Free Software For WordPress developers:13 Must-Have

Let’s face it, being a WordPress freelancer is exciting. You get to do what you love and help clients build…

Unai Eguiguren - Published 2 years ago
Free Software For WordPress developers:13 Must-Have

Let’s face it, being a WordPress freelancer is exciting. You get to do what you love and help clients build their businesses. That being said, it’s not always easy, especially when you’re starting out. That’s why is convenient to know some free software for WordPress.

One of the biggest challenges for WordPress freelancers is being cost-efficient. You have to deliver stellar customer service and products in order to be successful. This means you’ll have to balance the tools you use against your budget to ensure you get the best tools for what you can afford.

Luckily, there are a lot of freeware tools and free software for WordPress available that you can use to make your life as a WordPress freelancer easier. In this post, we’ll look at some of these tools in more detail.  

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Free Software For WordPress Developers: 13 Must-Have

Free Themes

Themes form the foundation of your clients’ websites. Sure, you could use the standard WordPress theme, but you’ll agree that it’s a bit dull. This means you’ll need to find a suitable theme that you’ll want to use for the websites you build. 

Ideally, you’ll also want to use the same theme for every website, so that you know its features and functionality. In this way, as you use it more and more, you’ll be able to create websites a lot faster. 

Two of the most well-known and popular themes out there are GeneratePress and Astra. Both these themes have all the features you need to create beautiful websites for your clients. As a bonus, both also have free options that won’t cost you a cent. 

Free Page Builders

You, and your clients for that matter, don’t want every site you create to look the same. So, apart from a theme, you’ll also need a page builder for every site you create. These builders allow you to customize the theme based on the client’s specific needs and requirements.  

Two of the most popular free website builders available are Elementor and Brizy. Both feature similar tools that you can use to create distinct websites, pages, elements, and the like. Simply put, they give you the tools you need to build unique websites for your clients. As with the themes mentioned above, both these page builders offer a free option. 

Free Trial Website Management Tool

One of the main tools you’ll need as a WordPress freelancer is a website management tool. It helps you manage your clients’ sites and make sure that they’re always online. And if they are, your clients will be more satisfied, you’ll retain more customers, and you’ll make more money.

Fortunately, Wonsta’s managed WordPress hosting packages include a month of free trial of website management tool. Some of its features include:

  • 24/7 website monitoring.
  • Client management and invoicing.
  • Three free backups.
  • Autoscaling.
  • Business analytics.
  • Constant uptime checks.

These are just some of the features that make Wonsta’s website management platform a vital tool for your business. You can check out Wonsta’s website to learn more about what this tool has to offer.

Free Storage Tools

When building websites, you’ll need to store a lot of images, digital assets, and even video. You could store them locally on your computer, but it’s a lot safer to store them in the cloud. Also, when you store these files in the cloud, you’ll be able to access them from anywhere and share them easily with clients. 

So, it’s a good idea to look at different cloud storage providers. Here, some of the best options include Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive. These options all include a free tier with some storage to get you started and give you the ability to get more storage as your business grows. 

Free Project Management Tools

Sure, when you only have a few clients, it could be relatively easy to manage the work you have to do for them. But, as you get more clients, this becomes increasingly complex. The solution is using a project or task management tool that helps you organize all your work and the tasks you need to do. 

Some of the best free task management tools available are Asana and Trello. Using either of these tools will help you work more effectively, serve your clients better, and grow your business faster. Undoubtedly, one of the most useful free software for WordPress  that you might find.

Two man chat happily while working in a laptop.

Free Software For WordPress: Productivity Tools

It’s simple, when you’re more productive, you’ll work faster, more efficiently, and deliver better websites. Fortunately, there are several free productivity tools available on the market that can help you up your productivity. Let’s look at some of these.

We’ve mentioned earlier that a project management tool can help you plan and manage your work. However, to use it effectively, you actually need to know how long it takes you to do certain tasks. This is where Toggl comes in. It helps you track time so that you can see how much time you spend on every aspect of your business. 

Another helpful free software tool is Evernote. It makes taking notes easier and makes it easy to access your notes everywhere. In turn, this means you can store all your ideas in one place, and you’ll never forget anything.

To also increase your productivity, you should consider using a password manager. As a WordPress freelancer, you’ll use several tools and platforms daily, each with its own login details. A password manager helps you organize these details and makes it easier to log in without needing to remember the details for each tool. Here, one of the best tools available is Bitwarden. 

Free Design Tools

When you create websites, you’ll need to do a fair bit of design work whether it’s editing images, making thumbnails, or creating banners. Fortunately, there are many free tools available that can help you. One of the most popular, though, is Canva. It gives you the ability to create and edit images, videos, and other digital assets. So, it’s not only a helpful tool for your clients’ websites but for your own as well. 

Free Software For WordPress: The Bottom Line

For WordPress freelancers, the right tools are vital for them to grow their businesses and be successful. Yet, they also need to be conscious of the costs of these tools so that their expenses don’t eat into their profits. Fortunately, there are many free software for WordPress available that can help freelancers be efficient, productive, and serve their customers better. 

Hopefully, this post helped illustrate that Wonsta is one of the best tools WordPress freelancers like you can use. To learn more about it, sign up today and get €25 in free credits to build your first site. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Free Software for WordPress

Apart from the information provided above, we’ve also compiled a list of frequently asked questions WordPress users often have about free software for WordPress.

Are All Themes, Plugins, and Other Tools Available As Free Software for WordPress?

No, not all of these solutions are available as free software for WordPress. You’ll typically find themes, plugins, and other tools available in three different forms. For one, in some cases, these tools and software are available completely free. This is, for example, the case with WordPress’s own themes.

You’ll also find many themes, plugins, and tools available as freemium options. In other words, they have free options available, but you can also opt for a paid version that has more features and advanced capabilities. Some examples here include, for instance, the Astra theme, Elementor page builder, or the Yoast SEO tool.

The final option is the themes, plugins, and other tools that you have to pay for and that have no free options available. Some examples here include the Divi page builder and some of the themes available from Themeforest.

Free software is written in withe letters on a green background

If the Software is Free, Is it Any Good?

Now, when there is paid software available, you might wonder if the free software for WordPress is any good. And here the answer is a resounding yes. Many free software applications have features comparable to paid versions and, in some cases, free software can be better than paid applications.

For example, one of the most popular editing and design tools available is Photoshop. But it comes at a hefty price. Here, free software like GIMP and Krita offer similar features and are available for free. And what better example is there of excellent free software than WordPress itself, which is free and open-source and powers millions of websites on the Internet.

And when looking at freemium options, you’ll get to use many of the most well-known software applications and tools for free without needing to pay anything. You just won’t have some of the features of the paid versions but, in many cases, these could be features you hardly use.

Why Should I use Free Software for WordPress?

Using free software is especially helpful to help you limit your expenses, especially when you’re just starting out as a WordPress freelancer or developer. Simply put, if you’re able to limit your expenses, you’ll be able to generate more profit.

And, as mentioned earlier, using free software doesn’t necessarily mean using software with fewer features and less functionality. From our discussion, you’ll see that many of the free software for WordPress have all the features you need to effectively and efficiently build and manage websites on behalf of your clients.

There are also other benefits of using free software for WordPress, especially those freemium options that have paid versions available. Here, you can use the free version to test the functionality and features of the software before you commit to buying the software.

Doesn’t Free Software Make My Sites Less Reliable and Stable?

No. As mentioned above, most of the free and freemium options available on the market today have all the tools you need to manage your websites effectively and efficiently. In other words, they allow you to run your websites just as well as paid software, which, in turn, means you won’t forego any stability or reliability.

When I Install Free Software For WordPress, What Are Some Things I Should Consider?

When you install any software, including free software for WordPress, it’s crucial that you keep the software up to date. This ensures that you always have the latest features and functionality. In turn, this ensures that your sites stay safe, stable, and reliably work as they should. It also protects you against data loss and data breaches.

How often should you update your themes, plugins, and websites? WordPress itself releases updates fairly frequently, and the popular themes and plugins usually do as well. So, you should ideally update your sites as soon as these updates are released. If not, you should aim to update your sites at least once a month.

Another important consideration when installing free software for WordPress is that you, if possible, only install software from known and reputable developers. In this way, you’ll avoid installing software that could make your sites vulnerable to security risks.

WordPress software is seen in a screen

 

But I Manage Many Sites, How Can I Make Managing These Sites Easier?

Although updating themes, plugins, and other tools for only one or two sites can be relatively simple, we understand that, when you manage many sites for clients, it could become challenging. In addition, doing these updates for many sites can be time-consuming and can rob you of valuable time you could rather use to build sites for clients.

The solution is to use a WordPress website management tool that can help you make this process a lot simpler and more efficient. And this is where Wonsta comes in. It provides scalable WordPress hosting that automatically scales the website’s resources up or down based on the prevailing demand. This means you never have to worry about a site’s available resources, and your sites will be more reliable and stable, no matter how many visitors it gets.

In addition, Wonsta will soon also launch bulk management that allows you to install and update plugins and themes in bulk. It also allows you to schedule these updates ahead of time. This, ultimately, means that you’ll be able to save a lot of time and effort, and you’ll be able to run your websites more efficiently.

The Wonsta platform also gives you the ability to manage your clients, send invoices, see business analytics, and more. This makes Wonsta the best tool you can have when you need to manage WordPress websites on behalf of your clients.

 

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