Forced paywall of basic featuress

Hi there,

Could you please provide more details about the specific features that you’ve noticed have been moved behind a paywall? This will help in addressing your concerns more accurately. Additionally, could you please post your site URL here so that we can have a look? If you want it to remain private, you can also contact us via contact form. If you choose to reach out directly, please include a link to this thread.

If Jetpack will suddenly irreversibly block my own stats on my own server unless I pay ￡14 to see the output of my own nginx logs, then this is an indication that Jetpack will do the same to other features in the future whenever it possibly can.

Jetpack has destroyed our trust. This is not a per-site issue. It is precisely the sort of thing that future users should be warned about in reviews.

Animesh, you have already answered other users on this precise issue. You know already that this is what users have an issue with. Your response here therefore comes across as disingenuous.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by davidgerard.

Not long ago, in the Jetpack FAQ it said:

“Is Jetpack free? Yes! Jetpack’s core features are and always will be free.“

This information was changed, and several core features began to be paid for. I understand that new paid and advanced features will be added, it is absolutely fair. But these were basic features that were supposed to be “always free”.

How can we trust a company that lied?

I avoid using plugins as much as possible because we never know what their future will be and because I don’t want to be stuck with plugins.

JetPack was one of the few plugins that I trusted for its longevity. I liked the plugin. I use some features of this plugin that made the site dependent on JetPack, such as the gallery. I have been using Jetpack for many years, more than a decade.

But unfortunately I’m losing confidence in the plugin, I no longer know which features will be removed. I will have to review hundreds of posts and remove any Jetpack functionality. Over time I will have to remove Jetpack from all the sites I have, and unfortunately it will no longer be a recommendation.

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and concerns about the recent changes to Jetpack’s stats feature. We really appreciate your feedback and want to address your concerns directly.

I know changes like this can be frustrating, so let me clarify a few things:

• First, if your site is non-commercial (meaning it’s not making money through ads, products, or donations), you can still use Jetpack stats for free. We want to make sure all non-commercial sites can continue to benefit from this feature without any extra cost.
• As for commercial sites, we’ve introduced a paid plan to access advanced stats and get priority support. This helps us maintain the quality and reliability of our services, especially for sites with higher traffic and more complex needs.

There seems to be a bit of confusion about where Jetpack stats are stored. All your Jetpack stats are securely held on our servers, not on your individual server. This allows us to manage and optimize the data effectively, so you get reliable and comprehensive stats without any extra load on your server.

We know this change might feel like a surprise, and we’re really sorry if it feels contrary to our previous commitments. Our goal is to be transparent and fair. We’re committed to improving how we communicate changes and ensuring you’re always informed well in advance.

I hope this brings a bit more clarity around this change.

Best regards!

• This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by Alin (a11n).

@alinclamba Thank you for your thoughtful response.

The problem is that there are sites with some advertisements to cover some costs, thus being considered commercial, but the amounts received aren’t enough to cover the hosting. How does Automattic expect these sites to start paying huge amounts for Jetpack Stats? These values ??are much higher than the hosting itself…

Note that not all commercial websites are from companies with high profits, many of the websites considered commercial don’t even earn to cover their costs and many are from non-profit organizations.

As I said, I completely understand that advanced options are added to stats, as they were added, and that they are paid for, it is perfectly fair!

But we are talking about basic stats, and let’s not forget that Jetpack also receives voluntary contributions. As I mentioned:

Not long ago, in the Jetpack FAQ it said:
“Is Jetpack free? Yes! Jetpack’s core features are and will always be free.”

This sentence was changed, so what was said was not true, which means it was a lie. Logically, this makes us lose trust in Automattic.

Once again, thank you for your willingness to respond.

Best regards!

Hi @ricjcs,

Thank you so much for your suggestion! We really appreciate you sharing your thoughts.

Our team is always looking for ways to improve Jetpack Stats and make it even more useful for everyone. Your feedback helps us a lot.

Thanks again for your input! If you have any more ideas or need help, feel free to reach out.

Best regards!

And thanks to the Automattic team for their responses. You have made it extremely clear that my original review is correct and that it remains a necessary warning to users as to what behaviour they should expect from Automattic going forward. Thanks!