After nearly two decades of building WordPress plugins, I’ve learned that pricing is one of those things you should revisit every few years — not because you want to charge more, but because the way you charge can either help or hurt the people buying from you.
This week, I’m rolling out a pricing refresh across every plugin on getButterfly. Here’s what’s changing, why, and — most importantly — how it affects you.
What’s changing
The “Extended” tier is gone. It was a holdover from marketplace-style licensing that never really fit how people actually buy and use getButterfly plugins. If you’re a new customer, you’ll see two clear options per plugin: a yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. That’s it.
Lifetime pricing is now a flat 3× the yearly price. This is the industry standard for a reason: it’s easy to reason about, it rewards the commitment, and it gives the yearly plan a clear anchor. For most plugins, this means lifetime is going down, not up.
Some plugins are getting yearly price adjustments. A couple were underpriced relative to the category (Active Analytics), a couple needed a lower entry point to match their niche (Saturn), and a couple finally have a lifetime option (GAA Fixtures & Results, Repeater for Gravity Forms).
If you’re an existing customer
Nothing changes for you. Your license renews at the price you signed up at. Your lifetime purchase stays a lifetime purchase. Your support doesn’t get shortened, and your update access doesn’t get revoked. You bought under the old terms, you’re honoured under the old terms — full stop.
If you’d previously bought an “Extended” license, it continues to work exactly as it always has.
The new pricing at a glance
| Plugin | Yearly | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress eCards | €19 | €57 |
| WP Google Consent Platform | €19 | €57 |
| GAA Fixtures & Results | €29 | €87 |
| Repeater for Gravity Forms | €29 | €89 |
| ImagePress | €34 | €102 |
| Active Analytics | €39 | €117 |
| Lighthouse | €39 | €117 |
| Saturn (WordPress Theme) | €49 | €147 |
All prices include VAT where applicable.
Why I’m doing this
The short version: I want the buying decision to be obvious.
The longer version: the old pricing table had four options per plugin, a “Regular” vs “Extended” split that wasn’t explained anywhere, and a lifetime price that was so high it felt like a punishment rather than an offer. That’s not good design, and it’s not how I’d want to buy software myself.
Two columns. Clear ratio. Honest value. If you only need a plugin for a project that lasts a year, take the yearly. If you’re going to use it for the long haul, the lifetime option pays for itself in three years and you never think about renewals again. No hidden tiers, no math homework.
A word on lifetime subscriptions in 2026
A lot of plugin shops have moved away from lifetime licences entirely. I understand why — the unit economics are brutal if you price them wrong. But I also think there’s real value in giving people an escape hatch from subscription fatigue, especially for small utility plugins that don’t need constant new features to justify their existence.
So I’m keeping lifetime. Priced honestly, it’s a fair deal for both sides: you pay once and stop thinking about it, I get a healthy upfront payment and a predictable base of long-term users who tend to give the best feedback and stick around the longest.
Questions?
If you’re unsure which tier makes sense for you, or if you’re on an older licence and want to know how the change affects your renewal, drop me a line through the support centre. I read every email.
Thanks for supporting a small, independent WordPress plugin shop. Here’s to another year of building things the right way.
— Ciprian
