Premium themes – to use or not to use?

  • I hope this is the appropriate forum for this question!

    I’d love feedback from people using premium themes that require a subscription – thoughts on using premium themes for the long run, in general, and specifically the Headway drag and drop theme.

    I just finished my first site using Headway and have spent some time learning the theme. I would like to start using it exclusively and rebuild most of my WP sites with it, but the thought occurred to me: what happens if for some reason I stop managing any of the sites and a client needs to use another designer? Then the new designer will be faced with having to rebuild the site (and the client will have to pay for that) or take on a theme he/she has to subscribe to (and the client will have to pay for that unless the designer happens to subscribe to the theme or decides to start).

    Do you talk to your clients in advance and describe the situation to them?: “I can build you a great site but, FYI, it won’t be easily transferrable if you decide to use another designer.” Doesn’t sound great. On the other hand, if using premium themes is becoming common, that would strengthen the argument: “I can build you a great site with an awesome premium theme (that, so far, at least, has excellent support) and there’s no other way to get such a great, flexible site without hiring a code-loving person who builds WP sites from scratch (in which case you’d still be stuck with having to have a person with those skills if you wanted to change designers.”

    Obviously the wording one would use with a client would be more finessed but is that the deal? Any advice? Is this a concern for any of you using premium themes?

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  • The difference between commercial and free is that with commercial, they are more obligated to provide you with support, other than that it’s more or less a personal preference.

    What happens after you stop paying your subscription? Nothing, you still own the theme, but you will not be able to make future updates.

    Thread Starter Sal

    (@salal)

    Right. And future updates can be crucial to the existence of the site over time—this is my primary concern because I’m used to making and working on sites that are not tied to a subscription.

    I’d like to know, from people who use premium (subscription) themes, what it’s like when they stop working on such a site. Are there any problems when you need to to hand the maintenance of a client’s site, for whatever reason, over to another designer (who, chances are, doesn’t subscribe to that theme, right?)?

    So, I’m new to the premium theme scene and just want to know if working with premium themes is risky or if it’s simply a price clients need to factor in if they want a good, flexible WP site?

    Thanks.

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