There are two ways to sell WordPress plugins. You can sell licences, so people pay to use your plugin and you keep it, or you can sell the plugin itself: the code, the customers and the revenue, to a new owner. Most guides only cover the first. We run FlipWP, a marketplace for buying and selling WordPress businesses, so we see where plugin sellers end up when they want out, and this guide covers both.
Two ways to sell WordPress plugins
- Selling licences is how you earn from a plugin: a customer pays for a year of updates and support, or a lifetime licence, and you keep building it.
- Selling the plugin is how you leave it: a buyer pays a lump sum for the whole business and takes over.
Where you sell licences now decides how much the plugin is worth when you sell it later, so it’s worth reading both halves even if you’re only launching.
Where to sell plugin licences
WordPress.org: free only, but where most plugins start
The WordPress.org plugin directory doesn’t sell anything: every plugin there is free. It’s still where most commercial plugins begin, because it’s searchable from every WordPress dashboard. The usual model is a free plugin on WordPress.org and a paid version or add-ons sold from your own site.
The plugin guidelines set the limits: no trialware (features that lock after a trial period), and upsells have to stay out of the way. Within those, a free version with a steady install base is the cheapest marketing a plugin can have.
Your own site, with Easy Digital Downloads or WooCommerce
Selling from your own site means you keep everything except payment fees, you own the customer list, and you set the prices. The cost is that you run the store: licence keys, automatic updates, renewals, refunds, and sales tax or VAT.
Easy Digital Downloads was built for this, and its Software Licensing extension handles licence keys and updates. WooCommerce works too, with a licence manager plugin added.
Freemius
Freemius is a platform built for selling WordPress plugins and themes. You add its SDK to your plugin, and it handles checkout, licences, updates, renewals, and sales tax and VAT as the merchant of record. Customers buy from your own site, through Freemius’s checkout. In return it takes a share of revenue on top of payment fees; see its pricing page for the current rates.
It suits a solo developer or small team who wants their own customers without running the billing and tax side. It also makes the plugin easier to sell later, because the whole product, customers included, can move to a buyer’s account.
CodeCanyon
CodeCanyon, Envato’s code marketplace, brings its own buyers, which helps a plugin with no audience yet. Since July 2026, Envato has paid every author a flat 50% of the item price and dropped exclusivity, so you can sell the same plugin elsewhere. Envato sets the licence terms, and the customers are Envato’s: you don’t get their email addresses to sell to again.
WooCommerce.com Marketplace
For a WooCommerce extension, the Woo Marketplace pays vendors 70% of sales. Every product is reviewed for security, code quality and UX before it’s listed, and you’re expected to support merchants well. Being listed in the official marketplace gives an extension credibility with store owners.
How they compare
| You keep | Owns the customer relationship | Sales tax and VAT | Brings buyers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Own site (EDD or WooCommerce) | everything after payment fees | you | you handle it | no |
| Freemius | everything after its share and payment fees | you | Freemius handles it | no |
| CodeCanyon | 50% | Envato | Envato handles it | yes |
| Woo Marketplace | 70% | Woo | Woo handles it | yes |
| WordPress.org | free plugins only | nobody (no customer list) | n/a | users, for the free version |
Which to choose
About two thirds of the plugins listed on FlipWP have the same setup: a free version on WordPress.org and a paid version or add-ons sold from their own site, through Freemius or a store of their own. That combination brings in users for free and keeps the customers yours.
A marketplace is a good start if you have no audience and want early sales and reviews. If the plugin takes off, the 30% or 50% cut and someone else owning the customers become the reason to move to your own site.
Selling the plugin itself
At some point many plugin owners want to sell the plugin outright: they’ve moved on to another product, support has outgrown the time they have, or they’d rather have the money now. Plugins change hands all the time. Larger WordPress companies buy them to add to their portfolios, and smaller buyers buy them to grow.
What a plugin sells for
Most WordPress plugin businesses we see sell for 1.5 to 2.5 times annual revenue. Recurring revenue with good renewal rates, growth over the last year or two, and a large free install base push it up. One-off or lifetime sales, falling revenue and code only you understand push it down. Three times revenue or more needs a strong case.
A plugin with no revenue can still sell. A free plugin with a large, active install base is worth something to a buyer who has a premium version or add-ons to sell to those users.
Why where you sold licences matters now
When you sell the plugin, the buyer is paying for the revenue they’ll keep, and that depends on what can be handed over:
- Your own store: the store, the customer list and the domain go to the buyer. Subscriptions are tied to your payment account, so plan with the buyer how they’ll move.
- Freemius: the product can be moved to the buyer’s Freemius store, and customers, licences and subscriptions go with it.
- A marketplace: the customers belong to the marketplace, so check its rules on moving items between accounts before you list. A buyer will discount revenue they can’t take with them.
- WordPress.org: you can transfer the plugin to the buyer’s account yourself if it has under 10,000 active installs; above that, the plugins team does it.
The full process, from getting your numbers ready to the handover, is in our guide on how to sell your WordPress business.
Where to sell a plugin business
You can sell to a buyer directly, through a broker, on a general marketplace such as Flippa, or on a WordPress marketplace. On FlipWP, your listing goes to buyer members who are specifically looking for WordPress plugins and already understand licensing, renewals and WordPress.org. Listing details are only visible to members, you talk to buyers directly, and the listing fee starts at $99. There are answers to common questions in our FAQ.
Ready to sell your plugin?
If you’re selling licences, start with a free version on WordPress.org and sell the paid version from your own site. If you’re ready to sell the plugin itself, list it on FlipWP and we’ll help you set an asking price.
Iain Poulson
October 5, 2026