## What your license actually covers
URL: https://hub.jkdevstudio.com/knowledge-base/licensing/what-your-license-actually-covers
Updated: 2026-09-08
Summary: What a direct and an Envato license each give you, how many sites one purchase covers, and why a license belongs to an account rather than a code.
This page is about what you bought and what its limits are. Activating it is a separate walkthrough, and this one assumes you have already done that or are deciding before you buy.
Start with the thing people get wrong most often.
**A license is permanent. It does not expire and it is never renewed.**
The word "renew" belongs to support, which is a separate window of time with its own clock. Your license, your activations and every version you have downloaded stay yours for good, whatever happens to that window.
Two channels sell the same theme under different terms, and mixing them up causes most of the questions we get.
## A direct license
The main channel, and the one that carries everything.
The number of sites comes from the number of activations you chose when buying. If you need five sites, you take five activations in one order.
**Five activations is one key covering five sites, not five different keys.**
The same string is entered on each site, and each site confirms its own activation separately. That is also why adding capacity later needs nothing reinstalled anywhere.
You can add activations later from [your account](https://hub.jkdevstudio.com/login), or move to the unlimited tier. The key does not change: the same string simply gets a larger allowance, and nothing has to be reinstalled on the sites already running.
The license does not stretch. Each production domain takes an activation, and a subdomain counts as its own domain. The exception is a test environment, which has a separate free slot, so staging does not consume a paid activation.
When you run out, the refusal names the domains holding your activations. That is the answer to "where is it in use", so read it rather than guessing.
**Twelve months of support is included**, and it is the only part of a direct purchase with a clock on it. When it ends the theme keeps working exactly as it is, the license stays valid, and every version you own stays available in your account. What closes is the ability to open a new support request, and a new window can be bought at any time.
A domain is not permanent either. An activation can be released and moved to another site whenever you want.
Buying more activations or another product
Buying support, or extending it when it runs out
## An Envato license
The marketplace channel. Envato issues that license, not us, and [their licensing terms](https://themeforest.net/licenses/standard) govern it. They change those terms without our involvement, so read their current text rather than trusting a summary anywhere.
The short version: Regular covers one end product whose users are not charged for access, Extended covers one where they are. One purchased item is one end product, so a second site is a second purchase.
**It carries no support window.** Envato support is switched off for our items, so a marketplace purchase is the license and the files. Support for it is bought here, against that license, like any other.
It also sits at the Regular tier, which is where the differences below come from.
What an Envato license covers
## Three tiers, and what each one decides
Our tiers are separate from the two Envato license types, and confusing them is easy.
| Tier | Where it comes from | Automatic updates | Premium integrations | Demos released later |
| Regular | an Envato purchase | no | no | no |
| Premium | a direct purchase | yes | yes | yes |
| Agency | a direct purchase, unlimited sites | yes | yes | yes |
The tier decides all three, not the store you bought from and not a date on the calendar. A Regular key activates, verifies and works normally; it simply has no Version Control screen, cannot install premium integrations, and does not receive demo packages published after the theme launched. Every demo that shipped at launch stays available to it.
**This list may grow, and it is set on our side rather than by the marketplace.**
New paid-channel capabilities can be added to it, so treat the table as current rather than permanent. The reasoning behind where that line sits is written up on the main site.
Why our prices changed
What you get when you buy direct
If you already hold an Envato key, you do not have to buy again to move up. The upgrade applies the author share of your marketplace purchase as credit, so you pay the difference.
## What a license really is
The most important part of this page, because it is where expectations break.
**A license belongs to an account, not to a purchase code.**
The purchase code is a label we recognize your license by. It is not the license, and holding one does not make somebody the owner, so handing your code to another person transfers nothing and a license bought from somebody else's account cannot be moved into yours. The thing to protect is access to your account and to the email address the purchase was made with.
A useful side effect of the same design: the purchase code does not change when you move from an Envato purchase to a direct one. The string you once pasted into the admin stays valid, and nothing needs re-entering.
Licenses are not transferable to third parties.
## What is not allowed
One license on several domains at once, cloning a database with its activation, or otherwise working around the binding. Verification happens on our side, and those activations get removed.
This is not a house rule invented per case. It is what you agreed to at purchase, and the authoritative text is on the main site:
- [Terms and conditions](https://jkdevstudio.com/terms-conditions/)
- [Support policy](https://jkdevstudio.com/support-policy/)
- [Refund policy](https://jkdevstudio.com/refund-policy/)
The constructive version is cheaper anyway: if you need more sites, buy more activations, and your account shows how many you have and where each one is in use.
Why nulled copies do not work
## Common questions
Does a subdomain need its own activation?
Yes, `blog.example.com` and `example.com` are separate domains as far as activation is concerned, and so are the `www` and non-`www` forms of the same name.
What happens after twelve months?
Nothing happens to the license. Twelve months is the support window on a direct purchase, so what ends is the ability to open a new request, and a new window can be bought whenever you need one. The theme, the versions you own and your activations are unaffected.
I bought on Envato and want automatic updates
Open the license in your account and take the Premium offer on it. The author share of your marketplace purchase is applied as credit, so you pay the difference rather than the full price, and integrations and later demos come with it.
Why does a direct purchase get more than a marketplace one?
Because the marketplace keeps most of the price. What we can fund out of a direct sale is what pays for an update pipeline, the integration catalog and the demos that come after launch, and the write-up on the main site sets out the arithmetic.
Can I sell a site I built to a client?
Yes, the license goes with the end product, so it transfers with the finished site rather than staying behind with you.
My account shows something I did not expect
Your account is the authoritative view of what you own and where each activation sits, so when it disagrees with what a site reports, trust the account and open a ticket with both pictures.