Should Premium Themes Automatically Renew Licenses? Why WPZOOM Now Says Yes

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in March 2017 with the opposite conclusion — at the time we explained why we didn’t think automatic renewals were right for our customers. In August 2018 we changed our minds and moved to subscription pricing. This is the rewritten version, updated in 2026, explaining what changed and exactly how subscription renewals work at WPZOOM today.

When we started selling WordPress themes in 2009, the industry standard was “lifetime” support and updates for a one-time payment of around $60. By the mid-2010s most of the serious theme shops had moved to annual licenses, and a handful of plugin shops were pushing the next step: charging for renewals automatically instead of asking customers to come back and click a button each year.

In the original 2017 version of this article we surveyed our customers, looked at our renewal data, and concluded that automatic renewals weren’t right for our market. Our average renewal rate at the time was 8.5%. Customers stuck with the same theme for two to three years. The argument we made then was that automatic renewals would feel like a tax on inertia, and that manual renewals respected customer freedom.

I still believe in respecting customer freedom. I no longer believe manual renewals are the best way to honor it. Here’s what changed.

What changed between 2017 and now

Security stopped being optional

In 2017 a slightly outdated theme was an inconvenience. Today it’s a security risk. WordPress core, PHP, and the browser landscape evolve faster than ever, and a theme that hasn’t been updated for two years isn’t just missing features — it can break sites, fail accessibility requirements, or expose vulnerabilities. The customers most likely to skip a manual renewal were also the ones least likely to keep their installations safe. Automatic renewals quietly fix that.

Continuous updates aren’t a “nice to have” anymore

When we launched themes in 2009 you could ship a product and have it remain mostly correct for a year or two. Today our themes ship updates every few weeks — block editor compatibility, Full Site Editing features, performance improvements, accessibility fixes, PHP compatibility. The work doesn’t stop after launch, and the cost of that ongoing work has to be funded somehow. Subscriptions match the way we actually build software in 2026.

The industry standardized around subscriptions

Pippin Williamson and Syed Balkhi made the public case for subscriptions in 2016. By 2020 it was the default model across the WordPress ecosystem — plugins, themes, hosting, page builders, you name it. Customers coming to us from other shops increasingly expect a subscription. The manual model became the unusual one.

The “customer freedom” argument didn’t hold up

This is the one I had to be honest with myself about. The 8.5% renewal rate I quoted in 2017 wasn’t really a signal of healthy customer choice. Most of the 91% who didn’t renew didn’t make a deliberate decision — they just forgot, missed the email, or didn’t realize their support window had closed until they needed help. Then they were frustrated. Manual renewals didn’t give customers freedom; they gave them friction.

How subscription renewals work at WPZOOM today

When you purchase a theme, plugin, or our All Themes bundle, you’re buying an annual subscription that renews automatically until you cancel. Here’s exactly what that means in practice:

• Continuous access to updates and support for as long as your subscription is active. No “your license expired three weeks ago, please renew before we can help you.”
• You can cancel anytime from your account dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you keep access through what you’ve already paid for.
• You can keep using the product after cancellation. Our software doesn’t stop working when your subscription ends. You just stop receiving updates and support. This was true in 2017 and it’s still true now.
• We send renewal reminder emails before the charge. You’ll know it’s coming, and you have a clear window to cancel if you don’t want to renew.
• We honor our refund policy. If you missed the reminder or changed your mind after the charge, we’d much rather give you a refund than fight about it. The full policy is in our Terms & Conditions.

Why this is honestly better — for us and for customers

I’ll be direct: subscriptions are better for our business. The 2017 article was right about that — automatic renewals generate more revenue. But the reason I’m comfortable making the switch isn’t the revenue line. It’s that the subscription model lines up incentives correctly.

When a customer renews automatically, our job is to make sure they don’t regret it. That means clear communication before charges, easy cancellation, fast refunds for people who didn’t want them, and — most importantly — a product that’s actually getting better month over month. If we can’t justify continued value, we lose subscribers fast. The subscription market punishes complacency in a way manual renewals never did.

That’s the deal: you stay subscribed because the product keeps earning it, not because we trapped you into it.

What this means for existing customers

If you bought a WPZOOM product under the old one-year-license model, that license still works the way it did when you bought it. We don’t retroactively change terms on existing customers — that was the mistake WooThemes made in 2013, and the one I criticized in the original 2017 article. The subscription model applies to new purchases.

If you’re currently on a subscription and have any questions about how renewals work, when you’ll be charged, or how to cancel, our support team is the fastest way to get answers.

Final thought

I’d rather have customers who actively want to be subscribed than customers we surprised with a charge. If you’ve ever felt blindsided by a WPZOOM renewal, I want to hear about it directly — that’s a sign our communication isn’t clear enough yet, and we’ll fix it.

Changing my mind publicly on something I wrote a thousand words defending nine years ago isn’t comfortable. But the alternative — quietly switching the business model and hoping nobody notices the old article still says the opposite — would be worse. So here it is.

— Pavel Ciorici, Founder, WPZOOM