Licensing
One license per server, monthly or yearly, as Standard or Pro; the Household plan covers up to 3 servers. Manage it in your account at account.cloudzh.app.
Buying
Buy in your account at account.cloudzh.app under Buy; the buttons under Pricing on this website lead there too. Choose monthly or yearly and the number of servers. One subscription covers all your servers; later you change the number under My licenses. Payment is handled by Link (Sold through Link, LLC, a Stripe company) as merchant of record. Your license keys, one per server, arrive by email automatically, usually within minutes, and are shown under My licenses. Trial and gift codes are redeemed in your account under Redeem code. Step by step: Get a license. See the Terms and the Refund Policy.
Standard and Pro
| Area | Standard | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Apps, media library, setup assistants, TRaSH | All | All |
| Security: 2FA, passkeys, VPN, firewall, new-device alerts | All | All |
| Dashboard accounts | One, for you (Plex and Jellyfin sharing works as usual) | Accounts for family and friends, invite links, guest accounts that expire, more admins |
| Backups and updates with rollback | Encrypted, on the server, a second disk or a NAS | Plus S3 and cloud storage, download in the browser, automatic updates, app rollback |
| Notifications | One channel, default thresholds | All channels, own thresholds, quiet hours |
| Activity history, performance diagnosis, AI assistant, custom apps, homelab extras | – | Included |
| Look | Light or dark, density, language, formats | Plus own name, logo, colours, sign-in page and menu names |
| Support | Discord and tickets | Tickets answered first |
A free trial always has the Pro features. Free licenses from trials, promotions and gifts can be bought in your account or dashboard: same license, same server, and the remaining free days are kept. Moving from Pro to Standard never deletes anything: accounts and settings are kept, but only the owner can sign in, and Pro features pause until you switch back.
Keys
| Key | Format | Use |
|---|---|---|
| License key | CZL-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX | One per server. Each key activates exactly one server. Keep it private. |
A license key alone cannot activate a server: each new server needs your OK by email or in your account, unless it comes from CloudZH Setup in your account. Under My licenses you see your keys after confirming with your password or passkey, send them to yourself by email, or replace a single key; the server using it keeps running. See Your license email.
Check-in
The server checks in once a day and receives a signed license file. It sends its server ID, the CloudZH version and a hardware fingerprint.
States
| State | Effect |
|---|---|
| Active, ends soon | Everything works, reminder 14 days before |
| Grace period | Paid subscriptions only: 7 days after the end, everything works, banner |
| No contact to the license service | Normal for 14 days, banner after 3 missed check-ins |
| Expired, paused, revoked, released | Restricted mode, runs like Standard |
| Not activated | Restricted mode |
Restricted mode
Paused: CloudZH feature updates, new apps, new users and invite links. The server runs like Standard: further accounts and Pro features pause, only the owner signs in. Keeps working: Plex, all installed apps, VPN, local backups and an off-site backup you already set up, app image updates, restoring backups (missing apps are not installed), CloudZH security updates (not while the license is revoked or paused), terminal and files. Nothing is deleted; with an active license everything is back at once.
New hardware
One license counts one active server. To move, release the old server (My licenses in your account, sudo zh license deactivate, or My account → Subscription in the dashboard), then activate the new server with the same license key, which is now free. Details: Move or reinstall.
When the hardware changes without a release, the server keeps running and shows Hardware changed. If two machines use the same license, only one keeps it.
zh license # license of this server sudo zh license activate CZL-… # activate this server with a license key zh license refresh # check in with the license service now sudo zh license deactivate # release this server, its key becomes free