Most errors you hit after installing or updating are ordinary WordPress errors. They do not mean the plugin is broken, and they usually do not mean anything is wrong with the file you downloaded.
Conflicts with other plugins. Caching serving you a stale page. A PHP version your host has moved on from. Memory limits. These are the usual suspects, and every one of them is findable in about ten minutes.
Work down this page in order. Most people stop before the end.
First: is it actually a fault?
Two things send people here that are not errors at all, and between them they are the most common reason anybody opens a ticket.
A license key prompt. Most plugins nag for one and work perfectly without it. Your plugin is almost certainly already working. See My plugin or theme is not activating.
An update that has not arrived. Usually we have not packaged the developer’s new version yet, and there is nothing wrong with your site. See Update failed, or the new version is not there yet, or My updates are not showing up in WordPress if nothing has ever arrived.
Second: is it something we can help with?
We support delivery, installation and updates. What we do not do is teach you the plugin. If your question is how to build a funnel in CartFlows or configure a Gravity Forms notification, that is the developer’s own support desk, a freelancer, or the WordPress community forums.
Worth two minutes before you write a ticket: Do you provide technical support? draws the line clearly, and it is the single most useful article on this site for setting expectations in both directions.
Then work down the list
1. Clear every cache
A caching plugin, a host-level cache, a CDN, and your own browser. Any of the four can show you a broken page long after the thing that broke it is fixed. Clear all of them, then load the page in a private window.
Surprisingly often this is the whole problem.
2. Deactivate your other plugins
Deactivate everything except the one you are testing. If the error goes, turn them back on one at a time until it returns. The last one you switched on is the conflict.
Do this on a staging copy if you have one. If you do not, do it at a quiet hour.
3. Switch to a default theme
Temporarily activate a stock WordPress theme and see whether the error survives. If it does not, the problem is your theme rather than the plugin.
4. Check your PHP version
Premium plugins move faster than hosting does. Most current plugins want PHP 8.0 or newer, and a site sitting on 7.4 will throw errors that look like plugin bugs. Your host’s control panel will tell you what you are running, and usually let you change it.
5. Turn on the debug log
If you have a fatal error or a blank white screen, the log tells you exactly which file and line. That is the difference between guessing and knowing, and it is the single most useful thing you can put in a ticket. See Enable WordPress Debug Log.
6. Check Known Limitations
If the plugin works but one feature does not, particularly a template library or demo content, it may be on the list. Those features run on the developer’s own server and need their license, so they are not available through us. See Known Limitations.
7. Reinstall the plugin
Download a fresh copy from your account dashboard on 99plugs.com and install it over the top. Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin, choose the zip, and confirm when WordPress asks whether to replace the current version with the uploaded one. Your settings and content stay put.
Still stuck? Tell us properly
Open a ticket. That is what it is for, and we would rather hear from you than have you fighting it alone.
One ask, and it is not a hoop. “The plugin is broken” and “it doesn’t work” give us nothing to act on, so the first reply is always us asking what you are seeing. That round trip costs you a day. Skip it by including:
- Which plugin, and which version if you know it
- What you did and what happened instead
- The exact error text, pasted rather than described
- Anything the debug log said, particularly the file and line
- What you have already tried from the list above
Open a ticket with that and we can usually answer properly the first time. We will install the product on our test server and reproduce it. We do not want things broken any more than you do.