Licensing, updates, expiry and downgrades
PanelKind uses the bundled Freemius SDK for optional connection, license activation/account management and paid update delivery. Free requires no purchased license or account. Local workspace rendering uses stored configuration; license state is read from the SDK's cached installation-specific status.
Paid plans and site allowances
All paid plans enable the same Pro feature set. The activated license supplies plan name, site allowance, used/remaining activations, production/local counts, expiry and lifetime status. These are not hard-coded commercial tiers. A null quota is represented as unlimited sites; local/staging exclusions apply only when the license permits them. A full allowance prevents additional activations rather than deactivating the current site.
Owners with the SDK's plugin activation permission can use Settings & tools → License to activate/change a license, manage the account, synchronise or open plans. These actions take effect independently of drafts. A paid account or unrelated license is insufficient: entitlement must belong to this product and this installation. A trial without an activated qualifying license does not grant Pro in this implementation.
Prices, billing periods, specific site bundles, refunds and support service levels require the actual commercial offer. This handoff does not establish them. It documents the implementation without a live store or customer-account check.
Expiry and downgrade behaviour
| License state | Feature behaviour | Updates in this build |
|---|---|---|
| Missing/deactivated or no qualifying license | Free | Manual ZIP installation |
| Active qualifying paid license | Pro | Freemius when the license has a valid update entitlement |
| Expired license allowing continued feature use | Pro features retained | Paid updates unavailable |
| Expired license configured to block features | Free | Paid updates unavailable |
| License marked cancelled/inactive | Free | Paid updates unavailable |
| Temporary connectivity failure | SDK cached status until successful sync | Delivery still depends on connectivity/entitlement |
Cancelling a billing renewal and a license being marked cancelled/inactive are not assumed to be identical events; the plugin reads the actual SDK license state. Do not promise that all expired licenses retain Pro, or that all immediately lose it.
What remains after returning to Free
Published Views, widgets, guides, roles, section layouts and access restrictions continue to work. Existing objects above Free capacity remain editable; additional object IDs above the allowance are blocked. Existing deeper sections cannot be made deeper beyond their published depth on Free.
Published individual assignments/access exceptions, individual audience selections, templates and white-label values can remain unchanged or be removed. New or changed paid values require Pro. Applying templates requires Pro even if a template remains stored. Published corners/shadows can remain unchanged or be reset to defaults; themes and colours remain freely editable. Full administration's configuration is read-only on Free.
A saved Pro draft is not an entitlement. If licensing changes before publication, the server checks the draft again; a rejected publication does not replace the live configuration. Backups and revision restoration use the same rules. Removing paid capacity and publishing that reduction does not reserve permission to recreate it later on Free.
Updates and service boundaries
This build sets License::DIRECTORY_UPDATES to false. Free users manually upload newer ZIPs through the WordPress replacement flow. A future WordPress directory distribution must be actually configured before Free directory updates can be advertised. Even with that flag enabled, directory entitlement is for the free SDK build; premium builds retain their paid update checks.
Paid updates need valid update entitlement, SDK connection/consent, connectivity and an available published release. An update entitlement does not force installation: WordPress's site-owner automatic-update preference is respected. Real activation, renewal and remote package delivery were not exercised while preparing this documentation bundle.
The SDK communicates with Freemius during connection and license/account operations using relevant site, plugin and account information, under its own connection/activation terms. Accordingly, do not describe the installed plugin as having no external services. PanelKind's own management responses and configuration exports omit license keys/raw SDK entities; the SDK manages its own credentials.