Free vs Pro: what's included Free & Pro
A side-by-side look at FileDeck Free and Pro features, Pro pricing from $59/yr, the 30-day money-back guarantee, and renewals that never increase.
FileDeck Free, available on wordpress.org, includes everything you need to publish a searchable document library: unlimited documents, all three layouts, search, filters, and the block and shortcode. FileDeck Pro adds access control, real file protection, import/export, versioning, reporting, and more, starting at $59/yr.
What’s in FileDeck Free
- Documents post type with its own admin menu, drag-and-drop upload or Media Library selection, auto-captured file size, type, and filename, featured images, hierarchical categories, and tags.
- Three layouts — table, grid, and folders (collapsible categories) — server-rendered with progressive enhancement.
- Instant search-as-you-type, sortable columns, category and tag filter dropdowns, pagination or load-more.
- Sixteen available columns (
id, image, title, excerpt, content, categories, tags, date, modified, author, size, type, filename, downloads, preview, link) and four download link styles — button, button with icon, icon only, and text link — with an open-in-new-tab option. - The FileDeck Library Gutenberg block with live preview and column manager, the
[filedeck]shortcode, and a FileDeck Library Elementor widget — all with the same layout, filter and column options. - Auto-created library page, three-step setup wizard, and accent color controls.
- Lifetime download counting per document, shown in admin.
- Instant client-side search, sort and filter — libraries up to ~500 documents also get an inlined search index for zero-round-trip search-as-you-type; scope larger collections by category.
- Site-wide ⌘K / Ctrl-K quick search overlay to jump to any document from any page.
- Bulk drag-and-drop upload under Documents → Upload Documents — each file becomes a published document titled from its filename.
- Category-click filtering — clicking a category name in the table filters the library by it.
- Hover preview cards showing a thumbnail, title, category, type, size, and date.
- External file links — point a document at Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint, Amazon S3, or any URL instead of uploading it.
- Standalone shortcodes —
[filedeck_search],[filedeck_login]and[filedeck_download]for placing library search, sign-in and single-file links anywhere.
What Pro adds
| Pro feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Access control | Restrict categories by WordPress role or protect them with a password |
| True file protection | Protected files move out of public uploads; downloads use signed URLs that expire after 15 minutes |
| CSV import and export | Bulk create or update documents; export your library |
| Bulk convert | Turn existing Media Library files into documents |
| Cloud storage | Browse and attach files from Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive, with a scheduled one-way pull that imports new files automatically |
| Version history | The old file is archived automatically on every replacement; download URLs never change |
| Auto-expiry dates | Remove a document from the library after a set date |
| Multi-select zip download | Visitors tick checkboxes and download a single zip |
| Office & media previews | Preview Word, Excel, PowerPoint, audio and video — on top of the free PDF and image preview |
| Automatic PDF thumbnails | Grid and image views show a real first-page preview of each PDF, rendered on your own server |
| Download log and reports | Who, what, when — with optional IP anonymization and CSV export |
| Analytics dashboard | Downloads, views and searches at a glance — a downloads-over-time chart, top documents and top searches, over 30 days to all time, with CSV export |
| Google Analytics 4 | Send document downloads, searches and previews to your own GA4 as standard events (file_download, search, select_content); off by default, no data goes to FileDeck |
| Lead capture | Require name/email before download; export leads or send to a webhook |
| Content search + Search Index | Search inside PDFs, Office documents, and text files; rebuild the index under Documents → Settings → Search Index |
| Scanned-PDF OCR | Extracts text from scanned PDFs that have no text layer; requires a Pro OCR key |
| AI semantic search + Ask AI (AI plan) | Find documents by meaning, and offer an "Ask this library" chat widget with cited answers; a Documents → Activity Log → AI Questions view shows what visitors ask and turns unanswered questions into new-document drafts. Requires your own AI provider API key — a managed option is not yet available |
| Review cycles | Put documents or categories on a review schedule and mark them reviewed from one screen |
| Subscriptions and digests | Visitors subscribe to daily or weekly email digests of new and updated documents |
| Approval gate | Adds a submit-for-review, approve-and-publish workflow to the document editor |
| Library health scans | Weekly automatic scan for missing files, dead external links, and documents never downloaded in 90+ days |
| Activity log + content gaps | Logs views, searches, and downloads, with a report of searches that found nothing |
| File integrity | SHA-256 checksum recorded for every file, with optional verification on download |
Pricing
Pro — everything in the table above except the AI features:
- $59/yr — 1 site
- $99/yr — 5 sites
- $179/yr — Agency plan (50 sites)
AI — everything in Pro, plus semantic search, "Ask this library", the AI Questions view, and AI summary/tag suggestions:
- $119/yr — 1 site
- $199/yr — 5 sites
- $399/yr — Agency plan (50 sites)
AI features are opt-in and use your own AI provider API key (bring your own key). Renewal prices never increase: the price you buy at is the price you renew at. Every plan includes priority email support and updates while the license is active. Checkout and licensing are handled by Freemius, and every purchase has a 30-day money-back guarantee — see Billing, refunds, and getting support.
Ready to switch? See Upgrade from Free to Pro — your documents and settings carry over automatically.
FAQ
Is the free version limited in how many documents I can add?
No. Free has no document limits. Pro adds features, not capacity.
Do all Pro plans include the same features?
Yes. The three plans differ only in how many sites you can activate the license on.
What happens to Pro features if I don’t renew?
The plugin keeps working, but updates and support stop. See License keys, activation, and updates.
Still stuck? Email [email protected].