doesn’t make those developers any less passionate about open-source. Nor does it imply non-commercial plugins have any less features, or that the level of dedication to support is any less dedicated (Sorry Steve, just hitting on the two classification descriptions in the post – I know you meant well).

Should it also be a requirement? Otherwise this also seems like something to be gamed for visibility. Do Community or Commercial (or neither) plugins show higher install growth? I guarantee you people are tracking this already.

If the intent is to offer a link to the off-site repository, why not just add that to the metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. data on the right sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. under Tags (or higher up). Some plugins with upgrades also have a public GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ too, for example.
- Olaf Lederer 7:51 am on June 13, 2023
  
  HI Kevin,
  You’re right there are many freemium pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party which are fully functional and the “upgrade” contains support or even more features. But don’t forget there are also many plugins with a small feature set, which are often not enough for evaluation. In this case these two filters would make a lot of sense.
  - Kevin Batdorf 1:58 pm on June 13, 2023
    
    I don’t think classifying really helps to your example as it would group those plugins in with others that are providing value, potentially adding credibility even.
    Ideally the rating system would distinguish bad actors like that. WordPress could make pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party rating a first-class feature to improve that system.
    It feels like there’s a move to classify plugins with paid upgrades as bad. That’s not really fair.
    - Olaf Lederer 2:04 pm on June 13, 2023
      
      … Maybe we need a third classification 😉
      But you’re right it’s not fair for developers which are providing a great free(mium) version via the repo.
      The way how it works for apps via Apple or Android might be better.
- Steve Dufresne 12:02 am on June 14, 2023
  
  Nor does it imply non-commercial plugins have any less features, or that the level of dedication to support is any less dedicated (Sorry Steve, just hitting on the two classification descriptions in the post – I know you meant well).
  
  Very true and great callout. I didn’t mean for the definitions to suggest that. I’ll also mention that I personally created those definitions to add better context to the feature. They shouldn’t be taken as wp.org’s official interpretation. Feedback well received!
KafleG 3:25 am on June 13, 2023

Is there any plan to add those filters in the backend? I mean in the Appearance > Themes > Add New?
- Samuel Wood (Otto) 10:39 pm on June 13, 2023
  
  Not at present, no. But what the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. WordPress code does is always in flux.
Dovid Levine 10:24 pm on June 13, 2023

If a free pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party developed transparently on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ offers premium support, but not a premium version/features, is it ‘community’ or ‘commercial’?
- Samuel Wood (Otto) 10:37 pm on June 13, 2023
  
  Commercial.
  - Dovid Levine 12:28 pm on June 14, 2023
    Follow up: is WooCommerce community or commercial?
    
    In that case, I believe I agree with @kbat82 and @finalwebsites that this two-tier classification is ripe for misinterpretation and can actually penalize good actors.
    
    I suggest a more granular system of flags that a) differentiates between let’s say freemium features and a capacity to support enterprise-level clients, and b) have semantic value to users.
    
    Eg:
    
    has paid features
    
    has paid support
    
    allows community contributions (i.e. a GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ repo)
    
    Just examples, but note how they actually convey the information a user searching the directory wants to know, without leaving too much room for prejudicial interpretation (in either way)
    - Olaf Lederer 7:41 pm on June 14, 2023
      
      Thanks Dovid, WooCommerce is an excellent example for misinterpreting these two filters. If you install WooCommerce you can choose multiple paid features, which makes a “free” pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party like WooCommerce a commercial project.
Alan Fuller 7:19 am on June 15, 2023

At the moment the filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. functionality is so limited it is of no value in my opinion, as it is not integrated with ‘search’ .

e.g. click ‘commercial’ then ‘search’ ‘user enumeration’ for instance and it returns my ‘unclassified’ pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party.

So currently the filters are just additional promotion (airspace) for the top 6 above the fold commercial plugins – and surprise surprise the 50% of those are from Automattic.

Which brings me on to another point. What does ‘Community’ actually mean. My ‘Free’ plugins I don’t classify as Community as I’m the only committer – sure ‘Community’ can contribute ( but generally don’t, except expecting free support ) – so they are not in my mind Community – is that wrong?

Welcome to the MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. Team!

Contact

New Filter Controls: Discover “Commercial” and “Community” in the Theme and Plugin Directory

Screenshots

Plugins

Themes

How can I add these categorizations to my theme/plugin?

How can I provide feedback?

How can I follow the redesign?

Welcome to the MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. Team!

Contact

Screenshots

Plugins

Themes

How can I add these categorizations to my theme/plugin?

How can I provide feedback?

How can I follow the redesign?

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