Licensing & pricing
Commercial tiers, page limits, trials, and license keys.
Nexus CMS is proprietary, commercial software. After a stable release, using it in development or production requires a valid commercial license. Your license key selects a feature tier.
Alpha: product usage is free until a stable release, but a Dashboard license key is required for edit mode from day one. Sign up at the Dashboard (email/password) to get a free Pro-tier alpha key. Without a key,
/?edit=1shows a license gate (not the editor). Leaving alpha is then a billing change on the same key wiring — not a surprise “update the package to suddenly require licenses.” The public Pricing page shows the post-stable catalog as disabled (no billing checkout yet).
Plans (post-stable catalog — reference)
| Plan | Price (USD list) | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha / Trial | Free during alpha (and 14-day Pro trial on signup) | Full Pro features |
| Starter | $19/mo or $190/yr | Text/image/link, visibility, reorder, SEO · 1 project · 2 API keys · up to 12 pages |
| Pro | $39/mo or $390/yr | Versions, site-declared locales, collection add/remove, scheduled publish · 5 projects · 10 keys · unlimited pages |
| Lifetime | $2,600 one-time | Full Pro feature set · unlimited projects/keys/pages · lifetime updates & support |
Projects vs API keys
- A project is one site (
projectKey+ content space). - API keys authenticate that project (dev vs prod or rotation).
Page limits
Starter soft-limits you to 12 pages. Pro and Lifetime are unlimited.
Starter vs Pro (overlay)
| Capability | Starter | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Text / image / link edit | Yes | Yes |
| Show / hide regions | Yes | Yes |
| Collection reorder | Yes | Yes |
| Collection add / remove | No (disabled Add + “Pro” tip) | Yes |
| Versions panel | No | Yes |
| Locales | No | Yes |
| SEO panel (incl. favicon) | Yes | Yes |
How gating works
resolveLicense(key)→{ valid, tier, features }.- Missing or malformed keys →
valid: false→ edit mode shows the license gate (unless you explicitly setunlicensedAllowsAll: truefor local dogfood). Default isfalse. - A valid key unlocks edit mode; tier selects Starter vs Pro capabilities.
applyLicenseToFlagsmasks Pro features your tier doesn't include.resolveCapabilitiescomputes each region's effective capabilities.
Alpha accounts get a NEXUS-PRO-… key on signup. Pass it both in config and to
<CmsProvider> — the provider does not read nexus.config.ts by itself.
Adding your key
export default defineConfig({
licenseKey: process.env.NEXUS_LICENSE_KEY,
});Also pass licenseKey into <CmsProvider licenseKey={…} /> if you set it at
runtime (the provider does not read nexus.config.ts by itself).
Keys are issued from the Dashboard when you create an alpha workspace (trial on signup).