Do you own a WooCommerce store that sells both physical and digital products? Are you looking for an ideal way to offer exclusive services or control access to certain services? Then product license keys are just what you need! They protect your digital goods and services from piracy.

However, while it’s possible to use product keys on WooCommerce, you need to have a dedicated license manager plugin installed. With this plugin, you’ll be able to manually or automatically generate and send license keys for customers.

This review has selected seven of the best premium and free license manager plugins you can use for your WooCommerce platform in 2022. Please keep reading to find out more.

What To Check When Buying A License Manager Plugin

There are so many license manager plugins you can find on the internet. Some require some coding expertise, while others are more convenient for beginners. Nonetheless, you need to check a couple of things before you download or buy a license manager plugin. These include:

Accessibility

First off, you need to ensure that the plugin is highly accessible and intuitive to use. This way, you don’t end up with a plugin that makes using product keys on your WooCommerce store even more complicated. Thankfully, there are outstanding easy-to-use options, and we’ll highlight them shortly. It is also important for the plugin to have customer care services if you run into some difficulty.

Features

Any plugin is only as good as the features it offers. So, you need to check for features that improve how you manage licenses in your store. For example, some plugins will automatically send keys to customers after they’ve completed their orders, or they will allow you to customize some attributes of the license keys.

Security

One of the goals of using product keys is to control access to certain software, themes, plugins, and other digital products. So, it would be best if you made sure that the plugin protects the product keys with top-notch encryption.

Best WooCommerce License Manager Plugins

Our top recommended WooCommerce license manager plugins include:

Software Add-on

This is currently one of the best premium license manager plugins for WooCommerce in the market. With the Software Add-on plugin, store owners can conveniently manage license keys and activations directly from the store website.

Furthermore, when customers purchase products in your store, the plugin will send order-complete emails along with auto-generated key licenses. Order emails typically contain the activation email, license key, and the number of activations left. Also, if you need to resend activation mails, you can go to the orders screen on your WooCommerce store and use the built-in send button. Generally, Software Add-on is a great choice for all kinds of stores, and it is easy to use.

Features

• Sell licenses and upgrades.
• View all purchased keys from the orders page.
• Track activations and view reports.
• It comes with an interactive API that generates keys, activates licenses, deactivates, and resets.

Price: $129 annually.

WooCommerce Serial Numbers Pro

This plugin is another remarkable license key manager and numbers generator that works excellently with WooCommerce platforms. In addition, the WooCommerce Serial Numbers Pro plugin is packed with several features that make it a whole lot easier to sell your licensed products.

Additionally, the plugin is ideal for selling licensed keys, lottery tickets, usernames and passwords, secret keys, or other kinds of software or programs on WooCommerce. The WooCommerce Serial Numbers Pro is simple to use, making it easier and more convenient for store owners to view and manage license keys purchased by customers. Even if you already have existing products with license keys, the plugin goes with the flow instead of creating new products. WooCommerce Serial Number Pro allows you to generate thousands of codes using its built-in key generator.

Features

• Comes with a built-in license key validator API.
• Manually add serial numbers.
• Customizable serial number generator.
• Automatic serial number generation.
• Variable product support.
• Bulk import pre-existing or new license numbers as CSV and TXT files.
• Export license.
• Choose single or multiple products from the ‘Export’ page and export them in CSV format.
• There is encryption support for the serial numbers stored in the database.
• Serial numbers report.
• Manual control of license keys from the order page.
• Stock notification.
• Manual delivery.
• Backorder support.
• You can manually assign keys to your orders.
• You can easily disable all the features related to digital software like API, activations, deactivations.
• Enabling an ‘autocomplete order’ will complete the order automatically once the payment is successful.

Price: $79 annually, and $499 for a lifetime purchase.

WooCommerce License Manager

WooCommerce License Manager plugin is another top-rated plugin that makes it easier for you to sell license keys, pin codes, gift cards, etc., with existing or automatically generated license keys. So, if you sell products that need license keys, WooCommerce License Manager is a great choice.

The plugin comes with several helpful features. For example, it has automatic delivery, database encryption, backorder support, image license key encryption, and bulk importer. Furthermore, WooCommerce License Manager allows you to assign different license keys for varying products. Finally, it has an intuitive interface so you can manage and keep tabs on all the license keys.

Features

• It is fully compatible with WooCommerce variable products, and you can send different license keys/codes per variation.
• It delivers license keys as images like physical Steam cards, phone recharge cards, and gift cards.
• Support for backorders.
• The generated text/image license keys or codes can be bulk imported or exported.
• The license keys or codes in the database are protected with encryption.
• All native and custom order statutes are supported to give you complete control over the delivery of license keys.
• It is compatible with product bundles plugins.
• License key generator.
• Translation ready.
• Software licensing API.

Price: $59.

License Manager for WooCommerce

License Manager for WooCommerce by Themehigh is a flexible plugin that offers more control over the licenses your store generates for licensable products such as software, themes, or plugins. In addition, the plugin lets you add license data for all your WooCommerce products, including variations.

Additionally, License Manager for WooCommerce lets you add useful product information to generate product licenses when orders are completed automatically. Another great thing about this plugin is that it is customizable. For example, you can customize the key length, prefix and suffix, and so on. Also, you can choose a unique key pattern from a list of options.

Features

• Add license-related data in products and override them for product variations.
• Customize your product licenses with custom license formats.
• Auto-generate license key at the completion of an order.
• Set expiry and activation limits for licenses based on product settings.
• Notify and deliver product updates to valid license users.
• Regenerate product license for older orders.

Price: $69 for a single site, $119 for five sites, and $199 for twenty-five sites.

WooCommerce Serial Key & License Manager Plugin

This popular plugin is another ideal way to automatically generate, assign, validate, and control license keys or serial keys for software, themes, plugins, and other digital products.

License management is important but isn’t always easy. This is why store owners generate license keys and validate the license to control unauthorized access to the products and services. However, the WooCommerce Serial Key & License Manager Plugin simplifies and secures the process of license management. It is perfect for all WooCommerce platforms.

Features

• The plugin automatically issues licenses on product purchases. If you have pre-existing keys, you can import them with a CSV file.
• Distribute license keys in order confirmation email and show them with order information on the “My Account” page within WooCommerce. This way, customers won’t lose their product keys.
• Assign a unique serial key for each purchased product and set the expiry date, download limits and the number of times a key can be used.
• A simple but powerful usage tracking and validation API. Add license checks, validation and permission checks easily.
• Works with WooCommerce Subscriptions & other plugins.

Price: $79 annually for one website, $149 annually for five websites, and $239 for a one-time purchase.

License Manager for WooCommerce

If you are interested in a free license manager, the License Manager for the WooCommerce plugin is a great option. The beginner-friendly plugin is packed with features you would typically find on paid plugins. For example, it has bulk importers, automatic delivery, automatic stock management, and database encryption.

In addition, License Manager for WooCommerce allows store owners to add and import license keys. You can choose to add the keys individually or all at once as TXT or CSV files. The plugin is also customizable, and it allows you to send license keys to your clients automatically. Lastly, License Manager for WooCommerce also saves and encrypts your license keys.

Features

• Automatically sell and deliver license keys through WooCommerce.
• Automatically manage the stock for licensed products.
• Activate, deactivate, and check your licenses through the REST API.
• Manually resend license keys.
• Add and import license keys and assign them to WooCommerce products.
• Import license keys by file upload.
• Export license keys as PDF or CSV.
• Manage the status of your license keys.
• Create license key generators with custom parameters.
• Assign a generator to one (or more!) WooCommerce product(s), these products then automatically create a license key whenever they are sold.

Price: Free.

Software License Manager for WooCommerce

Software License Manager for WooCommerce is another highly-recommended free license manager plugin for all types of eCommerce stores that sell digital products and licenses. Although it’s a free option, you still enjoy various powerful features.

However, the only downside to this plugin is that it’s not beginner-friendly. It was designed specifically for developers and other PHP or WordPress core experts. Also, the plugin receives regular updates, and it offers desired hooks for more flexibility.

Features

• Open-source.
• Automatically add license keys to customers’ order completion emails.
• Regular and timely updates.
• Customizable settings.

Price: Free.