Not a free plugin

The plugin IS free. The service it links to may not be free but that is perfectly compatible with www.remarpro.com plugin guidelines.

Semantics.

No – fact. Paid software as a service is allowed as long as the plugin itself is free. The plugin makes it very clear that this is a paid service on its page:

Before installing the plugin: please be aware that the GroupDocs Viewer for Cloud API is a paid service and you will have to register with us. We offer a free 14-day trial as well as a free, restricted, plan. For more details, please see all plans available.

OK you win on the “knowing the WordPress rules” front.

For developers who for most of the time expect a free plugin not to be tied to a paid service, we all lose.

And its rating seems to reflect that.

I can only suggest that, in future, you read all of a plugin’s documentation before trying it out.

Not practical. In some cases that would take hours.

In future, I would still rate this plugin as 1 star, because it’s not in the spirit of most of the plugins on here – providing a free service.

But I do appreciate your pointing out to me that there is a distinction – albeit an academic one – between a free plugin and a free solution.

Not practical. In some cases that would take hours.

So you would rather install things without first ensuring that they are, indeed, the correct tool for your needs or without knowing what (if any) constraints they might have? With all due respect, don’t you think that’s a little foolhardy?

it’s not in the spirit of most of the plugins on here – providing a free service.

I think you misunderstand what the WPORG plugin repo is about. It’s about providing free plugins – not about providing free services. There are many, very useful, commercial services that users wish to run on their sites. Some of the commercial companies involved offer free plugins to make the process as easy as possible. That is the free service that such SaaS plugins offer. It would be completely unrealistic to expect them to also offer their hosted services free of charge.

www.remarpro.com is not about getting everything for free. It’s about offering open source, GPL solutions. And open source != free. It’s a mistake that quite a few people make. ??