Free development site licenses
Free development licenses give you the flexibility to build WordPress.com sites for clients without paying for hosting until you are ready to go live. You can use up to five development licenses at a time. Each license lets you create a site, share progress with clients, and launch when the project is complete.
When you launch a development site, billing begins and the launch date becomes the license start date in your next billing cycle. The development license is freed up for your next project.
In this guide, you will learn how development licenses work and how to manage them.
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Development sites are hosted on WordPress.com and do not sync to Pressable. You can choose to either build on a WordPress.com development site and then manually migrate to Pressable, develop locally using WordPress Studio and sync to Pressable, or build on one of Pressable’s staging or sandbox sites once you have a paid Pressable account.
- Create a development site. Build a WordPress.com site at no cost using one of your five available development licenses.
- Send a preview to a client. Share a private, time-limited link so clients can review progress without logging in.
- Launch by purchasing yourself. Pay for the hosting license at your agency volume discount and keep the site on your account.
- Launch by referring to a client. Send a referral so the client pays for the hosting license and you earn a monthly commission.
Each agency can use up to five free development licenses at a time. If all five are in use, release a license before creating another development site. You can release a license by:
- Launching a development site (by purchasing yourself or referring to a client).
- Revoking a development license following the steps in Cancel a WordPress.com hosting product.
Automattic for Agencies - Knowledge Base 