Lessons from a former CodeCanyon author who sold more than 15,000 WordPress plugin licenses.
For a long time, Envato was like a dream… If you built WordPress plugins or themes, CodeCanyon and ThemeForest were where you wanted to be. The traffic was already there, customers trusted the platform and you could focus only on building products instead of worrying about payment processing, licensing systems, VAT, affiliate programs or marketing.
That was my personal experience on Envato, in the golden era of 2016-2024. Over these years, I sold more than 15,000 WordPress plugin licenses through CodeCanyon. At its peak, it was a fantastic business, I thought I will reach the stars. Almost any new product could gain traction quickly, customers were actively browsing the marketplace and sales were coming in without any effort from my part.
Today, the mood is very different and the marketplace changed a lot and as a result, more and more WordPress authors are looking for alternatives, building their own stores, experimenting with direct sales or moving to platforms that give them greater control over their business.
The recent changes to Envato’s author program commission starting from 1st of July 2026 (when Envato removes exclusivity and will have a flat 50% commission for all sales + seller fees), have accelerated that trend, but the story started long before those announcements…
The End of Exclusivity, The Last Nail In The Coffin
When Envato announced the removal of exclusivity and moved authors to a flat commission structure, many developers started asking themselves a simple question:
What exactly am I getting in exchange for giving up half of every sale?
Now, authors can sell elsewhere without losing their ability to sell on Envato – this is the good part of the entire story. They do not lock us in any more. The marketplace remains valuable as a sales channel, but it no longer feels like the center of many developers businesses.
For some authors, that realization has been enough to start exploring alternatives to sell WordPress plugins and themes.
The Bigger Problem Isn’t Commission
Most discussions focus on commission rates, but I think the bigger issue is dependency. Whenever the majority of your revenue comes from a single platform, you’re exposed to decisions you cannot control, so when a policy changes or search rankings change, suddenly your business looks very different and despite doing nothing wrong.
The most successful authors I know eventually reached the same conclusion: marketplaces are excellent distribution channels, but they are dangerous foundations for an entire business to rely solely on them.
Marketplace Saturation Is Real
Another reason many authors are leaving Envato is competition. When CodeCanyon was growing rapidly, it felt possible to launch a good product and to get it noticed pretty easily. Today there are thousands upon thousands of products competing for attention, as most of the categories are extremely crowded. As a result of this, even if your plugin is much better, customers may never discover it. This creates a frustrating situation where marketing becomes just as important as development. The difference is that on your own website, your marketing efforts build your brand, while on a marketplace, your marketing efforts often strengthen the marketplace first.
Customer Ownership Matters More Than Most Developers Realize
When someone buys from Envato, they are the ones who own the customer relationship. Your job is to provide support, updates, but you will not have access to customer data, marketing opportunities and long-term relationship building that you would have through your own platform, or through a platform like WPBay, which allows direct communication with your customers, using email campaigns.
That becomes a major limitation once you start thinking beyond individual sales. So if you want to launch a new product, do some upsells, offer subscriptions, you cannot…
Many developers don’t realize this until they’ve been selling for several years (myself included!).
Why More Authors Are Building Independent Businesses
A growing number of WordPress developers are deciding that if they’re going to invest time into marketing, content creation, SEO, email newsletters and support, they would rather build assets they actually own.
That doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning marketplaces completely. In many cases, the smartest approach is a hybrid one. So, use marketplaces for discovery and use your own website for branding.
Build your own email list and create direct relationships with customers. Like this, you will create a much more resilient business, you will thank me later for this tip.
Is Envato Still Worth Using?
Absolutely. Despite all the criticism, Envato still remains one of the largest software marketplaces in the world. Millions of customers still visit the platform and many authors continue to generate significant revenue there. I don’t think the question is whether Envato is worth using, I think the better question is whether Envato should be your entire business. Also, come join WPBay and check what we have to offer for WP theme or plugin developers. Check also this comparison page, where you can understand the differences between Envato and WPBay.
What Authors Are Doing Instead
The most common paths I’m seeing today include:
- Joining alternative marketplaces like WPBay
- Building direct sales websites with WooCommerce
- Using Easy Digital Downloads for plugin distribution
- Using licensing platforms such as Freemius
My Personal View
If I were starting over today, I would still consider listing products on Envato, the traffic is still too large to ignore, but what I would do differently is build my own audience from day one! Don’t compromise on this. I would focus on email subscribers and I would invest in content.
That’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned after more than a decade selling WordPress products.
