Resources · Getting started
Activating your Pro licence
Paste your licence key, confirm activation, and understand how Site Calendar tracks the sites your licence runs on. Covers what to do when activation fails and how to move a licence between sites.
Why licence activation matters
Site Calendar Pro is licensed software. When you bought a licence, our system generated a unique key (looks like SCP-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) that's tied to your email address and tier. Activating that key on your WordPress site does three things:
- Unlocks all Pro features — paid ticketing, recurring events, QR check-in, branded emails, CSV import, front-end submission
- Enables automatic updates so you receive new releases via the standard WordPress Updates screen
- Counts the site against your licence's site limit (1 site for Single, 5 for Plus, unlimited for Agency)
Without activation, Pro stays installed but its premium features remain locked. You'll see prompts in the admin asking you to activate.
Step 1 — Find your licence key
Your licence key is in the welcome email sent immediately after purchase. The subject line is "Your Site Calendar Pro licence — welcome to Get Site Calendar" and the key is shown prominently in the email body.
If you can't find the email, sign in to your account dashboard at getsitecalendar.com/account. Your licence key, tier, and active sites are listed there. First-time sign-in uses the one-click button in your welcome email; after that, the password-reset link at the same dashboard lets you set a permanent password.
SCP-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX — four groups of four characters, prefixed with SCP-. Copy it exactly as shown, with the hyphens. The system trims whitespace automatically but is case-sensitive.
Step 2 — Activate the licence
In your WordPress admin, go to Site Calendar → Settings → Licence.
Paste your licence key into the Licence Key field. Click Activate Licence. The page reloads and, if activation succeeds, shows:
- A green Active badge next to your key
- Your tier (Single / Plus / Agency)
- The expiry date of your subscription
- The number of sites currently using this licence
Pro is now fully unlocked. All premium features are available immediately — no restart, no cache flush, no other steps.
How site limits work
Each licence tier has a maximum number of sites it can run on simultaneously:
- Single (£49/year) — 1 active site
- Plus (£199/year) — up to 5 active sites
- Agency (£599/year) — unlimited sites
"Active" means the site has activated the licence and hasn't deactivated it. When you click Activate Licence on a new site, our server records that site's URL against your licence. When you hit your tier's limit and try to activate on one more site, activation fails with a message telling you you've reached the maximum.
localhost, .local, .test, staging., dev., .instawp.xyz, or running on a non-standard port — and doesn't count them against your site limit. You can use Pro on as many dev/staging sites as you like, on any tier.
Moving a licence between sites
To move your licence from one production site to another (for example, retiring an old site and replacing it with a new one), you need to deactivate on the old site before activating on the new one.
On the old site:
- Site Calendar → Settings → Licence
- Click Deactivate Licence next to your active key
- Confirm the deactivation. The server removes this site from your licence's active list, freeing up a slot.
On the new site:
- Install Site Calendar Lite and Pro (see Installing Site Calendar Lite and Pro)
- Site Calendar → Settings → Licence
- Paste your licence key and click Activate Licence
If you've lost access to the old site (it's been taken down, sold, or the host is unreachable), sign in to your account dashboard at getsitecalendar.com/account and use the Manage Sites option to remove the old site from your licence manually. Then activate on the new site as normal.
What happens when your licence expires
Pro licences are annual subscriptions. About 14 days before expiry, Stripe automatically attempts to renew your subscription using the card on file. If the renewal succeeds, your licence's expiry date extends by another year and nothing changes on your side.
If the renewal fails — usually because the card has expired or been declined — Stripe retries over a 30-day grace period and emails you a payment reminder. During the grace period, Pro continues working normally on all your sites.
If renewal still fails after the grace period, the licence enters an expired state:
- Existing features continue working — you don't lose any events, attendees, or settings
- You stop receiving automatic updates (so you remain on whatever Pro version was current at expiry)
- The Licence tab in WordPress admin shows an "Expired — renew to receive updates" banner
To restore the licence, update your payment method on your account dashboard. The next billing attempt completes automatically and the licence reactivates.
Troubleshooting
"Activation failed: licence not found"
The key you pasted doesn't match any record in our system. Most common cause: a typo or extra whitespace. Re-copy the key from your welcome email — select the entire key including the SCP- prefix, copy, paste. If still failing, check your welcome email for the correct key (in case you have multiple Site Calendar Pro purchases) or contact support@getsitecalendar.com with your purchase email address.
"Activation failed: maximum sites reached"
Your licence is already activated on the maximum number of sites for your tier. Either deactivate one of the existing sites first (see "Moving a licence between sites" above), or upgrade your tier. Upgrades are prorated — you only pay the difference. Contact support to upgrade.
"Activation failed: licence expired"
Your subscription's grace period has ended. Update your payment method in your account dashboard at getsitecalendar.com/account, complete the next billing attempt, and the licence reactivates immediately.
"Activate button spins forever / nothing happens"
Your server can't reach getsitecalendar.com. Some shared hosts block outbound HTTPS to certain domains. Check wp-content/debug.log for any line mentioning SCP Licence or cURL error. If you see cURL error 35 (SSL handshake failure) or cURL error 6 (DNS resolution), contact your host and ask them to whitelist outbound HTTPS to getsitecalendar.com.
"I activated successfully but Pro features still seem locked"
Hard-refresh the WordPress admin (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R) and the front-end calendar page. Some browsers cache admin assets aggressively. If the issue persists, check Plugins — both Lite and Pro should show Active. If Pro shows as Inactive, activate it and re-check the Licence tab.
"My licence is active but a recent Pro update isn't showing in WordPress"
Pro polls our update server hourly for new releases. If a new Pro version has just been published and you don't want to wait for the next automatic check, go to Site Calendar → Settings → Licence and click Check for plugin update. The button forces an immediate fresh check, clears any stale cached response, and within a few seconds you'll see the new version listed under Dashboard → Updates ready to install.
"My licence shows Active but the page says it's not"
Rare. This happens if you activated the licence, then later deactivated it from the account dashboard while the local plugin still has cached state. Click Check status now on the Licence tab to re-sync. If the option isn't visible, deactivate and reactivate the licence to force a fresh check.
What's next
- Creating your first event — the event editor walkthrough, including the Tickets meta box
- Setting up Stripe payments — required if you want to take paid ticket sales
- Multi-site licensing — detailed reference for Plus and Agency tiers, including managing sites from the dashboard
- Renewals and grace period — what happens at the end of your subscription year