Beaver Builder

The Beaver Builder Marketplace

Justin Busa - August 10, 2015

One of the questions we receive on a regular basis from developers is whether or not we’ll be building an add-on marketplace for Beaver Builder (it’s also a popular feature request). We were initially hesitant to do so, but given the recent interest from various members of the community, we’ve decided to go for it!

Here’s a look at our thoughts on building a marketplace for Beaver Builder and our plans for making that happen.

We Need Your Help!

To make this happen, we’ll need your help! Building a marketplace isn’t going to be rocket science, but it won’t be anything without contributions from members of the amazing Beaver Builder developer community.

Sure, we have a few ideas for things we could build that make sense as add-ons, but building add-ons isn’t currently our focus. We have plenty on the roadmap and don’t want to diverge from that. Instead, we’re looking for you to provide the meat and potatoes of the marketplace.

We’re still figuring out a lot of this, but we do know that we want to launch sometime later this year with add-ons from early contributors. If you’re interested in developing and selling add-ons for Beaver Builder, please get in touch with me at justin [at] fastlinemedia [dot] com so we can gauge just how much interest there actually is in this.

The Details

As I said, we’re still figuring out a lot of this, but there are a handful of details that we’ve already decided on. This is all subject to change, but it’s pretty close to what we want to have.

What Marketplace Solution Will You Be Using?

The Beaver Builder website is built on WooCommerce, a handful of WooCommerce extensions, and a custom API for licensing/updates. As such, it makes sense to leverage the official WooCommerce extension for marketplaces, Product Vendors.

Doing so will allow us to tightly integrate the marketplace into the existing Beaver Builder checkout experience without having to code it from scratch. Product Vendors also comes packed with powerful shortcodes that will allow us to deliver developers with stats for add-on sales in their account area.

What Can Be Submitted to the Marketplace?

Aside from the most obvious type of add-on, modules, we’ll also be making it easy to submit template packs to the marketplace in the form of a plugin. We’re open to suggestions, so let us know if you have an idea for an add-on that enhances Beaver Builder and isn’t a module or template and we’ll consider it.

As for what can’t be submitted, we’ll probably handle that on a case-by-case basis until this is up and running. Let us know what you’re considering before investing too much time into it so we can let you know if it’s approved or not.

How Will Support and Updates Be Handled?

Customers that purchase add-ons from the marketplace will have access to the same outstanding support for pre-sales questions and general product use that Beaver Builder customers currently receive. Additionally, we’ll host all add-ons on our updates server and push out new versions as they become available to licensed customers.

Fixing bugs and feature enhancements will be the sole responsibility of the add-on developer. Everything else will be handled by us.

How Will Pricing Be Decided?

To standardize things and keep them fair amongst developers and customers, we’ll most likely be adopting a tiered pricing structure similar to how WooCommerce handles it. Basically, we’ll define a handful of price points and bucket add-ons into those based on how involved they are.

Add-ons will also be made available as a subscription service for a year of support and updates just like Beaver Builder is. We feel that model will give developers more incentive to maintain and update their add-ons as opposed to a one-time purchase which isn’t as sustainable (or fair to them) over a long period of time.

We haven’t had an in-depth discussion on pricing (or revenue sharing between developers and Beaver Builder), so we don’t know what that looks like yet. We’ll be engaging developers in the conversation when the time comes.

When Will it Open?

We don’t have a firm launch date for the marketplace yet because that all depends on how much interest there is from the developer community. If there is enough interest and add-ons being developed, we’re hoping for sometime later this year. Keep an eye on our blog and social media channels as we’ll post updates as we get closer to launching the marketplace.

Let Us Know What You Think!

What do you think about our plans for a Beaver Builder marketplace? Are you interested in joining in on the fun? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

41 Comments

Russell Jamieson on August 10, 2015 at 3:38 pm

Hi Justin,

That all sounds good, fully leveraging the existing WooCommerce platform to make the user experience as seamless as possible. And I agree the subscription model is the best way to go given the number of moving parts that any module or plugin needs to work with.

As regards revenue sharing, then a straight 50/50 split would seem equitable to me.

My particular interest would be in add-on modules for signup forms/ autoresponder API integration: (Aweber, Infusionsoft, MailChimp, SendReach, MadMimi, etc) for use on squeeze pages or multi-stage sales pages (e.g sales copy with buy button, then email/name capture, then payment)

Regards
Russell
- Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 8:31 am
  
  Thanks for the input, Russell! We do have autoresponder integrations currently, so someone could leverage that to build something more robust (we like to keep things simple). Great ideas!
thewordpresschick on August 10, 2015 at 5:33 pm

Congratulations!!!
SO excited for you guys.

And am already talking with Jon Perez (an awesome human being & very good friend) about collaborating on a few things to submit to the marketplace.

Keep me posted on the launch or whatever you guys need to get the word out, happy to do my part!
Kim
- Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 8:35 am
  
  Thanks, Kim! We Would love to have you and Jon on board! We’ll definitely keep you in the loop. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need any guidance or want to chat about this.
Edward on August 10, 2015 at 9:47 pm

I would like to submit in templates to the marketplace to start with.
- Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 8:37 am
  
  Great, Edward! Keep any eye out for more info on that. We’ll most likely be doing a tutorial once this gets going on how to submit your templates as a plugin (maybe some sort of exporter).
David Waumsley on August 11, 2015 at 5:34 am

I gave two votes to this. My only thought back then was how cool would it be to have shiny new stuff. Modules were my interest.

Since then Beaver Builder have added modules and the roadmap appeared. The great work done by the BB team has evaporated my original desire for more, but until a few moments ago my votes were still standing.

Now I find myself a little concerned of a potential conflict of interest. With something like Woocommerce we know the deal. The main product is given for free and the money comes from the extensions.

Here I image if someone creates a popular extension it can’t then go on the Beaver Builder roadmap. If someone create a niche extension would there be enough income for the developer to continue support?

I know absolutely nothing about the logistic of this, but I thought I’d chime in anyway.
- Ed on August 11, 2015 at 8:42 am
  
  I think you raise a good point David. Personally, I am always concerned about the stability, support, and maintenance for software in my business. As a result, we try to stay with proven developers and mature companies wherever possible.
  
  Thinking about the WordPress model, the core and plugins are free with support not necessarily guaranteed. Premium plugins are then available for those willing to pay the added fee. In this case, the developer is ensuring the future remains firm and clear for their customers.
  
  As I read Justin’s post, I picked up on his valid concern for incentivizing developers to maintain their add-ons. Perhaps this suggestion might be a potential solution:
  
  Since The Beaver has the core plugin covered with its free and premium plugins that are staffed to support, maintain, and enhance (Roadmap) them. What if the add-on marketplace were handled like “Kickstarter”.
  
  A developer would prepare a simple vision for the add-on and people would pledge a certain amount to make it happen. If the pledge total meets a certain number the developer would make it happen.
  
  In this way, The Beaver, could review each “funded” add-on and participate as the coordinator of the main plugins and their roadmap as well as a quality control on the code when written. Upon acceptance, The Beaver would accept its future support, maintenance, and enhancement. Accordingly, The Beaver would take “A” percentage from the Kickstarter and the developer would take “B” percentage.
  
  After the Kickstarter, new adopters of the add-on would pay to use it. From this revenue, The Beaver would take “X” percentage and the Developer would take “Z” percentage as a royalty for their work. Depending on who did the ongoing support, maintenance, and enhancement “X” and “Z” would be changed to favor The Beaver if they are doing it or favor the Developer if he/she is doing it.
  
  At any rate, this process would help to ensure code quality, coordination with roadmap developments, and user/developer engagement. Users could submit requests and developers could prepare a solution. When it is funded to cover design, development, and approval from The Beaver it would be coded.
  
  If the developer flakes out and doesn’t finish The Beaver could do it, give it to another developer, or cancel it and return the pledges back to the user community.
  
  Just a thought. I think I might have had a little too much coffee this morning…
  
  Peace out.
  
  Ed
  - Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 9:07 am
    
    Ed, that’s a fantastic concept! I’m not sure if that would be feasible logistically (at least at first) since we’re trying to keep this simple, but it’s definitely something to consider. What I like most is the “preview” nature of this idea as it would allow others to interact with add-ons before they are actually worked on. Thanks for the input!
  - David Waumsley on August 11, 2015 at 9:56 am
    
    That’s a darn clever idea Ed. I’m upping my coffee intake.
  - Robby McCullough on August 11, 2015 at 9:57 am
    
    Ed, that’s a very interesting idea/model. Thanks so much for sharing. This is exactly why we wanted to publish this blog post, so we could hear ideas/feedback from the Beaver Builder community on the best way to implement a marketplace.
    
    The concerns being voiced here mirror our own. It’s very important to us that this effort provides value to both potential developers and Beaver Builder users. We have no intentions of “watering down” the core software and moving functionality into paid addons. Instead, we think that a marketplace will be a great way to extend on Beaver Builder while ensuring the core software is lightweight and easy to use. We have tons of ideas for modules and templates that are too specific to be included in the core plugin, but they would make great addons!
- Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 9:01 am
  
  Thanks for voicing your concerns, David! I think those are valid points that we need to consider if this is going to be successful and not degrade the current Beaver Builder customer experience. Here are my thoughts on that…
  
  – Since Beaver Builder is a paid plugin (as opposed to WooCommerce), we won’t be trying to make our money by selling add-ons. We’ve been discussing a potential add-on for a while that we would like to build (and it makes sense to not have in core), but we don’t plan on shifting our focus to add-ons. This will mainly be community driven.
  
  – As for someone creating a popular add-on, that’s possible (and we hope it happens!) but we’ll be making sure that nothing is being submitted to the marketplace that conflicts with our longterm roadmap. We didn’t spell out everything in our roadmap post, but suffice to say, there’s a lot more that we’d like to do with Beaver Builder than we mentioned there. It is possible that someone will create an add-on that does something we didn’t think of and becomes popular. In that case, I think they should be rewarded for that as without their contribution, that feature may never have made it into Beaver Builder in any capacity.
  
  – As for niche extensions generating enough income, we’re only asking that at a minimum developers fix any bugs that may come up. We’ll be handling support, so there shouldn’t be any issues there. However, we’ve already discussed how we’ll be handling developers who “abandon” add-ons in our terms and conditions. We’re not quite sure yet, but we’ll never leave the community hanging and may have to end up adopting add-ons if that happens.
  
  Thanks again for voicing your concerns and don’t hesitate to let us know if anything else comes to mind. We decided to write this post before actually building a marketplace to see just what people had to say about it, so this is great!
  - Skyler on August 11, 2015 at 12:46 pm
    
    Those are good points, and I’m all in favor of a win-win. However, I place a great deal of value on the ability of the roadmap/core being able to adapt based on new trends that are fleshed out by developer on the cutting edge, trends that usually show up in the early stage as a plugin, extension, module, or even a hack.
    That process could be retarded by a conflict of interest with what should be a second priority marketplace. I’m more than happy to pay for good code (as evidenced), but would rather not be paying extra for key features when they should be adopted into the core.
    - Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 3:24 pm
      
      Thanks for the input, Skyler! That’s a good point as well. I think with how much control we are planning on having over the marketplace, it won’t be an issue that comes up very often. However, I see what you mean, we don’t have a crystal ball. 🙂 This is a point that we definitely need to discuss and decide what we plan on doing if the issue arises. Thanks again!
David Waumsley on August 11, 2015 at 10:24 am

Great response Justin. I’m always reassured by how you (all) rationalise these decisions. Looking forward to seeing what come out of this.
- Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 10:54 am
  
  Thanks, David. This is new territory for us, so we really appreciate the input!
Dennis on August 11, 2015 at 11:32 am

Hi Justin,

After reading this post and the comments above it’s got me thinking – and I’m really not sure what I think about the prospect now.

On the one hand the idea of having a marketplace and extending the future possibilities by involving other developers sounds like a good idea on the outside. On the other hand, the thing that I think is so great about what you and the team are doing is that you are in full control. This gives me complete confidence in BB, and in any issues being fixed and solutions found to problems.

I also like that there is 1 plugin & 1 theme. I use another tool that has lots of add-ons using individual plugins – when you start getting to double-digit plugins to have a fully functioning plugin with all the bells-and-whistles it can feel a bit much (although I do understand/respect this approach taken by some). I just get this vision of needing to activate an extra 10+ plugins to give BB added features.

Also I feel that going forward there will be confusion to what will be added to core by your team and add-ons created by developers.

I can see how a marketplace for templates can work well for some.

An option could be to have add-ons available as individual items / bundles / all add-ons depending on user level.

Another option could be that you commission developers if they submit an idea that would be a great all-round addition to BB.

Another option could be to have very specific/specialist integrations created by outside developers, that were useful to a very particular user case.

I don’t know how all the financials would work in all these cases.

Just a few thoughts crossing my mind….
- Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 3:09 pm
  
  Hey Dennis,
  
  Thanks for chiming in! We’re getting some really good feedback here and understand that there is some worry that this could affect the overall Beaver Builder experience. That’s something we definitely want to keep intact, so we’re considering all opinions very seriously before we make any final decisions as to how the marketplace landscape could look.
  
  I think the way we’re planning on doing a marketplace would still leave us in full control. It definitely won’t be an open marketplace where anything can be submitted. Add-ons that are submitted would need to pass a full quality review by us. If something isn’t quite up to par, we’ll most likely give developers feedback and let them fix any issues before being approved. So, you should be able to have the same level of confidence in marketplace items as standard BB stuff since it will all have our seal of approval. Someone could already create an add-on for BB and sell it on a site like ThemeForest, but that wouldn’t be considered an official add-on.
  
  In terms of activating many plugins to get additional BB features, that would really only depend on what you need. If the core stuff works fine for you, then you probably won’t need any add-ons. But if you’d like to extend BB, then you could install only what’s needed for a particular site. For example, on this site we have 7 AffiliateWP add-ons, 6 bbPress add-ons, and 7 WooCommerce add-ons, but only 1 GravityForms add-on. When it comes to add-ons, it all depends on what you’re trying to do for a given site and as long as they are coded well, the number shouldn’t affect anything.
  
  I will say that we’re not putting any functionality that we feel should be in the core builder into an add-on. Like you, we like the fact that you can currently install a single plugin to get up and running (the premium modules and templates functionality very well could have been add-ons originally).
  
  Commissioning developers for things that might belong in core isn’t a bad idea at all. Asking ourselves if something should be in core is probably the first thing we’ll do when an idea is submitted for an add-on, so working with developers to do that (paid of course), is something that may very well happen.
  
  Finally, I think you’re right in terms of specific/specialist integrations. That’s what I’m guessing we’re going to see a lot of, since BB already covers many generic use cases (we still have a few more to work on).
  
  Thanks again for the input!
Jason on August 11, 2015 at 11:48 am

Love this idea, can’t wait!
- Justin Busa on August 11, 2015 at 3:10 pm
  
  Thanks, Jason!
John Roberts on August 11, 2015 at 4:00 pm

I don’t know about anyone else, obviously, but this makes me all giggly and nervous at the same time. I love capitalism but I fear the dreaded core meltdown. Unlikely I’m sure…..but I still fear it.

The mustachioed villain skulking in some alleyway off the main road-map, rubbing his hands together, a low maniacal growl emanating from his pie hole, one hand opens his trench coat to reveal add-on wares, the other beckoning me forward.

Fear not, come closer my friend, you’ll want these, you’ll NEED these…closer, that’s it……closer.

Think I saw an episode of Dr Who like that.

Can’t wait.
- Justin Busa on August 12, 2015 at 9:31 am
  
  John, this is probably the best comment I have read on the internet in quite some time! We’ll do our best to avoid core meltdown and keep the mustachioed villain at bay.
Johan Falk on August 14, 2015 at 4:30 am

Hi Justin

We are definitely interested and I think it’s a good move if done right. It could help keep the plugin clean and not to bloated but still give the opportunity to better serve more specific types of websites that today would need to find an external widget or build a custom module to get a complete site setup.

Just sent you an email with some of our thought on this.
- Justin Busa on August 14, 2015 at 8:49 am
  
  Thanks, Johan. Just saw your email. I’ll respond shortly.
Carlos Garcia on August 15, 2015 at 9:12 pm

I absolutely love this marketplace idea, it will enrich the beaver experience even more as long as there’s good quality control and a review system to evaluate each product!

I’d like to know what do you have in mind for customers using a Multisite configuration which will make add-ons available for multiple sub-sites. Obviously an unlimited site license will cover this scenario and I suggest this is considered in the price tier options that make sense when you have Pro and Agency licenses.

On a different note, this is a little scary if you think long term, for example, if I install an add-on that works great today but will break in a year or two after a few beaver updates because the [third-party] developer simply stopped supporting the add-on, what should I expect?
- Robby McCullough on August 17, 2015 at 10:01 am
  
  Hi Carlos. Honestly, this a concern of ours too. We’re still working out the details, but we have a few ideas that should incentivize developers to maintain their add-ons. This is a good thing to keep in mind when choosing any piece of software, though.
chrishoward on August 18, 2015 at 8:40 pm

I’m all for 70/30 (dev/BB) revenue split. Anything less than that is not sufficiently rewarding the effort of the developer. And certainly no penalties for having their add-ons on other marketplaces!

I think 50/50 like Woo have is unfair. What do they do to earn 50%? They’re just exploiting having a large market, which although is fairly normal practise, it means they’re in it for the money, not the developer. They can’t tell me that 50% is mostly to cover the cost of selling someone’s add-on.

BB gains developers who are loyal and provide free promotion (of BB) by providing a fair marketplace. And that’s worth more than money.

So, I hope you don’t look at the marketplace as a chance to make money and instead look at it as a way to grow BB’s mindshare and marketshare.
- Justin Busa on August 19, 2015 at 8:59 am
  
  Thanks for the input, Chris! While we haven’t discussed the split, I highly doubt it would be 50/50. While additional revenue will be nice, we are definitely looking at this as a way to get more people developing for Beaver Builder, so no worries there 🙂
  
  Regarding WooCommerce, they do provide support for official extensions (and marketing, hosting and updates), so that’s a huge benefit to developers. We’ll be providing support as well to ensure customers receive the same dedicated support for the core builder.
Marc on August 19, 2015 at 8:41 am

A marketplace for the Beaver is a GREAT idea. But as mentioned above, quality control is the key. I definitively agree with the idea of a “certified add-on” label raised by Justin and I’m also sure that WooCommerce and the Product Vendor add-on will do the job!
- Justin Busa on August 19, 2015 at 9:06 am
  
  Thanks, Marc! Part of the reason we did this post before any work on the marketplace was to get feedback. Quality control is definitely going to be at the top of our priority list after hearing everyones concerns 🙂
JATA on August 20, 2015 at 5:09 pm

I love this. Id love to see a ranking system like reddit though. (hot, top weekly /monthly /all time, new) so that any module no matter how small can get visibility. Also a featured module blog post would be cool. Id be happy to develop some things but they’d be very basic projects
- Robby McCullough on August 20, 2015 at 6:54 pm
  
  That’s a great idea. Thanks for the feedback, Jata!
Tfen on August 20, 2015 at 10:14 pm

We’ve already developed a clone of the post module that works on buddypress members – including all the layout options, an optional contact button and filtering on role and xprofile info. It was a lot of work. If there’s a market and marketplace for it, I’d be happy to put it up to help offset some of the development time\cost associated in maintaining it.
- Justin Busa on August 21, 2015 at 9:57 am
  
  Awesome, Tfen! We’re still in the planning phase right now and will probably release a blog post once we get closer to knowing when the marketplace will launch. Keep an eye out for that and get in touch with us when the time comes so we can discuss it.
Athlone Harris-Compton on August 20, 2015 at 11:48 pm

I’m liking what I’m reading from everyone, some food for thought. It’s going to be interesting to see how you flesh this out and roll it out. Beaver Builder is becoming a true and solid ecosystem.
- Justin Busa on August 21, 2015 at 9:58 am
  
  Me too, Athlone. Definitely good food for thought and helping us make some tough decisions.Getting this much feedback early on has helped a bunch!
Blaine Wilkerson on September 6, 2015 at 8:04 am

Want to win the support of bloggers and blogging coaches? (Seriously)

Make templates for the email opt-in module.

I know we can design our own. But the crux is creating something bloggers and businesses owners can customize as easily as a page or post.

Pick template>>Upload image>>Change Text>>Link to email API>>Button Text>>Save>>You get the picture

Think something similar to a certain “Leads” plug-in by a company that rhymes with “schThrive schThemes”

You already made Genesis easy to use — brilliant move, by the way. So…

…if you make it easy for bloggers to add their op-tins to any page or post….

…slam dunk.

BTW – Last night, I finally tested BB on a client site. Sounds cheesy but I found myself smiling the entire time. I’m recommending Beaver Builder to every blogger and entrepreneur I know.

I realize that design is not a top priority right now. But I’m willing to contribute some time and designs in order to help the cause.

Expect an email from me very soon.

And Thank You for creating such a friggin’ awesome tool. It’s the first useful “shiny thing” I’ve discovered all year.
- Robby McCullough on September 8, 2015 at 9:45 am
  
  Hey Blaine! Thanks so much for the kind words. We’ll definitely keep this in mind. We are planning an update to our template offerings, as well as some brand new templates, so your wish may come true! 🙂
Jorge De La Garza on September 27, 2015 at 4:37 pm

would the market place mean Beaver Builder will end up not adding new features and leave it to market? Looking to switch from VC
- Justin Busa on September 29, 2015 at 9:50 am
  
  Hi Jorge! We’ll definitely be adding new features even when the marketplace is live. That will mainly be for third party developers.
Jory Hogeveen on March 6, 2020 at 5:01 am

Sounds great, however, I see this was posted in 2015. Any status updates so far?