Compare

Six Tools, One Goal

There are several ways to distribute WordPress plugins outside WordPress.org. Each tool takes a different approach — some embed a library into every plugin, others replace the entire ecosystem.

Troy takes a middle path: one client plugin, one server plugin, full control. Your plugins update from your infrastructure, with WordPress.org coexistence built in from day one.

Use the comparison table below to see exactly where each solution stands.

How Troy Compares

Troy vs. Freemius

Freemius is a SaaS monetization platform that handles licensing, payments, and updates. It takes ~7% of every sale. Each plugin must embed a ~147-file SDK. Your customers' site URLs, WordPress versions, and plugin usage data flow through Freemius servers — not yours. Troy is self-hosted, MIT-licensed, and collects nothing from end users. If you need built-in payments, Freemius is the only turnkey option. If you already handle sales yourself, Troy gives you the update infrastructure — no revenue cut, no customer data collected.

Troy vs. EDD + Software Licensing

Easy Digital Downloads is a full eCommerce platform. Software Licensing is a paid addon ($199–999/yr at renewal) that adds update delivery. Every update check sends the customer's site URL to your store — no anonymization. EDD also ships built-in telemetry that reports your server environment, sales data, and active plugins to Awesome Motive weekly. The onboarding wizard pre-checks the opt-in checkbox. Troy handles update delivery on its own — no storefront, no telemetry, no site URLs sent anywhere.

Troy vs. Plugin Update Checker

Plugin Update Checker is a free MIT library with ~15 years of production use. You bundle ~60 PHP files into every plugin that uses it. Ten plugins means ten full copies in memory, ten HTTP requests per update cycle, and ten independent copies to patch when a vulnerability is found. PUC also stops working the moment you deactivate a plugin — its update service lives inside the host plugin. Troy installs once as a shared client and covers all Troy plugins, activated or not.

Troy vs. Aspire Cloud (FAIR)

Aspire Cloud set out to replace WordPress.org with an independent mirror. It requires a Laravel stack with PostgreSQL and Redis — it's too heavy to run on a $10/month server. Key backers stepped away in February 2026, and the project is pivoting to TYPO3 and Drupal. Troy doesn't replace WordPress.org — it runs alongside it.

Troy vs. Git Updater

Git Updater pulls updates directly from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Gitea — no server required. The tradeoff: your Git host sees every update request, unauthenticated GitHub requests cap at 60 per hour, and private repos require each site owner to configure API tokens. Troy routes all update traffic through your own server with no rate limits and no client-side configuration.

Quick Decision Matrix

Not sure which tool fits your use case? This matrix maps common goals to the best-fit solution.

Why Is Troy Winning in Almost Every Category?

Because we learned from the others. We spent many days tearing apart every tool on this page — including Troy — cataloguing every feature gap, every silent data leak, every architectural shortcut. We know where Troy falls short too — and we're fixing it.