Licensing and value

Decision rule

The live roster contains only plugins installable from the WordPress.org directory. No paid, nulled, or vendor-downloaded code was installed. A capability is marked ok only when the installed free tier demonstrated it; documented paid features are marked pro-gated, never silently credited.

Value is not sticker price

The audit treats value as a weighted category, not a synonym for free. It considers the useful free boundary, data ownership, operational dependency, and the amount of paid functionality needed to reach the intended workflow. Vendor prices and plan boundaries can change, so every pricing statement belongs with its source and review date on the relevant plugin page.

Product boundaries

• Local WordPress plugins: authored content and results can remain in the site database, subject to each plugin’s exports and integrations.
• LMS plugins: quizzing may be strong, but the learner, enrollment, and course model adds operational scope.
• Form builders: funnel and integration breadth may exceed assessment depth.
• Hosted SaaS embeds: polished marketing workflows can move authoring or learner data outside WordPress; they remain documentation-tier products here.

Reading the verdicts

A higher audit score means stronger evidence against this rubric, not a guarantee for every project. Use the capability matrix, runtime measurements, and the live demo links together before choosing.