This article refers to the legacy licensing system, which we developed internally at Aelia. We replaced that system with the Freemius service in October 2021. If you're looking for the article related to the licences your purchased via Freemius, please find it here: How to manage your licences for the Aelia products (Freemius Service). 


Introduction

At Aelia, we developed a new licensing system, designed to make it easier to keep track of the licences you purchased, as well as allow to keep the Aelia products up to date more efficiently. The system is in active development, and we will constantly improve to make it effective and easy to use.

 


1. How the Aelia licensing system works

The Aelia licensing system is based on licence keys, which are assigned to each product purchased from our site. Activating a licence key on a site will grant access to the support service, as well as automatic updates, for that site.


Tip

You are allowed to install and use the products you purchased on more than one site, if you wish, and they will work just fine, even without entering a licence key. The key is used only to receive updates and support, and it can be activated on a certain number of live sites (usually, one site per licence, unless a multi-site package is available and purchased).


You can also activate a licence key on an unlimited number of staging/development sites, as long as their domain matches one of the test domains recognised by the Aelia licensing system (see paragraph about staging licences).


2. Where to find the licence keys

Upon completion of an order, you will receive an email with the details of the products you purchased. The email will contain the licence keys for each product. Below you can find an extract from a sample email, showing the licence keys, the maximum number of activations allows and the expiration date of each licence:


You can also find the licence keys by going to the My Account > Orders page on the Aelia website. On that page, you will see a list of the orders you placed. Opening the order will show you the details of the products you purchased, followed by a section with the licence keys. The following screenshot shows an example of the data displayed on the order details page:


 

3. Can't find the licence keys? We can help!

The licensing system is quite new, and we are still going through the process of updating the licence keys for all of our customers. If you can't find the keys on the emails or the My Account > Order page, please contact us. We will be happy to find them for you.


 

4. How to activate the licence keys

After installing an Aelia plugin, you can enter the licence key for it by going to WooCommerce > Settings > Aelia > Software Licences. There you will find a field for each of the Aelia plugins that supports licence keys. Below you can find an example of the new interface:


To activate a key, simply enter it in the appropriate field, then click on Activate. You will receive a confirmation message upon a successful activation of a licence.


Tip

Licence keys are used to receive automatic updates for the plugins and to access the Aelia support service. If you wish to install a plugin on another site, e.g. for testing, you can simply upload and activate it on that site. The plugin will work even if you don't enter a licence key. Please just keep in mind that you won't be able to receive support, nor automatic updates for sites without an active licence.


 

5. How to use your licence keys on staging or development sites, free of charge

To simplify testing and development, you can use each licence key on an unlimited amount of staging/development sites. This will allow you to receive automatic updates for these sites.


How is a staging, or development site, identified?

Staging and development sites are identified by their domain. Below is a list of top level domains (TLDs) and sub-domains that are considered staging or development sites (credits to Freemius for the list). 


Top level domains that are considered staging or development sites

  • localhost
  • *.dev
  • *.test
  • *.local
  • *.staging
  • *.example
  • *.invalid
  • *.myftpupload.com (GoDaddy)
  • *.cloudwaysapps.com (Cloudways)
  • *.wpsandbox.pro (WPSandbox)
  • *.ngrok.io (tunneling)


Subdomains that are considered staging or development sites

  • local.*
  • dev.*
  • test.*
  • stage.*
  • staging.*
  • stagingN.* (SiteGround; N is an unsigned int)
  • *.staging.wpengine.com (WP Engine)
  • *.wpengine.com (WP Engine)
  • dev-*.pantheonsite.io (Pantheon)
  • test-*.pantheonsite.io (Pantheon)
  • staging-*.kinsta.com (Kinsta)
  • *.kinsta.cloud (Kinsta)


Notes

  • Any domain not matching the above list will be considered a live site, and it will require its own licence key.
  • Unfortunately, we can't add free licences for custom development domains. Due to that, we recommend to use one of the above domains instead.
  • Activating the licence key on a staging, or development site, will enable automatic updates for that site, but won't extend the support service to it. Support is still be provided for a single, standalone site for each licence.


 

Need assistance with your licences?

Should you need any assistance retrieving, activating or managing your licence keys, please feel free to contact our support team. We will be happy to assist you, and ensure that you get the most of your Aelia products.


Acknowledgements

Icons made by Pause08 from www.flaticon.com