Join the New Commercial or Community Plugin Categories on WordPress.org

There are two new categories for WordPress plugins, which can be displayed if a plugin author so wishes. The categories are Commercial and Community.

If your plugin has a pro version or commercial version, you can opt-in to the Commercial category and link to a support page. If your plugin is funded and developed by a community, you can opt-in to the Community category and link to a development repository.

I will go into detail on the difference between commercial plugins and community plugins.

Commercial plugins

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You would likely choose the Commercial category if you have a pro or upsell version for a particular plugin.

After you opt-in to the Commercial taxonomy, you’ll be asked to supply a “support” link, which will then be linked.

I asked the plugin team what could be used for the support link. Here is the response.

In short, you can:

1. Use whatever link you would like (as long as guidelines aren’t violated)
2. But it should prominently display a support link

As a reminder, the word “Support” on the WordPress Plugin Directory plugin page cannot be changed.

Community plugins

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I’m not entirely sure what makes a plugin a “Community” plugin, but I imagine if you are relying on the WP community for code changes and funding, then you’re likely fine requesting the Community category.

If you opt-in to the Community taxonomy, you can add a “Contribute” link, which can be used to link to a development repository.

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Requesting opt-in

This one is easy. Just email the WordPress plugins team (plugins@wordpress.org) and request to opt-in.

Here’s a sample email you can send:

Hi plugin team,

I'd like to opt-in to the (commercial|community) taxonomy. {brief explanation}

My plugin on .org is here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/your-plugin/Code language: plaintext (plaintext)

After approval

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Once the plugins team approves your plugin, you can navigate to the Advanced section of your plugin and enter the URL you would like to show up for your plugin.

Finally, check your plugin page

Navigate to your plugin and if you see a Commercial or Community badge, you are all set!

Your mileage may vary

I have a few commercial plugins listed on .org, but it’s still very unclear if it’s generating any new sales or leading to new support requests. I honestly haven’t noticed a difference.

As far as community, if you’re hosted on GitHub, you can link to your repo, where you can list some sponsor perks. If you already use the donate link, you can have two links to your GitHub repo. I’ve had no sponsorships so far, but I imagine if you have a more popular repo, you might get lucky.

What do you think of these new categories?

I think the new categories are kinda cool to be honest. I think it will help commercial plugins differentiate themselves better with an emphasis on support, and that community plugins will have a better way to address their development needs.

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Published On: on December 25, 2022

Ronald Huereca founded DLX Plugins in 2022 with the goal of providing deluxe plugins available for download. Find out more about DLX Plugins, check out some tutorials, and check out our plugins.