Is there any way to pirate premium WordPress plugins and minimizing the chance of getting malware? Meaning perhaps there are certain sources that are known to provide malware free content and generally have a good reputation. I know piracy will always involve risks but it doesn’t hurt to ask people with first-hand experience. I am even willing to pay but there’s no way I will afford plugins that cost hundreds of dollars a year anytime soon.
You might want to look at something like Drupal as an alternative to WordPress. Drupal tends toward a lot more open source for its plugins (which they call modules). As a developer myself, I also find it better engineered than WordPress, although maybe that’s just because I used Drupal more.