For my new client with an existing WordPress website, I had a number of puzzles to solve.
Which created new learning opportunities for me.
My new client’s site used Understrap, a theme I’ve never worked with before. My client has their hosting account with a web host using cPanel, but offers different administrative options (no developer access).
And the site design made extensive use of Advanced Custom Fields Pro, a plugin I’ve never used.
A premium WordPress plugin, Advanced Custom Fields Pro allows developers to add extra content fields to WordPress editing screens.
You can customize what fields display, organize and group them, and define the location rules. Which allows content editors to quickly make changes on a website page.
After auditing my client’s site, I discovered the license for Advanced Custom Fields Pro (ACF Pro) was registered in the previous design agency’s name.
I knew my client needed to purchase a license for their site. So I started my research.
What I Learned About Advanced Custom Fields Pro Licensing
Depending on your needs, ACF Pro offers three paid licenses:
- Personal
- Freelancer
- Agency
The Personal license is for one website (development/staging and production) with unlimited updates for one year.
The Freelancer license is for 10 websites (development/staging and production) with unlimited updates for one year.
The Agency license is for an unlimited number of websites with unlimited updates for one year.
I recommended my client buy the personal license.
Since the Personal license provides two copies of the license, one copy of the license would be for the client’s site and I could use the other copy for my test/staging site.
I updated the client’s site on my test/staging server with current versions of WordPress, plugins, theme, and updating changes to the menu, footer, and other content on the site.
Everything was moving along well. I tested my site and then started the process of updating my client’s production site.
Which is when I ran into an issue.
Naming Matters
When I added the new ACF Pro license to the client’s production site, I received the message:
Activation limit reached. Please check your account online for more information.
Hmmm.
I double-checked the Personal license description to confirm a development/staging and production site was included in the license.
Yes, they are.
Not sure what was happening, I contacted ACF Pro support, providing the license key to my client’s site.
That’s when I learned naming matters.
According to ACF Pro support, my staging site domain didn’t meet their staging site conditions.
As it turns out, ACF Pro has specific naming conventions for what constitutes a staging or development environment.
And my test/staging site didn’t match their conventions.
From ACF Pro’s Frequently Asked Questions, here’s their ruleset (as of September 2021)
- Dev: Is URL a single segment? (localhost)
- Dev: Is URL an IP address? (192.168.0.1)
- Dev: Does the URL contain a dev related segment? (dev.website.com, website.dev, website.dev.cc)
- Dev: Does the URL contain a dev-related subdomain? (test., testing., sandbox., dev., local.)
- Dev: Does the URL contain a dev-related TLD? (.local, .loc, .localhost, .test, .dev)
- Stage: Does Does the URL contain a stage-related subdomain? (stage., staging.)
- Stage: Does Does the URL contain a stage-related parent? (staging-sitename.kinsta.cloud, sitename.flywheelstaging.com, test.wpengine.com)
- Prod: All other URLs.
I didn’t realize there were naming conditions to use ACF Pro on my test/staging site!
Wrapping Up
Advanced Custom Fields Pro is a powerful, premium plugin offering a range of licensing to fit your needs, whether you’re looking to use it on one site or an unlimited number of sites.
As I learned, pay attention to their ruleset when naming your staging or development site so you won’t encounter an error message that you’ve reached your activation limit.
