Licensing in Jetpack Manage

Learn more about the differences between licenses issued via Jetpack Manage and the standard licenses issued via Jetpack.com and WordPress.com.

License types

There are three different types of licenses that can be seen in Jetpack Manage: standard licenses, Jetpack Manage single licenses, and Jetpack Manage license bundles.

Standard licenses

Standard licenses are Jetpack licenses that have been purchased via Jetpack.com or WordPress.com. These licenses are billed for a month or year upfront and are subject to Jetpack’s regular refund policy. These licenses can be viewed in Jetpack Manage, but billing functions can only be managed via WordPress.com. See our support doc Manage your Jetpack billing and payments for more information.

Jetpack Manage single licenses

Jetpack Manage single licenses are for a single site. These licenses become active when they are issued, and remain active until they are revoked. You are billed for the days the license is active, regardless of whether the license is assigned to a site or not.

Jetpack Manage license bundles

Jetpack Manage license bundles work like software that comes with “seats.” For example, if you’re paying for 100 seats for a piece of software, but you’re only using 80 of the seats, you’re still going to pay for 100 seats. While you’re paying for 20 unused seats currently, you have the option to add 20 more users to your software without paying any additional money for the software.

In the same way, when you purchase a Jetpack Manage license bundle that comes with 5 licenses, but only assign 3, you will still be charged for all 5 licenses, even though 2 are not assigned. However, you will not be charged any additional money when you do assign those last two licenses because it’s already included in the monthly cost you’re paying.

When a license is revoked from a license bundle, the bundle does not shrink. The old license key is cancelled, and a new license key is added to the bundle. For example, if you revoke a license from a site that uses a license key from a 5 license bundle, the old license key will be cancelled, and a new license key will be issued into that bundle. The bundle will now have a license key that can be assigned to a different site.

Upgrading a Jetpack Manage License Bundle

Jetpack Manage doesn’t currently support an automatic upgrade path between license bundles (e.g., moving from a 20-site to a 50-site bundle). However, you can transition bundle sizes by following these steps:

Revoke the Current Bundle: From your Jetpack Manage dashboard, revoke the existing license bundle. This cancels all licenses within the bundle, and billing will cease immediately.
Purchase the New Bundle: Purchase the larger bundle as soon as possible to avoid any service interruption. Once purchased, you’ll be able to start issuing licenses from the new bundle right away.
Reassign Licenses: Reassign licenses to your sites from the new bundle. You’ll be billed for the new bundle only from the date of purchase onward.

Jetpack Manage license statuses

In Jetpack Manage, licenses can be active or revoked.

Active licenses

These are licenses that have been issued via Jetpack Manage. Active licenses can be assigned to sites already, or they can be unassigned.

Regardless of whether the license is assigned or unassigned, you will be charged for each day the license is active.

Learn how to issue licenses in Jetpack Manage.

Revoked licenses

These are licenses that have been purchased via Jetpack Manage and have then been cancelled. These licenses were previously either Unassigned or Assigned.

Single licenses: If the revoked license was a single license, you will no longer be charged for that license.
License bundles: If the revoked license was part of a license bundle, you will continue to pay the same amount as before, but have an unassigned license in your license bundle.

Learn how to revoke licenses in Jetpack Manage.