Jetpack made Jetpack Stats a paid product to monetize its offerings and sustain its development team. The decision primarily targets commercial websites, defined as those generating revenue through ads, affiliate links, product sales, or donations. Personal, non-commercial sites can still access the service for free. This shift aligns with industry trends where basic features remain free while advanced or business-oriented functionalities require payment.
The pricing model is tiered based on website traffic, starting at $99.96 annually for smaller commercial sites and scaling up for larger ones. Automattic, Jetpack’s parent company, justifies the move as a way to ensure fairness—charging more only as a site grows—while introducing advanced features like UTM tracking and priority support for paid users.
This change has sparked criticism within the WordPress community, as many users feel the service’s value does not justify the cost compared to free alternatives like Google Analytics.
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