I think this is it, Envato-wise. This month Iāll probably make about $500 with the new projectsā¦ As I predicted I expect the marketplace to close soon or some other wired decision to make Elements strongerā¦
Thereās going to be a very tough period for all of us. Only those who truly have passion for thi and arenāt just in it for the moneyāwill make it out āalive.ā
You canāt live of passion at least here I think we are not developers who just started so we can live of passion. Envato sales are not enough for basic needs anymore. What we could do now? Freelancing is not something I adore and never had good experience. Finding another job is not easy if you spent years in this business.
The entire industry is a disaster, not just Envato. Layoffs are happening everywhere, and even senior developers, most of them canāt find work.
As for other jobs, itās the same as in IT. We are in a deep crisis, and nobody really talks about it. YouTube is full of testimonials from people who have applied to up to 1,000 jobs with no luck. There is no easy way out of this, if you ask me, except to become really, really good at what you do and keep moving forward.
What I do know is that, at some point, things will stabilize. AI will never replace my brain, my ideas, or the way I implement them. Even now, companies hire senior developers to fix the sloppy work AI creates. There is a future for usāitās just that we need to find the way. This is a new era with AI, and nobody really knows how to navigate it yetā¦
With Envato, it was easier because they handled the marketing and we only had to create. Now we need to do bothāand moreāto get clients.
Freelancing is not a bad idea either, but it will push you out of your comfort zone.
So my advice is to keep going, do the best you can, and letās see what happens. If the IT industry ever becomes completely automated, that will apply to everything else tooānot just IT. There would be no jobs left anyway, and if you want to switch to an electrician how will hire you if most people will be out of jobs?
Yep, have to keep goingā¦. 
I became really good in what I was doing long time ago.
I donāt need to prove anything like someone who just started to create portfolio so he may be working because of āpassionā.
We all work for money.
Why do you support capitalistās story? They want happy workers who
work from āpassionā, 12 hours per day for peanuts.
Instead of that why wouldnāt they value responsibility?
But responsibility also has to be paid. Iām not responsible for old fashioned
themes if they are not selling anymore.
Freelancing is good idea the same as entering Themeforest in 2026 year.
Do you think someone has the chance on Upwork in 2026 as new worker?
They are in the same situations like we on Envato, closed door for new workers.
And if for āmarketingā you suppose writing long posts about only one topic for months Iām not good in that.
I feel your frustration. I guess you will need to find your own way not sure how to help you as for me even if I will make 5$ per month I will till continue to learn and code, create, inovate and yes for me is not jut about money never was, I just love this too much!
How will I mange overall I donāt know I just take each day at a time and hope for the best and leve this mostly in the hands of God
About marketing what I plan to do is a free course to teach how to create a commercial appā¦ I have the epxerience to do that now and I am sure many will benefit from and hopefully I wil also.
We had it easy with Envato this is the truth now that is nrealy dead we feel lost but we will find the way I am sure.
As for Envato the whole blame is on the CEO, Mr. Hichame Assi I really dont like this guy! He did not understood what Envato and literally destroyed it with each decision that he tookā¦ is a matter of time until the entire Envato ecosystem will collapse completely,
I do believe that if I had been in charge of Envato for at least one year, it would have been put on the proper path. All it needed was to prioritize authors like it did when things were good. Instead, the CEO did the exact oppositeāand worse, he is really bad as a CEO and he is responsible 100% of the dizaster that happened to Envatoā¦ Elements will become a garbage collection nobody will want it in time specially with AI and generative way!
So long story short we need to find our way out of this nobody will do it for us!
Thanks for your answer. I donāt expect help, just need to say my thoughts.
If you have enough time to spend on something that does not bring money, then you have other source of money. I have many other interests, but they donāt bring money. Marketing, yt videos about coding etc I donāt think that will be able to change demand for code. If Envato could not keep demand, what one small video can do? Not sure if new Envato CEO is only responsible and for blaming or just there is no demand for code like before.
This makes no sense to me. Iāve had good momentum for the past year and a half, even May 2nd there were 3 sales in one day, then NOTHING. Poof. Like someone turned off the water tap. I donāt get it. Demand doesnāt disappear in one day!
I looked at other authors who regularly sell, and strangely enough, theyāre having blackout in the same time period Iām having it.
At the same time StatusGator keeps insisting the marketplace sites are not functioning normally since May 5th.
I donāt even know what is going on. I thought it was a payment gate issue since the last AUS / US tax update, except TF is having sales normally.
I think they activated recently something like Cloudflareās āUnder Attackā mode, which blocks bot traffic and shows that āWait before you access this pageā message. This blocks StatusGatorās scraper and also lowers customer conversion, as some might click away before they go the the final page (donāt wait for Cloudflare to clear their session and show the page for them)ā¦
Iāve been noticing the verification recently when flipping between GR and VH, but that has been going on since november last year.
I just canāt get a read on this abrupt drop in May. Itās not like an organic decline where it phases out over time. The way it just drops into nothing for weeks for multiple authors at the same time canāt be just the cloudflare thing, right?
Well what do you expect, Envato dose not care anymore about the marketplace is like it dose not exist anymorie for them.. is a dead horse!
While figuring this out. Iām interested to see other authorsā May curves (not necessarily the dollar amount, just sales frequency) or how this month compares to past months. Because thereās something strange about May, and Iām wondering if anyone else is seeing the same thing.
For me also, May is coming with a huge drop in sales, i earned 70$ so far on CodeCanyon for this monthā¦
I ma de about 1400$ but most sales came directly from my websiteā¦
For May similar sales as last few months.
About demand, Envato always had weird sales trends, days with sales and then nothing.
I think majority of customers left to this day on Envato are agencies, not small freelancers or individuals and they have their own trends when purchase and when not. That is why demand disappears for days.
TF and CC are not affected by the May issue. The only pattern Iāve identified is that VH / GR / 3D authors who have mockups, device templates, apple products, or anything of that nature, are all experiencing this sudden disruption AT THE SAME TIME. This includes elite authors.
Support will not admit to any changes, and have provided no explanations.
At this point Iām truly at a loss. Iāve maintained good reputation and sales for years, even on May 2nd I had 3 sales, but whatever they did, it brought the end for market earnings for myself and others. In 12 years, this is the first time I will not be generating a payout for the month on market.
This sucksā¦ not even know what to say at this point but sotck footage is defenitely deadā¦ too much free stuff and now AI can do a lotā¦ Envato bet on the wrong card and I am reffering to Elementsā¦
Complete silence on Envato for almost 10 days for me, feels like is dead at this pointā¦
I think Googleās March SEO core update had something to do with it. It rolled out April 8th, and can confirm 9 days of nothing the day it went into effect. That was obviously before the actual death in May:
For me also, complete silence
