Staging Activation

You can activate MEC Pro on development websites — localhost, staging clones, and test environments — using your regular purchase code. Development activations are verified against your license but do not consume your license’s activation slots: your production sites are unaffected.

Which Sites Count as Staging?

Any of the following is treated as a development site:

• Local environments: localhost, 127.0.0.1, and private network addresses (10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x, 172.16.x.x).
• Development TLDs: any domain ending in .local, .localhost, .test, .staging, .stage, .example, or .invalid.
• Dev/staging subdomains: hosts starting with dev., test., stage., staging. (e.g. staging.example.com, dev2.example.com), and dev labels inside the domain (e.g. myproject.dev.example.com).
• Hoster and tool staging platforms: preview/staging URLs from WP Engine, Kinsta (*.kinsta.cloud), Pantheon, Cloudways, Bluehost, Hostinger, SiteGround (*.sg-host.com), InstaWP (*.instawp.xyz), TasteWP, Raidboxes, WP Stagecoach, DDEV (*.ddev.site), Local by Flywheel (*.flywheelsites.com) and similar.

Anything else — including .com production domains and public .dev domains — is a production site and activates normally (see the Activation article).

How to Activate on a Staging or Local Site

1. Go to WordPress Dashboard > MEC > Dashboard on your staging/local site.
2. Enter your real purchase code in the License Activation box and click Activate.
3. MEC verifies that your code is valid (active, not expired, not revoked) and activates the Pro features on the spot.

No activation slot is consumed on your license: your production sites and the number of remaining activations in your account at my.webnus.net are not affected.

How Long Does a Staging Activation Last?

Staging activations use a short-lived token (30 days). While it is valid, everything works as on production. When it expires, simply activate again with the same purchase code — there is no limit on how often you re-activate on staging sites, and it never touches your production activations.

Moving From Staging to Production

When your site goes live on its final domain, activate normally with the same purchase code — this uses one activation of your license, exactly like any production site. Nothing from the staging period carries over.

FAQ

Does a staging activation really not use one of my activations?

Correct. Staging activations are verified against your license but never occupy an activation slot. You can develop and test freely.

Can I use an expired or cancelled purchase code on staging?

No. Staging is exempt from the activation limit, not from the license check. The code must be valid (not expired, revoked or disabled) — exactly like on production.

I activated on production first and now the staging clone shows a license warning.

That is expected: the clone’s address is not the activated production address. Activate on the clone with the same purchase code — it will be verified as a staging site and will not consume an activation.

My staging domain is not in the list above.

If it is a clearly development-only domain, activate with your purchase code and it will most likely be detected automatically. If activation is refused with a “license limit” message, contact support and tell us the staging domain — we will check whether it can be recognized.