WordPress Multisite contains more then one website, so technically regular license for a product can’t cover such use. So, if someone hosts 100 websites in multisite and want to use a plugin from CodeCanyon, he will need 100 licenses, since each website will behave differently depending on the theme, other active plugins for it. Am I right no this point, or is there something specific for such cases in Envato licensing?
There are some old threads in the forums on this with no real answer, and since Multisite is more and more popular it is becoming an issue from support standpoint if nothing else, supporting 100 website for one regular license is not fair.
I would like if someone from Envato can officially clear the issue with regular/extended license and use on multisite WordPress installations.
regular license = 1 domain / 1 install only - therefore this does not cover multisite.
Under ThemeForest and CodeCanyon on that last link:
“Can I use a website template or theme in a website hosting service where my customers can customize and create their own websites?”
Please contact us through Support and we’ll put you in touch with the right people to discuss options.
Therefore not very helpful at all… However this isn’t necessarily multisite (depends on how it’s setup and used I guess) so… I’m hitting the ‘Request a staff reply’ to try and get this cleared up once and for all.
regular license = 1 domain / 1 install only - therefore this does not cover multisite.
I do not agree. Multisite usually uses one domain. Either by subdomains (demo.yourdomain.com) or subfolders (yourdomain.com/demo). So if your equation was right then regular licence would cover multisite in most cases. A separate thing is whether the equation is right, but it is not for me to judge.
the extended license, which was made for multiple uses of a file
No, it wasn’t. The Extended License is a single-use license. Please be careful not to contribute to this misconception! The Extended License may cover WordPress Multisite as a special use case (I don’t know), but “multiple uses” is definitely not covered in general.
CustomizeWP said
jonathan01 said
Here’s the simple breakdown of a regular license:
regular license = 1 domain / 1 install only - therefore this does not cover multisite.
I do not agree. Multisite usually uses one domain. Either by subdomains (demo.yourdomain.com) or subfolders (yourdomain.com/demo). So if your equation was right then regular licence would cover multisite in most cases. A separate thing is whether the equation is right, but it is not for me to judge.
It’s pretty simple. 1 regular license = 1 site. Multisite = Multiple Sites , and therefore requires Multiple Licenses. With multisite, each subsite is considered a separate installation.
regular license = 1 domain / 1 install only - therefore this does not cover multisite.
I do not agree. Multisite usually uses one domain. Either by subdomains (demo.yourdomain.com) or subfolders (yourdomain.com/demo). So if your equation was right then regular licence would cover multisite in most cases. A separate thing is whether the equation is right, but it is not for me to judge.
Well it depends how you use multisite
From the official multisite website:
Benefits of using WordPress Multisite
Enabling WordPress Multisite lets you run a network of unlimited sites on one installation. It’s ideal for those who want to run multiple sites, multiple blogs or offer blog hosting services to others.
But I agree - it depends what you use it for - but then again you have an issue right there not knowing what people are using it for etc.
It’s pretty simple. 1 regular license = 1 site. Multisite = Multiple Sites , and therefore requires Multiple Licenses. With multisite, each subsite is considered a separate installation.
That is logical. But, it is time for Envato to finally step up and introduce licensing that can cover such use cases. Considering how WordPress is important for ThemeForest or CodeCanyon, it should have own special variations for licenses that can cover multisite, developers and other things. Current licensing is not sufficient and a lot of time has passed since anyone from Envato even talked about improving licensing. I have been contaced by few people interested incmy products on CodeCanyon that were not able to make a purchse becase current licensing is not enough for many uses.
Maybe we’ll see license changes when they finish up the shopping cart. I recently added multiple license options to my own plugin site and my salesprofit last month double because of it.
It’s pretty simple. 1 regular license = 1 site. Multisite = Multiple Sites , and therefore requires Multiple Licenses. With multisite, each subsite is considered a separate installation.
That is logical. But, it is time for Envato to finally step up and introduce licensing that can cover such use cases. Considering how WordPress is important for ThemeForest or CodeCanyon, it should have own special variations for licenses that can cover multisite, developers and other things. Current licensing is not sufficient and a lot of time has passed since anyone from Envato even talked about improving licensing. I have been contaced by few people interested incmy products on CodeCanyon that were not able to make a purchse becase current licensing is not enough for many uses.
Milan
I agree. Another big licensing improvement we’ve been waiting on a long time is multi-use/developer licenses. I really hope those are coming soon.
Jonathan’s point about the ways that Multisite can be used is a really good one. It’s likely that there isn’t a single license that will cover “Multisite use”. The Extended License would cover the “hosting services for others”, and a multi-use license would cover using the item across multiple subsites, for example.
As it’s 2 days since I hit the door bell button asking for staff involvement and still nothing I’m doing it again and posting to bring this back up the pile.
Both the regular and extended licenses are limited to a single end product, in this case - a website.
A separate license purchase is required for each site that will be using the plugin. We do not have a multisite specific license type to span across all sites.
Whether you would need to purchase a regular or extended license would depend specifically on how the site uses the plugin.
For questions on regular vs extended license usage, please visit the license FAQs page or submit a ticket at support.envato.com using the “License Inquiry” section.
Both the regular and extended licenses are limited to a single end product, in this case - a website.
A separate license purchase is required for each site that will be using the plugin. We do not have a multisite specific license type to span across all sites.
Whether you would need to purchase a regular or extended license would depend specifically on how the site uses the plugin.
For questions on regular vs extended license usage, please visit the license FAQs page or submit a ticket at support.envato.com using the “License Inquiry” section.
i find the license is really unclear and very misleading + look at theme forest extended license, basically i won’t purchase, rather offer some one to create similar design …
Both the regular and extended licenses are limited to a single end product, in this case - a website.
A separate license purchase is required for each site that will be using the plugin. We do not have a multisite specific license type to span across all sites.
Whether you would need to purchase a regular or extended license would depend specifically on how the site uses the plugin.
For questions on regular vs extended license usage, please visit the license FAQs page or submit a ticket at support.envato.com using the “License Inquiry” section.
i find the license is really unclear and very misleading + look at theme forest extended license, basically i won’t purchase, rather offer some one to create similar design …
I’m not sure I agree - it seems quite clear.
The breakdown on the license page linked to by @cudazi has many explanations / scenarios.
Obviously paying to get a custom solution would mean (as long as it’s in your contract with your designer and coder) that you have full rights to do what you wish - although I would make sure you state this in your contract whenever doing so.
Well, it looks like one more license ambiguity proving that Envato licenses are not up to the task to cover many uses that are becoming more popular in the recent years. Once again, licensing is put into hands of the authors (extended license and permissions) that need to determine how someone uses their product to see if they should use one or more licenses to do it. And it will cause many more problems to authors and negative ratings by angry users.
It is said many times, but Envato licensing is deeply flawed and warrants many more changes. It has been more than 6 months since I have seen last promise from Envato people about improved licensing, but as all issues important to authors, the work on it is very slow and shows no progress and most importantly no announcements or dates and roadmap of what is done on the issue by Envato.
Great many sales are lost because Envatos slow response to what user/author needs, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
I apologise for the delayed response. The question is essentially: What license or licenses do I need to run multiple sites from a WordPress multisite installation?
The answer: You need one license per main domain. If you are using WP multisite to run multiple subdomains under one domain, you only need one license. (For example, product1.mysite.com; product2.mysite.com; product3.mysite.com.)
On the other hand, if you’re using WP multisite to run different sites on different domains, you’ll need one license for each site.
@GDragoN, thank you for your honest feedback. We are working on improving our licenses but as they need to be reviewed by our legal team and adhere to industry standards, it can take some time for changes to be implemented. If you have any particular suggestions please feel free to put them here and we will do our best to make sure they are addressed.
But, this proves that system is really flawed. For instance, WordPress.com decides to buy plugin from CodeCanyon to use on WordPress.com, and since most of the websites on it (and that are individual websites) are using subdomains (under 0.1% uses own domains, approx.), they will be able to pay Single license for a plugin that will be used on over 30.000.000 websites (since that is the number of individual websites, using subdomains).
I understand that there will never be a licensing that can cover all eventualities, but current licenses must change in order to make distinction of different ways products can be used. Let’s hope that licensing improvements are really coming to Envato (and soon).
Thank you for responding. To answer your question, in regards to the case you mentioned, re-distribution of that item as a template is not acceptable under any of our licenses. Basically, the sub-domain use is OK when there is one user of that domain and there is no re-distribution of the item.
For example see our Regular License here:
You can’t re-distribute the Item as stock, in a tool or template, or with source files. You can’t do this with an Item either on its own or bundled with other items, and even if you modify the Item. You can’t re-distribute or make available the Item as-is or with superficial modifications. These things are not allowed even if the re-distribution is for Free.
If you’d like further clarification on this you can head to our FAQs here: and here which deal with this issue clearly.
I hope this clarifies it for you, let me know if you have any other questions.
What about if i want to use one domain (mysite.com) and 1 subdomain (For example, product1.mysite.com) with two wordpress installations? do i need more than one license?
