---
title: "Multisite and GravityKit Licenses"
date: 2026-04-23
author: "GravityKit"
link: "https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/multisite-and-gravitykit-licenses/"
---

On a WordPress Multisite network, every GravityKit license is activated with one of two scopes: **network-wide** or **for a single site**. The scope decides how many activations the license uses and which sites it covers.

These rules apply from GravityKit Foundation 1.25 onwards. Foundation is the shared licensing framework bundled inside every GravityKit product, and it arrives with product updates released from July 2026. Because your products share it, updating one product can change how licensing behaves for all of them.

Besides entering license keys, you can activate licenses by connecting the network (or an individual subsite) to your GravityKit account. See [Managing Your Licenses](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/managing-your-licenses/) for connecting and [Managing Connected Sites](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/managing-connected-sites/) for how network and subsite connections behave.

## Network-wide and per-site licenses

|  | Network-wide | Per-site |

|---|---|---|
| **Where you activate it** | Network Admin dashboard | The individual site's dashboard |
| **Who can activate it** | Network administrators | That site's administrator |
| **Activations used** | One, for the entire network | One per site |
| **Sites covered** | Every site on the network | Only the site it was activated on |
| **Can network-activate paid products** | Yes | No |

A license counts as network-wide in three cases: you activated it from the Network Admin dashboard, you [hard-coded it in your configuration](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/hard-coding-your-license-key/), or it was already activated before you updated (see below).

Subsites are counted by their own address, so each one is a separate site whether your network uses subdomains (`site1.example.com`) or subfolders (`example.com/site1`).

## Activating a license for a single site

- From that site's dashboard, go to *GravityKit → Manage Your Kit*.
- Enter your license key in the *Licenses* section, or click *I have a license key* on the product you want to license. If the key is already saved but not active for this site, click **Activate** on its row instead.

The site now counts against the license's activation limit, and the license covers only that site.

If the license has already used all of its activations, this site will not be activated and GravityKit tells you the license has reached its activation limit. You can manage your activated sites from your [GravityKit account](https://www.gravitykit.com/account/), or [contact our support team](https://www.gravitykit.com/support) and we will sort it out with you.

Subsites on a local or development address do not use up an activation. See [Development websites and GravityKit licenses](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/development-websites-and-gravitykit-licenses/) for which addresses qualify.

If the key is already active for the whole network, you cannot activate it again for one site. GravityKit will tell you the license is managed by the network administrator, and you are already covered.

## Activating a license for the entire network

From the **Network Admin** dashboard, go to *GravityKit → Manage Your Kit* and enter your license key there. This uses one activation and covers every site on the network.

Network-activating a paid product requires a network-wide license. Without one:

- In Manage Your Kit, the network activation control is replaced by license key and purchase options.
- On the network Plugins page, *Network Activate* takes you to the licensing page instead of activating the product.

Free products are not affected, and individual sites can still activate a product for themselves.

## Licenses activated before this change

Licenses that were already activated when you updated keep working across the whole network exactly as before. They show as **Active** with a **Network** badge, and only a network administrator can manage them. Nothing changes for existing installs and there is nothing you need to do.

## License statuses you may see

| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Active** | The license key is valid and active. |
| **Not Activated for This Site** | The license key is valid, but it has not been activated for this site. Click *Activate* on the row to claim one of its activations. |
| **Not Activated** | Same meaning: the key is valid but this site does not hold one of its activations. |
| **Limit Reached** | The license has reached its activation limit. |

A **Network** badge next to the status means the license covers the whole network. On those rows, site administrators see *Managed by the network administrator* in place of the activation controls.

## Updating products

Updating a paid product requires a license that is active for the site you are updating, or a network-wide license when you update from the Network Admin. A key that is saved but not activated no longer unlocks updates: the product shows *License required to update* instead of an update button.

## Who can manage what

- **Network administrators** manage network-wide licenses and activate products for the entire network.
- **Site administrators** manage their own site's licenses from their own dashboard. They no longer see license warnings for products that a network administrator activated network-wide, since those are not theirs to license or deactivate.
- **Super administrators** can install and update GravityKit products from a subsite as well as from the Network Admin. A product installed from a subsite is activated for that subsite only.

For the licensing screens themselves and what each control does, see [Managing Your Licenses](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/managing-your-licenses/).

## Activating licenses with WP-CLI

The `activate` command takes a `--scope` argument on Multisite:

```
wp gk licenses activate  --url= --scope=site
```

```
wp gk licenses activate  --url= --scope=site
```

Pass `--scope=site` to activate the license for that one site, or `--scope=network` to cover the whole network. The `--url` argument is required. On a Multisite install, leaving `--scope` out defaults to a network-wide activation, and the command warns you that it did. See [Managing GravityKit Products and Licenses via WP-CLI](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/general-help/licensing/managing-gravitykit-products-and-licenses-via-wp-cli/) for the full command reference.

**Please note:** a license is for a single person to contact support. If you run a network, each site should not contact support; they should contact you (the license holder), and you should then contact GravityKit support on their behalf.