---
title: "Renewing your license"
date: 2026-10-06
updated: 2026-10-07
author: "Rafael Bennemann"
link: "https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/billing/renewing-your-license/"
category: "General Help > Account, Invoices, and Billing"
---

A GravityKit license includes a year of updates and support, unless it's a lifetime license. When it expires, your plugins keep working, but updates and support stop until you renew it.

If the license has an active subscription, it renews automatically each year when the payment goes through. [Turning off auto-renew subscriptions](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/billing/turning-off-auto-renew-subscriptions/) explains how to stop that.

## After a license expires

The plugins keep running on your site, and your Views and entries stay as they are. For the plugins the license covers, access to new versions and to help stops:

| Access | Active license | Expired license |
|---|---|---|
| Plugins keep working on your site | Yes | Yes |
| Updates to paid plugins, including security fixes | Yes | No |
| Installing paid plugins from **Manage Your Kit** | Yes | No |
| Downloads from your GravityKit account | Yes | Free plugins only |
| Support from our team | Yes | No |

GravityExport has one more limit: connecting a Google Sheets, Dropbox, or Box account needs an active license that includes GravityExport.

### Expired licenses in WordPress

In **GravityKit**, then **Manage Your Kit**, the license's row shows **Expired**. When a new version of a paid plugin comes out, the Plugins page shows a notice such as "There is a new version 3.13.2 of DataTables available. An active license is required to update." The notice appears when no active license on the site covers that plugin, and the update can't be installed until you renew.

![The WordPress Plugins page showing a GravityKit plugin with the notice that a new version is available and an active license is required to update](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/license-expires-01-plugins-page-license-required.png)Updates keep the plugins working with new versions of WordPress, PHP, and Gravity Forms, and they include security fixes. A plugin that stays on an old version can stop working correctly after one of those is updated, and it doesn't get fixes for problems found later.

Paid plugins stay on the **Downloads** page of your account only while a license covers them. Download any available version you want to keep before the license expires, as described in [How to download and install an older version of a GravityKit plugin](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/downloads/download-older-plugin-version/).

## Renew an expired license

To move to a lower license level, buy a new license at that level, as described in [Downgrading your license](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/downgrading-your-license/). To renew the license you have:

- Sign in to your [GravityKit account](https://www.gravitykit.com/account/). It opens on the **Licenses** page. If you don't see the license, click the **All** tab.
- Find the license marked **Expired** and click **Renew**.

![An expired GravityCharts license card with an arrow pointing to the Renew button](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/gravitykit-account-expired-license-renew-v5.png)
- Checkout opens with that license in the cart. Complete the purchase.
After the purchase, the license shows its new expiration date and stays active on the sites it was active on before. It keeps the same key, so you don't need to enter a new key on your sites. Because the license had expired, the new year starts on the day you renew.

![The same GravityCharts license after renewal, active and expiring a year later, still active on example.org](https://www.gravitykit.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/gravitykit-account-renewed-license-v2.png)
4. In WordPress, go to **GravityKit**, then **Manage Your Kit**, and click **Refresh** so the site sees the renewed license. Then install the updates you missed[Contact support](https://www.gravitykit.com/support/) if an expired license has no **Renew** button. A license marked **Managed by** is renewed by the agency named there.

## Renewing before your license expires

The **Renew** button on the **Licenses** page appears only after a license has expired. If you turned off auto-renewal, you can renew earlier from the **Billing** page:

1. Sign in to your [GravityKit account](https://www.gravitykit.com/account/) and click **Billing**.
2. On the **Subscriptions** tab, click **All** if you see it, so canceled subscriptions are listed too.
3. Find the subscription marked **Cancelled** and click **Renew**.
4. Complete the purchase at checkout.

Renewing before the expiration date adds a year to the current expiration date, so you don't lose the time left on the license.

While auto-renewal is on, the license renews by itself on its renewal date, and **Billing** shows no **Renew** button for it.