License Keys and Staging Sites

Aggregator’s licensing system allows you to use the same license key on both a live site and a development/staging site simultaneously, without taking up multiple license activations.

This setup is ideal for testing changes or setting up new configurations in a safe environment before going live. To enable this, your staging or development site’s URL must contain certain terms or patterns, as explained below.

Supported Staging Environments

Aggregator’s licensing system will automatically detect staging environments provided by the below hosting providers and allow the activation of license keys without using up your site limit.

• WP Engine
• InstaWP
• Cloudways
• Kinsta
• GoDaddy
• FlyWheel
• BlueHost
• HostGator
• SiteGround

If your hosting provider is not listed here, they may use a standard method for creating staging sites, which allows our standard detection rules to work without additional configuration.

Standard Staging Environments

For Aggregator’s licensing system to recognize a site as your development or staging site, the URL must use one of the following standard formats:

• *.staging.example.org
• *.test.example.org
• staging-*.example.org
• dev.example.org
• localhost

Only URLs containing these terms will qualify as development or staging sites. If your site’s URL does not match one of these patterns, the licensing system may consider it a separate activation, which may impact your license’s site limit.

Examples of Supported Scenarios

Here are some examples of how the licensing system treats different URL patterns.

Supported

Activating a single-site license on both example.com and staging.example.com would work perfectly. Both sites will function and receive updates without exceeding your license limit, as staging.example.com includes the required `staging.` term.

Not Supported

Using the license on both example.com and devexample.com would not work, as devexample.com does not contain one of the required terms. Only one of these sites will be able to use a single-site license, otherwise you’ll need to shift the license across sites as needed or upgrade to a larger license.

Multiple Development Sites

You can use a license on example.com, dev.example.com, staging.example, 10.0.0.0/8, and localhost simultaneously without any issues, as each of the additional URLs qualifies as a staging or development environment based on the required terms.

You can use a license on as many staging or development environments as you want, simultaneously.

Not Meeting the Requirements

If your development or staging site URL doesn’t contain any of the terms listed above, the system will not recognize it as a staging or development site, and it may impact your license limit. In this case, consider the following alternatives:

1. Temporary URL Adjustment: If possible, adjust the URL to include one of the recognized terms (for example, dev.example.com instead of devexample.com).
2. Switch License Between Sites: You can temporarily activate the license on your development site during setup, then deactivate it and activate it on the live site once you’re ready to go live.