All plugins, both free and premium are released under GPL Version 2 license. License file is included with each download. Once we start releasing themes, same rule will apply and both free and premium themes will be released under the same GPL license. To see the full text of the license you can see at official GNU website:
GNU General Public License, version 2: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Free plugins can be still downloaded from this website, as well from other websites such as WordPress.org website. But, premium plugin (or Pro edition as they are also referred as in many instances) are not free, and before you can download them you need to buy one of the editions available.
This means that you can use plugins on as many website as you want, but that doesn’t apply to the support provided here, and that’s the reason for different editions types.
- Basic Edition: with this you only get the plugin and no support. You can download each new version and that’s it.
- Standard Membership Edition: this edition gives you much more than basic, and this includes support. But, these editions are subscription based, with payments recurring every 2 or 3 months depending on the product.
- Developer Membership Edition: this is extension of the Standard Membership Edition, and includes additional email support, access to SVN and TRAC, and is edition useful for developers.
If you at one point decide to cancel membership editions, you will be reverted to Basic edition, loose support and still will be able to get new versions of plugins.
