Trials, renewals and expiry
5 min read
The rule behind every case here: your site never breaks and your data is never deleted when a license ends. Features that create or change things pause; everything you already built keeps working or is kept safe.
The 14-day free trial
- Start it from Start a 14-day free trial on the Pro page (Get Pro in the header).
- No credit card is needed.
- During the trial you have the features of the trial plan, with that plan's limits, and the Plan & license tab shows a Trial badge: "You are trying
<plan>. Buy a license before the trial ends to keep using its features." Use Buy a license to turn it into a purchase at any time. - A site can use the trial once. After it ended, the trial button is no longer offered on that site.
When the trial ends
A trial that ends without a purchase returns the site to Free straight away:
- Pro features stop immediately (Freemius blocks trial features at the end of the trial). There is no grace period for generated pages.
- The Pro page comes back, with the notice Your free trial has ended: "Your fields and data are untouched. Pick a plan to turn the Pro features back on."
- Settings › Plan & license disappears again and the Programmatic SEO screen is no longer in the menu.
- The Start a 14-day free trial button is no longer shown.
- Anything you built during the trial stays in the database and follows the same rules as in a lapsed license below. If you buy later, it all comes back.
Paid license expiry
When a Pro, Business or Agency license expires, the site goes to the Expired state.
What pauses
Generation of pages, data sync, AI content, and editing of Pro features stop. Updates and support from WPMass stop too. You can renew at any time.
Notice and actions
On every Mass Custom Fields screen, administrators see a warning:
Your Mass Custom Fields Pro license has expired. Generated pages stay online until <date>; renew to keep them, or convert them into regular posts.
The warning has two buttons, Renew license (your Freemius account page, or checkout if the site is not registered) and Convert pages to posts, and a line "Download your data tables as CSV:" with one link per data table. After the grace period the text becomes "Your Mass Custom Fields Pro license has expired and generated pages are no longer served. Renew, or convert them into regular posts."
Settings › Plan & license shows the plan your license had (for example "Business plan") with an Expired badge, "Pro features are paused. Your fields and data stay; renew to use Pro features again.", and Renew license and Manage license buttons. A warning titled Your license has expired says "Generated pages stay online until <date>; renew to keep them, or convert them into posts under Programmatic SEO." during the grace period, and "Generated pages are no longer served. Renew, or convert them into posts under Programmatic SEO." after it.
Generated pages: the 14-day grace period
Time after expiry | Generated (virtual) pages |
|---|---|
Day 0 to 14 | Still served normally, so you have time to renew or convert |
After day 14 | Return 404 unless you converted them into posts |
Developers can change the 14 days with the wpmcf/licensing/grace_days filter or the WPMCF_PSEO_GRACE_DAYS constant. Trials get no grace period.
Convert generated pages into posts
The Conversion tool stays available after expiry. Open WPM Fields › Programmatic SEO (the screen stays in the menu while a license is expired) and use the convert action, or follow Convert pages to posts in the notice. Before it runs, a pre-flight shows pages, estimated size and duration, and how many URLs change; the old URLs redirect (301) to the new posts. Warnings start above 5,000 pages and above 20,000 you must type the page count to confirm. Conversion runs in the background in batches, can be resumed and is safe to repeat.
After expiry, conversion is capped at the last active plan's generated-pages limit (Pro 5,000, Business 50,000, Agency unlimited), counted over all pages already converted.
Converting thousands of pages makes your database bigger and the admin slower, so staying on the lighter virtual-page engine with an active license is the better experience; the pre-flight says so.
Download your data tables as CSV
Data tables are Pro. While the license is expired, the notice lists each existing data table with a CSV download link so you can take your data with you. Dataset sources and feeds do not sync until you renew.
What happens to each Pro feature
Feature | After expiry |
|---|---|
Programmatic SEO pages | Served for 14 days, then 404 unless converted. No new generation or sync. |
Data tables | Data stays; CSV download offered; no feed sync |
AI content | Stops; saved content stays |
Advanced fields (gallery, flexible content, clone) | Values keep printing on the site; clones keep following their source group. Edit screens show these fields read-only; the builder cannot add new ones. |
Page builder widgets | Widgets already placed keep printing and saved display conditions keep hiding elements. They disappear from the builder's panel, and rules can no longer be edited (a switch lets you turn an element's conditions off). |
Front-end forms | Definitions are kept. The Forms screen is locked, shortcodes and blocks print nothing for visitors (administrators see a hint) and submissions are refused with a friendly message. Entries already created stay. |
Admin columns | Filters, quick and bulk edit and CSV export of lists pause |
WooCommerce order fields, multilingual fields | Pro features pause; values stored in your tables stay |
Downgrading to the free plugin
If you remove Pro completely and run the free plugin, the Pro types are unknown to it but nothing is changed: field definitions and columns stay as they are, advanced values keep printing, and clones keep their last copy. Pro-only data (generated pages, data tables) stays in the database; it is not shown or served until you return to a license.
Renewing
Click Renew license (notice or Plan & license tab). You land in your Freemius account to pay. As soon as the license is active again:
- generation, sync and AI work again,
- the notice goes away,
- pages that were still within the grace period continue uninterrupted; pages that went 404 are served again (they were never deleted).
Troubleshooting
Symptom | What to do |
|---|---|
I renewed but the site still shows Expired | Open Manage license and confirm the license is active for this site's URL; reload the admin. |
I need my data without renewing | Use the CSV links in the notice; use Tools to export definitions as JSON. |
Still stuck? Contact support