License problems

If your theme license will not activate, or your site suddenly shows it as inactive, this page is the place to start. It lists the known causes and links every licensing article in the Knowledge Base, so you can go straight to the one that fits.

#Start with what changed on your site

The licensing system runs on thousands of sites every day, and we review the license logs every one to two weeks. When a license stops working, the cause is almost always a change on the site's side: a new address, a migrated copy, a server that can no longer reach Hub. Before writing to support, look at what changed shortly before the problem appeared.

The case we see most often goes like this:

1. The license is activated on example.com.
2. Somebody changes the site address in SettingsGeneral to new-example.com.
3. At the next daily check, the license shows as inactive.

Nothing broke. An activation is bound to two things together: the purchase code and the domain of the site. The site reports its own address on every check, and when that address no longer matches the domain the activation was made on, the site goes inactive.

Moving a license to another domain, and using it for stagingIf you are moving a site to a new domain, or want the theme licensed on a staging copy as well as the live site, these are the rules the license follows. Our servers check them, so knowing t...Licensing

#It will not activate

It is already active on another domain

The most common refusal by a wide margin. Every activation slot on the license is in use, and the message names the domains holding them. Release one from that site's admin, or from your Hub account if you no longer have access to the old site.

The old domain still holds the slot after a move

If the site address changed without deactivating first, the old domain keeps its slot, and the new one is refused. Release the old domain in your Hub account, then activate again.

The license belongs to a different product

A license works only for the product it was bought for. This happens to people who own several of our items. Check in your Hub account which product each license is for.

You cannot get into your Hub account

Releasing a slot without access to the old site happens there, so sign in first. Signing in to your Hub account covers every sign in route, and a missing account can be created on the registration page.

The server cannot reach Hub

Activation and every later check are outbound HTTPS requests from your server. A firewall, a closed outbound port, missing cURL or an outdated certificate store makes activation fail in a way that looks like a rejected license. The Hub Connectivity check in Diagnostics answers this in seconds.

The license was refunded or blocked

A refunded license is no longer valid, and a blocked one stays blocked. The activation message says which. See the Refund Policy.

Activating your theme licenseActivation turns a purchased theme into a working Pro install. It takes about a minute when it goes well. This page walks the whole flow and covers every point where it can stop, because tha...Licensing

#It was active, and now it is not

The domain changed

Covered above. A new site address in WordPress settings, a move from a temporary host address to your own domain, or a switch from a test domain to the live one all count.

A subdomain

blog.example.com and shop.example.com are separate domains from example.com, and each one uses its own activation.

A cloned or migrated copy

Copying a site with its database carries the stored license along. On the new address the copy reports a domain the activation was never made on, so it shows as inactive, while the original site keeps its slot. The copy needs its own activation, or the original has to be released first.

A staging copy

A staging site is a separate domain. Each license has one free staging slot, and a site has to pass a check to use it. The move article above explains the rules.

WP-Cron does not run

The license re-checks itself once a day through WP-Cron. If WP-Cron is disabled and no server cron calls wp-cron.php, the check only runs when somebody opens the WordPress admin, and a site nobody logs into for a few days can no longer prove its license is valid. See Server requirements.

The server lost its connection to Hub

A firewall rule, a security plugin or a host change can block outbound requests. A short outage is covered by a grace period, and the license recovers on its own at the next successful check. A block that stays in place ends that grace period.

How a license is checked on your siteYour site confirms its license with our server on a schedule. That is why an activation can lapse without you touching anything: one of the conditions it rested on changed, or the schedule s...Licensing

#Things that do not affect the license

• Switching the site from http:// to https://.
• Adding or removing www. in front of the same domain. www.example.com and example.com are the same site for licensing.
• Your support period ending. The license is perpetual, and the theme keeps working. Support can be bought again in your Hub account.
• Moving to a new host while the domain stays the same. If the license drops after a host move, check the connection to Hub, because the new server may block outbound requests.

#Updates stopped, but the license is active

A Regular license bought on Envato stays a valid license, but it does not include automatic updates. A direct license includes every demo and every integration, while a Regular license gets only the ones marked available to Envato, and it also leaves out priority support and feature requests. That list may grow as paid features are added. That is the license tier, not a fault. What an Envato license covers lists them, and What your license actually covers explains every tier.

#Workarounds do not work

Several sites need several activations, and you can add them to an existing license in your Hub account.

Buying more activations or another productFrom your account you can take four commercial actions without contacting anybody: add activation units to a license you already have, move to unlimited, upgrade the tier, or buy another pro...Customer Hub

A copy from an unofficial source has no valid license at all. Why nulled copies do not work explains what happens with one.

#Every licensing article

Your licenses, versions and downloads

#What to send support

If you have checked what changed and the cause is still not clear, write to support with:

• the domain you are activating on, exactly as it appears in SettingsGeneral
• the product name
• what your Hub account shows for the license: which domains hold its slots
• the exact wording of the activation message
• what changed on the site before the problem started, if anything
• the Diagnostics report, including Hub Connectivity, and the System Info report

License and activation problems never count against your support allowance. Getting help with your theme explains how to open a request.

System Info and Diagnostics

#Common questions

#Still stuck

Open a support ticket and say what you tried and where it stopped. Your product, your domain, a screenshot and the exact message you saw are usually enough to settle it in one reply.

Last updated 15 Sep 2026