License is not GPL - Be careful
This is my first 1 star review on appsumo, I normally prefer not to say anything that to give a bad review. :(
The main reason for the 1 star is how the developer has ignored my concerns about something really important for the WordPress community, which is the Open Source License GPLv2.
I asked the question here first:
https://appsumo.com/clientportal/#q23471
And the developer said she was going to check and come back. She never did, so I am publishing this review.
I will start with the CONS:
- There is no protected content. So be aware with any documentation you paste here. Just adding the content behind one user is not protecting the content at all.
- There are no prebuilt templates. You will need to create all the pages from scratch.
- You can replicate the whole plugin with custom code, or even with the plugin AFC and a little extra code. This plugin is made with CMB2.
- You can create the same type of page with any builder, Divi or Beaver Builder, for example, and much easier I would say. The restriction by user is the thing missing here and is not that difficult, and if you need a proper document manager with protection you will need a membership plugin anyway, so then you have the user restriction too.
- It does not capture any css from your theme, so it could be difficult to make it look good.
- The extra login page is handy, but it won´t be detected by many security plugins so you can have problems on the long term. It is always best to use the standard login that comes with WordPress.
The main CON:
- The plugin is not licenced as Open Source GPLv2.
The terms and conditions of their page restric the licence and is not GPLv2.
https://client-portal.io/terms-of-service/
When you download the code and look into it, the license is copyrighted to the developer.
Because this is a plugin for WordPress, it MUST be GPLv2. They also are using the code from CMB2 project for the whole plugin, which is also a GPLv2 project, so they must licence their plugin as GPLv2.
Some reads for those who want to learn more about this (and for the developer too):
https://tldrlegal.com/license/gnu-general-public-license-v2
https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/getting-started/wordpress-licensing-the-gpl/
This also tells me that the developer is not well informed about WordPress, so I won´t trust my clients data to her/him.
If you care about WordPress, please avoid this plugin and put your money on developers that follow the rules and make WordPress better.
Some PROS:
- The phases and the mark as complete actions are cool.
- It is a really simple plugin to create this functionality.
- If your business need this and you do not have the budget, it can work.
I hope the developer will read this and answer to the GPL concerns.
I also understand that some people do not care about this. That is ok.
I do care about that and for me, protect the work made by other developers is important, as important as to give it a 1 star review.
Cheers
LauraWilliams
May 9, 2024Hey! I've been travelling over the last 2 days to my sisters wedding (yeah, I timed this deal badly!)
Just to let you know we are working on updating the T&C's — I will have the revised version ready tomorrow.
Thanks for pointing this out, and thanks for those of you who are so kindly defending the product :-D it's very much appreciated.