Pligg CMS Goes Up For Sale

Update: Pligg CMS was sold on December 16th 2015 for over $50,000.

Pligg, the free and open source CMS that enables users build social websites similar to Reddit, is up for sale on Flippa.

The domain name, all owned assets related to the platform, and the credentials to Pligg's GitHub account, are all included in the package. In other words, the eventual buyer will own everything to do with Pligg CMS, bar the third party developer-owned modules found and sold on the website.

Established in 2005, Pligg has a solid reputation and a relatively large user base. It can build websites where members can submit articles, vote on them, and leave comments.

In many ways, it's sad to see it being sold on – but there could be a silver lining.

A CMS That Needs Saving?

Sometimes, projects (no matter their size) can no longer be maintained by those who initially brought them into existence. That certainly seems to be the case with Pligg, as the owner states:

“After operating this domain for nearly a decade, I'm ready to move on. I haven’t been able to commit much time to the website recently and I hope that the new owner will be able to revitalize the site and accompanying software product.”

In any case, one thing is for sure. Pligg needs saving.

Now, I'm not implying that Pligg is a damaged product by any means. It's currently offered as a “one click install” option from many popular web hosts, and is still used by thousands of web developers to build social websites.

The owner admits a decrease in website traffic and sales over the past year, but has attributed that to a lack of recent updates.

However, if a buyer cannot be found, Pligg risks fading away into the deep digital darkness of the Internet's history. That shouldn't be allowed to happen.

Furthermore, it's worth noting that Pligg lies within the social network builder niche, an area of the CMS world that I've long bemoaned for not being as accomplished as it ought to be.

Stellar social website & social network builders are few and far between, with Pligg being a historically average option. Perhaps, though, through its sale and purchase, it can become the product that rejuvinates the social website builder niche.

What's Included?

Pligg's owner has answered a few questions via the Flippa sale page, detailing what's included in the sale:

“I'd be glad to provide the new owner with [GitHub] admin rights so that they could take control of the project and publish updates.

I am including all of the premium content that I have developed for Pligg, including the Facebook and Twitter login, Comment Subscription, and other popular modules. Modules included with the sale are marked as “Sold by: Pligg CMS” on the product page.

All other modules are owned by their respective developers.”

Some Exclusive Answers from The Founder

I managed to ask a couple of questions directly to Pligg's Founder, Eric Heikkinen. Here's what he had to say.

KI: Why have you decided to sell Pligg?

EH: This week celebrates 10 years of Pligg development, and I've been a part of the project since it all began. As you might expect, a decade is a long time to be committed to one project.

Over the past year, I haven't been able to give the project as much attention that it deserves and I hope to find a new owner who will be able to care and grow Pligg in my stead.

KI: What challenges did you face while running Pligg?

EH: The biggest issue that I faced as an open source project manager was sourcing and retaining developers. When I first began the project, there were a number of enthusiastic open source developers who were eager to help out and explore the new project. In 2005-2006, managing these users effectively was very difficult.

The tools for collaborating were limited (no GitHub or Slack) and it wasn't easy for users to submit changes to the core code. Today the process is much easier, but I've struggle to find developers willing to contribute to the project regularly without any financial incentive.

If you ask me, it's a pretty lucrative deal. Pligg has potential, and I hope the eventual buyer is able to push it away from decline, and into prosperisty again.

Find out all the details via Pligg CMS' sale page on Flippa.