Licensing

How ZoPanel licensing works: Free plan limits, activating a key in Settings or at install, offline tokens, moving a license to a new server, and expiry.

Updated Oct 7, 2026 · 4 min read

ZoPanel runs on the Free plan out of the box, with no key and no time limit. A paid license raises the limits and unlocks extra features. This page explains what each plan includes and how to activate, move and renew a license.

Free and paid plans

The limits count everything on the server, across all accounts. Everything else in the panel, such as websites, SSL, the File Manager, backups on the server's disk, WordPress tools, the firewall and the other components, works on Free.

To see what your server has, go to Settings → License. The card shows the plan, the license key, the expiry date, the number of accounts and websites in use against the limits, and a badge for each feature: Resellers, Remote backup, Multi PHP, API and White-label. It also shows the Server ID, which identifies this machine.

Buy a license

In Settings → License, the Buy a license card lists the available plans. Enter your email and pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay through OnePay, or with PayPal. After payment, the license is activated on this server automatically.

You can also buy on the website and receive the key by email. Your licenses are listed in your customer account at https://zopanel.net/account.

Activate a license key

In the panel

1. Sign in as an administrator.
2. Go to Settings → License.
3. In Activate license, enter the key (it looks like ZP-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX).
4. Click Activate license.

The panel contacts the license server, which binds the license to this server and returns a signed token. The new plan applies at once.

During installation

Pass the key to the installer:

curl -fsSL https://get.zopanel.net | sudo bash -s -- --license ZP-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

To keep the key out of the process list, use the environment variable instead:

curl -fsSL https://get.zopanel.net | sudo ZOPANEL_LICENSE_KEY=ZP-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX bash

The panel activates the key within a minute of starting. If the license server cannot be reached yet, it keeps retrying. If the key is refused, the panel sends an alert and you can enter a valid key under Settings → License.

Offline activation

For a server without internet access, use Offline activation in Settings → License:

1. Note the Server ID shown on the License card.
2. Contact ZoPanel support with your license key and the Server ID to get a signed license token for that server.
3. Paste the token (it starts with ZPL1.) into Offline activation and click Install token.

An offline token is checked on the server itself and is only valid for the Server ID it was issued for.

How the license stays valid

An online license is bound to one server and verified with the license server regularly. If the server cannot reach the license server, the panel keeps the license during a 14-day offline grace period and shows an Offline grace badge. After that, it falls back to the Free plan until verification succeeds again.

Keep the server clock correct (NTP). A clock set back by more than a day makes the license invalid until it is fixed.

Move a license to another server

A license works on one server at a time. To move it, for example when you replace a VPS:

1. Sign in to your customer account at https://zopanel.net/account.
2. Open the license.
3. Click Move to another server and confirm. This releases the license from its current server.
4. On the new server, activate the key in Settings → License, or install with --license.

You can move a license 3 times per year. The page shows how many moves you have left. The old server does not need to be reachable. If you have used all moves this year, open a support ticket.

The old server stops refreshing the license and drops to Free after its grace period. To remove a license from a server yourself, use Remove license in Settings → License.

When a yearly license expires

When a license with an end date expires and is not renewed:

• The panel falls back to the Free plan limits: 3 accounts, 10 websites and 10 databases.
• Nothing is deleted. Existing accounts, websites, databases, mail and files keep running.
• New accounts, websites or databases cannot be created while the server is over the Free limits.
• Paid features stop: reseller accounts can no longer manage customers, remote backups to S3 stop, API tokens no longer work, and the white-label panel name is not used.

Renew or activate a new key, and the full plan comes back immediately.

Check from the command line

On the server, zopanel ctl info shows the version, Server ID, plan and whether it is valid, and the number of websites and accounts:

zopanel ctl info

Questions

Do I need a license to try ZoPanel? No. The Free plan has no time limit.

Can I use one license on a test server and a production server? No. Each server needs its own license, or runs on Free.