Sell digital products with lifetime, monthly, and yearly licenses. The plugin issues a license key, delivers a secure expiring download link, and blocks downloads once a subscription expires. Payments run through Stripe or Paddle (you choose one active gateway). Card data is collected on Stripe or Paddle hosted checkout, not on your WordPress server.
No WooCommerce required. The plugin is a complete, standalone digital store with its own catalogue, cart, checkout, licensing and customer account area.
Documentation: https://docs.lucrativeit.com/digital-download/documentation.html
Live demo: https://wpdigitaldownload.lucrativeit.com/
Pro version: https://lucrativeit.com/wordpress-plugins/wordpress-digital-download-licensing-plugin adds domain-based packages (1 site, 5 sites, unlimited), domain activation limits and license-gated automatic updates for WordPress plugins and Laravel/PHP scripts.
Features
Products and pricing
- Sell eBooks, templates, themes, plugins, scripts and any other downloadable file.
- Lifetime (one-time), yearly and monthly billing plans on the same product.
- Optional plan feature bullets shown on the storefront pricing cards.
- Four-step product wizard: Details, Pricing, Product details, and File & Publish.
- Write product descriptions with the full WordPress block editor or Elementor.
- SEO title, meta description and thumbnail image for every product.
- Product categories (with parent categories), tags and Featured, Popular and Trendy showcase labels.
- Copyable buy-box and category shortcodes on every product and category.
Licensing and secure downloads
- Automatic license key generation after every successful payment.
- Expiry tracking for subscriptions. Renewals extend the license automatically.
- Downloads are blocked when a subscription is cancelled or a renewal fails.
- Product files are stored in a private, protected vault, never in the public Media Library.
- Drag-and-drop file uploads up to 64 MB.
- Signed, time-limited download links with a configurable lifetime.
- Optional download tracking for dashboard statistics (no IP addresses collected).
Payments and checkout
- Stripe Checkout or Paddle Billing (one active gateway at a time).
- Test/sandbox and live modes for both gateways.
- Webhook-verified fulfilment: a license is only issued once the gateway confirms payment.
- Automatic recurring subscriptions for monthly and yearly plans.
- Paddle support as merchant of record, including tax handling.
- Cart, checkout with billing address, and guest checkout.
- Customers can create an account during checkout, independent of the WordPress Membership setting.
Coupons
- Percentage or fixed-amount discount codes.
- Restrict a coupon to one product or apply it to all products.
- Minimum order amount, usage limit and expiry date.
Customer account
- My Digital Account page with Orders, Downloads and Profile tabs.
- Customers can re-download files at any time with a fresh signed link.
- License keys and expiry dates shown next to each download.
- Customers can edit their billing address and change their password.
Emails
- Automatic license delivery email with license key and download link.
- Editable subject and body with placeholders such as
{product},{license_key},{download_url},{plan}and{expires_line}. - Optional emails to existing buyers when you release a new product version.
- Built-in SMTP support with a test email button.
Admin dashboard and reports
- KPIs for products, licenses, active and expired licenses, orders and revenue.
- Charts of licenses by status and by product.
- Licenses list with customer, plan, status, last payment and expiry.
- Payments log with purchases, renewals and gateway references.
Storefront and design
- Digital Shop, My Cart, Digital Checkout and My Digital Account pages created automatically.
- Product grid with category tabs and showcase filters.
- Selectable storefront theme with custom accent colour and palette.
- Block patterns for catalogue, cart, checkout and account layouts.
- Shortcodes:
[lucrativedigiprod_products],[lucrativedigiprod_buy_box],[lucrativedigiprod_price_plan],[lucrativedigiprod_product],[lucrativedigiprod_cart],[lucrativedigiprod_checkout]and[lucrativedigiprod_account]. - Translation ready.
Customer update emails
When you upload a new file and raise the product version, you can email every purchaser who still has a valid license. Enable Email purchasers when I click Update product on File & Publish. Each customer gets one message per version, with a signed download link ({download_url}), changelog, and their license key.
Plugin URI: https://wpdigitaldownload.lucrativeit.com/
Author URI: https://lucrativeit.com/
Plugin license: GPLv2 or later (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html)
Third-party services
This plugin relies on optional third-party services that you enable in Settings. Data is sent only when a customer checks out, a webhook is received, Paddle.js is loaded, or you turn on SMTP. By using those features you agree to the provider’s terms and privacy policy, and you must disclose them in your own store’s terms and privacy pages.
Stripe (payments)
Used when Stripe is the active gateway. The plugin calls https://api.stripe.com/v1/checkout/sessions to create a Checkout Session, then redirects the buyer to Stripe Checkout. Stripe sends payment and subscription events back to your site’s webhook URL. Data sent to Stripe includes customer email, product name, plan (lifetime/monthly/yearly), amount, currency, and an internal order ID. Stripe collects card and billing details on its own checkout page.
- Stripe website: https://stripe.com/
- Stripe Services Agreement: https://stripe.com/legal/ssa
- Stripe Privacy Policy: https://stripe.com/privacy
Paddle (payments and merchant of record)
Used when Paddle is the active gateway. The plugin calls https://api.paddle.com (live) or https://sandbox-api.paddle.com (sandbox) to create a transaction. The storefront also loads Paddle.js from https://cdn.paddle.com/paddle/v2/paddle.js so the buyer can pay in Paddle’s overlay. Paddle sends transaction and subscription events to your webhook URL. Data sent to Paddle includes product name, plan, amount, currency, and an internal order ID. Paddle collects customer identity, tax, and payment details as merchant of record.
- Paddle website: https://www.paddle.com/
- Paddle Terms of Service: https://www.paddle.com/legal/terms
- Paddle Privacy Policy: https://www.paddle.com/legal/privacy
- Paddle Checkout Buyer Terms: https://www.paddle.com/legal/checkout-buyer-terms
SMTP (optional email delivery)
If you enable SMTP in Settings, license and product-update emails are sent through the mail host you configure (for example Gmail, Amazon SES, or another provider) instead of the server’s default wp_mail() transport. That host receives the recipient address and the email body (product name, license key, download link). Use only a provider whose terms and privacy policy you accept. WordPress’s own privacy policy is at https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/.
This plugin does not sell customer data. Payment card numbers are never stored in WordPress.
Screenshots
Digital Shop storefront with category tabs and Featured, Popular and Trendy filters.
Single product page with Lifetime, Yearly and Monthly pricing cards.
Digital Checkout with billing address, coupon code and order summary.
Stripe hosted payment page. Card details never touch your WordPress server.
My Digital Account: payment confirmation and order history.
My Digital Account: license keys, expiry dates and secure download buttons.
My Digital Account: profile, billing address and password change.
Admin dashboard with sales and license KPIs, charts, recent licenses and payments.
Digital Products list with plans, file status and copyable buy-box shortcode.
Add Product wizard, step 1: title, short description, slug and category.
Add Product wizard, step 2: Lifetime, Yearly and Monthly billing plans with plan features.
Add Product wizard, step 3: description, price plan shortcode, SEO settings and thumbnail.
Write the product description with the full WordPress block editor or Elementor.
Add Product wizard, step 4: upload the product file to a private vault and publish a new version.
Product categories with per-category shortcodes.
Licenses list with customer, plan, status, last payment and expiry.
Payments log with purchases, renewals and gateway references.
Coupons with percentage or fixed discounts, product restriction, minimum order and usage limit.
Payment settings: active gateway, currency, download link lifetime and webhook instructions.
SMTP settings for reliable license and update email delivery.
Editable license delivery email with placeholders.
Storefront settings: assign the Digital Shop, My Cart, Digital Checkout and My Digital Account pages.
Design settings: storefront theme and accent colour.