Many software companies start licensing manually. When a new customer pays, you log into a dashboard, create a license key, and send it by email. This works well at low volume.

But as soon as you start scaling—more plans, more customers, renewals, upgrades, churn, and audits—manual licensing quickly becomes a bottleneck.

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Step 1: Standardize Your Licensing with Templates

The first step toward automation is removing one-off configuration.

License templates let you define how a license should look once and reuse it consistently:

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• Permissions and feature flags
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• Expiry rules (fixed date, relative duration, or no expiry)
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• Usage limits (devices, activations, floating rules)
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• Trial vs paid behavior
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For example:

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• A Light plan template
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• A Pro plan template
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• An Unlimited / Enterprise template
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When a license is created from a template, it automatically inherits the correct rules—no manual setup, no mistakes.

Templates work whether licenses are created manually, via payments, or through APIs.

Step 2: Automate License Creation on Payment

Once plans are standardized, license creation can be fully automated.

Devolens supports two main approaches, depending on how you sell your software today.

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Selling Directly on Your Website

If you sell licenses directly to end customers, you can connect Devolens to your payment flow.

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Built-in payment forms (Stripe & PayPal)

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• Use hosted payment forms connected to Stripe or PayPal
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• Map each product or price to a specific license template
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• Automatically create a license key when payment succeeds
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• Automatically disable or expire the license when payment stops
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This works well for:

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• Simple SaaS-style plans
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• Desktop software sold online
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• One-time payments or subscriptions
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No backend code is required.

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Using Zapier for Custom Flows

If your setup is more custom, Zapier allows you to automate licensing without building integrations from scratch:

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• Trigger on events like Payment succeeded, Subscription canceled, or Refund issued
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• Create, update, or cancel license keys in Devolens
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• Assign the correct license template automatically
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This approach is common when:

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• You already use Stripe, PayPal, or another payment provider
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• You want flexibility without maintaining custom code

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Selling Through Platforms Like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Wix

Many software companies sell licenses through existing e‑commerce platforms.

Devolens fits into these setups without forcing you to change how you sell.

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Typical flow

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• Customer buys a product in Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, or other platforms
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• A webhook or Zapier automation triggers on the order or subscription event
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• Devolens creates a license key using the mapped template
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• The license is delivered automatically to the customer
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Upgrades, downgrades, renewals, and cancellations can follow the same pattern.

This lets you keep:

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• Your existing storefront
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• Your checkout and tax setup
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• Your customer accounts
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While fully automating licensing in the background.

Step 3: Automate License Distribution

Once a license key is created, it needs to reach the customer—reliably and on time.

Devolens supports automated distribution in two ways:

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Built-in email delivery

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• Automatically email license keys when they are created
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• Send reminders before licenses expire
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• Notify customers when licenses are renewed or extended
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This is ideal if you want a simple, turnkey setup.

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Connect to Your Own Email Provider

If you prefer full control over branding and messaging:

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• Use Zapier to send license keys via your own email provider
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• Include license details in transactional emails
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• Trigger campaigns for renewals, upgrades, or expirations
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This integrates cleanly with tools like SendGrid, Postmark, Mailgun, or customer engagement platforms.

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Step 4: Handle Renewals, Expiry, and Churn Automatically

Automation doesn’t stop at creation.

With Devolens, you can:

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• Automatically expire licenses when subscriptions end
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• Extend licenses when payments renew
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• Send expiration warnings ahead of time
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• Revoke or suspend licenses for non-payment
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• Keep all data synced with your CRM such as HubSpot
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All of this can be driven by payment events, schedules, or automation tools—without manual intervention.

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From 10 Customers to 10,000 — Same Platform

Many teams start with:

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• Manual license creation
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• One or two plans
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• Direct emails
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And gradually evolve to:

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• Template-driven plans
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• Fully automated payments
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• Zero-touch license distribution
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• Auditable, consistent license states
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Devolens supports this entire journey. You don’t need to redesign your licensing system as you grow—just automate more of it.