A license either never expires, expires after a set number of days, or follows a subscription. API Manager handles renewals for licenses that expire after a set number of days: it sends reminders, shows a Renew button and keeps an expired license renewable for a grace period. Licenses sold with WooCommerce Subscriptions or Constellation renew automatically with the subscription instead.
When you’d use this
- Decide between one-time licenses with manual renewal and subscription licenses with automatic renewal.
- Set how long customers have to renew after a license expires.
- Understand why a customer’s license stopped working after a payment failed or a subscription was cancelled.
- Explain to a customer what happens when they switch plans.
How it works
Choose how a license ends
On the product’s Licensing tab:
- Never expire (the default): the license lasts as long as the order stays Completed.
- Expire after a set number of days with an Access length (days): the license expires that many days after the order was placed. The Licenses list calls these "API Manager subscription". They renew manually, as described below.
- A subscription product (with WooCommerce Subscriptions or Constellation): the license follows the subscription, and the expiration fields are hidden.
Changing Access length (days) recalculates the expiry of every existing license for the product. To extend one customer’s license, change Expiration in the order’s Licensing box. See Manage API Manager licenses and activations.
Licenses that expire after a set number of days
Reminders
API Manager emails the customer 30 days and 7 days before the license expires, and once more the day after it expires when a grace period is set. Each email links to a renewal and mentions any Manual renewal discount. The email is Expiring subscription under WooCommerce » Settings » Emails, where you can change its subject and heading.
The Renew button
A Renew button appears next to the license on My Account » License keys once the license is within the Manual renewal period of its renewal deadline (its expiry date plus the grace period). On a new store that’s 2 months. It stays there until the grace period ends.
Clicking Renew adds the product to the cart, with the Manual renewal discount applied. When the renewal order is complete, the license gets a new term. Any time left on the old term is added to the new one, and the customer keeps their key, activation limit and activations. The renewal order shows the renewed license on its line item.
The grace period
After the expiry date, the license stays renewable for the Renewal grace period (14 days on a new store). When the grace period ends, API Manager deletes the license and its activations, the Renew button disappears, and the customer has to buy the product again.
For example, with a 14 day grace period, a license that expires on August 1 can be renewed until August 15. From August 16, the customer needs a new license.
Both periods are set under API Manager » Configuration » Licensing. See Renewal grace period and Manual renewal period.
Subscription licenses (WooCommerce Subscriptions or Constellation)
API Manager works with WooCommerce Subscriptions 5.0 or later and with Constellation. Tick Licensing on a simple or variable subscription product, and the subscription takes care of billing and renewals. API Manager’s reminder emails, Renew button and renewal discount don’t apply.
The license is active while the subscription is Active or Pending cancellation:
| Subscription change | What happens to the license |
|---|---|
| Renews | Nothing changes: the key and activations carry on. |
| Goes On hold (for example, a failed payment) | The license stops working. If the subscription is active again before the Renewal grace period ends, it works again with its activations. If not, the license and activations are deleted. |
| Cancelled or Expired | The license and its activations are deleted. |
| Reactivated or resubscribed after the license was deleted | A new license is created, and customers activate their sites again. |
| Customer switches plans | The license moves to the new product. User license keys keep working with the new product ID. Product license keys change, and their activations are removed. |
Because each variation has its own product ID, a plan switch changes the product ID your software must send. User license keys make switching easier for customers, because they only update the product ID, not the key.
When you refund an order with a licensing subscription, the refund form offers to cancel the subscription in the same step. See What order changes do to licenses.
Common issues
A customer didn’t get a renewal reminder
Reminders only go to licenses that expire after a set number of days, not to subscription licenses, and the day-after reminder needs a grace period. Reminders are sent by a daily scheduled task, so check that WordPress’s scheduled tasks run on your site, and that the order has a billing email.
The Renew button doesn’t appear
The license isn’t within the Manual renewal period yet, the grace period has ended, or it’s a subscription license. If Manual renewal period is empty, the button only shows after the license expires.
A license stopped working after a failed payment
The subscription is On hold. Once the customer pays and the subscription is active again within the grace period, the license works again.
Activations are gone after a subscription was reactivated
The subscription stayed inactive for longer than the grace period, or it was cancelled, so the license was deleted and created again. Customers activate their sites again.