Activating Split Pay PRO & License Management
Step-by-step guide for upgrading from the free version on WordPress.org to Split Pay PRO — including the download flow, the upload-and-replace step, license activation, and ongoing license management.
Overview#
Split Pay’s premium features (multiple connected accounts, FluentCart support, product-level transfers, Delayed Transfers, refund handling, retry-failed-transfers, the front-end vendor onboarding shortcode, and more) ship in a separate Premium plugin ZIP delivered through Freemius. Activating PRO is a three-part process:
- Purchase the PRO subscription on the in-product Pricing page or at splitpayplugin.com.
- Download the Premium ZIP and upload it to WordPress, replacing the free version.
- Activate the license. Future updates flow through WordPress’s normal “Update available” mechanism via Freemius.
Step 1: purchase PRO#
Two paths, both end up at the same Freemius checkout:
- From inside the plugin. Open Split Pay → (any tab) and click any of the “Upgrade”/PRO badges. They link to the in-dashboard pricing page (
?page=bsd-split-pay-stripe-connect-woo-pricing) which lists all PRO plans. - From the marketing site. Visit splitpayplugin.com and pick a plan.
After payment, Freemius emails you a receipt that includes:
- A direct download link for the latest Premium ZIP.
- Login credentials for the Freemius user dashboard, which is where you go later to download newer ZIPs, view past invoices, and manage the subscription.
Step 2: download the premium ZIP#
Two equivalent ways:
- Click the download link in the Freemius purchase email.
- Or sign in to users.freemius.com, open the Split Pay product, and click Download → Latest version.
The ZIP is named something like bsd-woo-stripe-connect-split-pay-premium-3.7.3.zip. Save it somewhere you can find it; you’ll upload it to WordPress next.
Step 3: upload-and-replace#
In WordPress admin go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
Choose the Premium ZIP you downloaded and click Install Now.
WordPress detects that the free version is already installed and shows a confirmation screen titled “A plugin with the same name is already installed.” Click Replace current with uploaded.
This is intentional. Premium has the same plugin slug as Free; replacing in place preserves all your settings, transfer history, and connected-account routing rules. (Activating PRO does not require uninstalling the free version first — doing so would lose your data.)
After WordPress finishes the swap, click Activate Plugin.
Don’t use a host’s “auto-update from wp.org” feature for the Premium ZIP — wp.org only ships the free version, so an auto-update would silently downgrade you back to free. Future Premium updates flow through Freemius and appear as a normal “Update available” notice on the WordPress Plugins page.
Step 4: activate the license#
Right after activation, Split Pay shows an “Activate License” opt-in screen. Use the email address you purchased with; the license auto-binds to your Freemius user account. From this point on:
- The PRO features unlock immediately on every Split Pay admin tab.
- The plugin starts checking Freemius for available updates and surfaces them through the normal Plugins page.
- Your license state is stored in
fs_*WordPress options and is independent of the Split Pay-specific configuration data described in Uninstalling Split Pay & Your PRO Subscription.
Managing your license over time#
The Freemius user dashboard is the source of truth for everything billing-related:
- Download the latest Premium ZIP any time, useful for staging/dev installs or for manually updating sites that don’t auto-update.
- See your activated sites and seat count. If you’ve hit the seat limit, you can deactivate the license on a retired site to free a seat for a new one.
- Cancel or change billing cycle. Cancelling stops the recurring charge but lets you keep using PRO until the current period ends.
- Change the email/account the license is bound to.
- Reset license key if you suspect it was leaked.
Moving the license to a different site#
You can deactivate Split Pay PRO on one site and reactivate it on another without losing your subscription. Two paths:
- From the source site. In Plugins → Installed Plugins, click Account under Split Pay, then Deactivate License. This frees a seat.
- From the Freemius dashboard. Open the Split Pay product, click the activated site you want to remove, then Deactivate.
On the new site, follow steps 2–4 above. The data on the old site (settings, transfer log, per-product rules) is preserved if you simply deactivate the license but leave the plugin installed; see Uninstalling Split Pay & Your PRO Subscription for full detail.
Downgrading from PRO back to free#
If you cancel PRO and want to revert to the free version on wp.org:
- Deactivate the license (from Plugins → Installed Plugins → Account) so the seat is freed.
- Deactivate the Premium plugin and delete it (data is preserved — see the linked uninstall FAQ).
- Install the free version from wp.org the normal way.
PRO-only features (multiple accounts, Delayed Transfers, refund handling, etc.) stop working at this point, but core single-account global transfers continue.
Troubleshooting#
- “A plugin with the same name is already installed” loop. If WordPress refuses to replace the free version, try deactivating Split Pay first, uploading the Premium ZIP, choosing Replace current, then re-activating. Settings are still preserved.
- License says “not activated” after upload. Open Plugins → Installed Plugins and click the Split Pay Account link, then Activate License. If you’re prompted for an email, use the one on your Freemius receipt.
- Update notice keeps showing the same version. Click Check Again on Freemius, or manually download the latest ZIP from users.freemius.com and upload-and-replace.
- I lost my receipt email. Sign in at users.freemius.com with the email you used at checkout (use the “Forgot password” flow if needed). All past receipts and the latest ZIP are there.