Changelog

Welcome to the changelog section of Freemius, here you'll find our weekly technical update notes. You can subscribe to all posts via Newsletter or follow us on Twitter to stay updated.

Freemius Checkout Updates: License-Based Billing Defaults and Croatian Language Support

This week we rolled out the following updates for the Freemius Checkout.

Billing Cycle Now Defaults to the License

We found that our Checkout defaulted to the annual billing cycle in the context of a license update. This could create confusion for buyers, especially when renewing their license from the Customer Portal or upgrading to a different plan. To make the experience more consistent, Checkout will now respect the billing cycle of the license by default.

Checkout License Update

You can still generate custom upgrade links with a different billing cycle, for example to promote an upgrade from monthly to annual, and that behavior remains unchanged.

New Hrvatski Language Support for Croatia

We have released beta language support for Hrvatski. To use it right away, simply pass language: 'hr' while configuring the language of the Checkout.

Croatian language support for Freemius Checkout

Our Checkout already supports the EUR currency, and with this release we hope to make the buying experience feel more native for buyers in Croatia. The translation is currently in beta as we gather feedback from makers. Once it is out of beta, it will be selected automatically when the Checkout is loaded with language: 'auto'.

Clearer ZIP Deployment Errors and Better Self-Help Guidance

We noticed that some makers were running into deployment issues because of how their ZIP files were created. While our system was able to detect these issues, the UI did not clearly communicate what went wrong or how to fix it. To make troubleshooting easier and provide better self-help guidance, we revamped the UI.

Deployment error UI

Known issues are now identified more clearly, and each one links to the relevant documentation for additional context. We also updated our documentation with OS-specific guides for creating ZIP files, along with additional troubleshooting resources.

Better Metrics, Navigation, and Cleanup in Developer Dashboard

This week we’re rolling out various quality of life improvements to the Developer Dashboard.

Corrected Metric Badge Indicators

We identified an issue where some metric badges on the Analytics Dashboard page (for WordPress products) were showing incorrect comparisons. For example, a decrease in trial cancellation count was still marked in red with a downward arrow, indicating a negative change, whereas it is conceptually positive. This has now been corrected across relevant metrics.

Metric comparison badge update

Shareable Links for Plans Tabs

All individual tabs in the Plans page now have unique URLs. This makes it easier to share direct links within teams and allows our support team to point to specific settings when needed.

Plans page tab has links

Improved App & SaaS Context by Removing “Sites” References

We identified some references to “Sites” that are not relevant for App & SaaS products. These have now been removed (especially inside individual user information and also from tables like Events, as well as Subscriptions), making the experience more consistent across product types.

Removed irrelevant Site and Localhost info from user page for App & SaaS

Other Fixes

  • The sidebar and detail panels of the Licenses and Subscriptions pages had some minor UI glitches. These have now been fixed.
  • We noticed a regression where the “Join Freemius Slack” item in the Setup Checklist could not be marked as completed. This has been fixed.

Customer Portal UX Improvements

This week we are releasing additional fixes and enhancements to the Customer Portal. These changes are aimed at providing a better experience for your customers.

Better Site and Subscription Details

We cleaned up the sidebar that displays site, subscription, or license details.

Site details in Customer Portal

Depending on the context, the most relevant information is now displayed first. Additional information and configuration options, such as “License security“, are now placed inside an expandable section. To make the experience smoother, the UI will also remember whether a user has expanded any of these sections.

Better FAQs

FAQs are now displayed based on the relevant products available in the store.

Customer Portal FAQs

For example, if the user hasn’t purchased any WordPress products, or if your store doesn’t sell any, the “Installation” (or website-related) FAQs will no longer be shown. Similar improvements have also been applied to the Support Contact Form.

Store Settings Page Now Organized with Tabs

This week we are rolling out a useful update to the Store Settings page in the Freemius Developer Dashboard. Previously, all store configurations were displayed on a single page, which made it difficult to quickly find the relevant settings. Many makers also shared similar feedback with us.

To improve the UX, we are now grouping related settings into separate tabs.

Store page in the Developer Dashboard

For example, the basic configuration is now grouped under the “Information” tab. If you’re looking to embed the Customer Portal, you can now find it under the “Customer Portal” tab.

Customer Portal config under stores

Additionally, we have fixed a few minor UI glitches across the Developer Dashboard. We hope this change makes it easier for you to navigate and manage your store settings.

Norway Tax Refund Issue in Developer Dashboard Fixed

Freemius supports tax refunds against a valid tax ID. For example, if a customer forgot to enter their VAT number during checkout, you can issue the refund from the Developer Dashboard. The associated subscription will then be updated and the tax amount will be exempted using the reverse charge mechanism.

Norway tax refund

We identified an issue in the Developer Dashboard where the tax refund option for Norway was not working properly. This has now been fixed.

Email Footer Layout Fix and Dark Mode Improvements

We identified a regression in last week’s email style update where the footer was mistakenly pushed inside the main email content area. This unintentionally made the “Sent by Freemius” line more prominent. When sending emails to customers on your behalf, our goal is to give better visibility to your product.

Email footer

With that in mind, we have deployed a fix as shown in the screenshot above. We also ensured the footer renders nicely in dark mode for email clients like Gmail.

End-to-End Lovable Integration Guide for Freemius Checkout & Monetization

With the evolution of AI, our software industry has taken a huge leap. Language and technical complexity are no longer barriers to creating software. Anyone with a product idea can now build applications and SaaS products with platforms like Lovable, Bolt, etc.

Once such software is created, there’s often value in sharing it with others—and eventually monetizing it. At Freemius, we understand this can be challenging for non-technical makers.

With that in mind, and to make it super easy for everyone to integrate Freemius Checkout and monetization, we’ve released a guide for a full end-to-end integration of Freemius with Lovable.

Lovable Integration Guide with Freemius

It all happens with a single prompt:

Implement the Freemius integration based on the knowledgebase content.

The outcome is as impressive as this:

  • Integrated Pricing Page and Checkout: Your users will see the pricing you’ve configured in Freemius and will be able to purchase your product through the Freemius Checkout.
  • Gated Premium Features: Easily gate premium features behind a paywall, and only allow access to users who have purchased your product.
    Paywall UI in Lovable App
  • Integrated Accounts Page: Show active subscriptions and payments right within your app. Also link to the Freemius Customer Portal for advanced account management.
    Accounts Page

Head over to our docs to get started with the integration.

Volume Discount Now Visible in Reverse Invoice and Payout Emails

Freemius supports growth pricing or high-volume rates where the more you earn, the more you save. When your monthly gross sales exceed $50,000, the revenue share drops progressively, going as low as 0.5%. You can read more about it in our docs here.

This discount is applied automatically during the monthly payout. With today’s deployment, we are introducing a clearer UI in both the reverse invoice and the payout email so you can easily see the exact volume discount applied to your earnings.

Reverse Invoice

As you can see, the reverse invoice will now prominently display the volume discount applied for the payout.

Payout email showing volume discount

Similarly, your payout emails will also show the volume discount you received for the month, making it easier to reconcile your earnings at a glance.

Email System Layout Improvements and Dark Mode Fixes

This week we are rolling out several polishing improvements to our email system. These changes affect most of the emails sent by our system and include a number of small fixes.

Freemius email example

The most notable update is the improved layout and overall visual consistency.

Email in Light Mode

In addition, we have fixed a few UI glitches that appeared in certain dark mode email clients.

Email in dark mode

Overall, our emails are now more compliant and better optimized for compatibility across a wide range of email clients.

Secure Invoice Download API for User-Specific Payments

We have introduced a new API endpoint to help makers easily and securely download invoices for users. The new endpoint is:

/products/{product_id}/users/{user_id}/payments/{payment_id}/invoice.pdf

Detailed documentation can be found here.

Download invoice from Freemius API from a user's scope

 

This is especially useful if you’re implementing the Customer Portal inside your application (for example using the JS SDK). The endpoint validates that the payment belongs to the specified user before delivering the invoice, adding an extra layer of safety in user-facing integrations. For these use cases, we recommend using this new endpoint over the more direct one.

Deployment Now Ensures is_org_compliant Flag Is Present

In last week we released an update following a compliance requirement from the wp.org plugin review team. The SDK integration snippet generated by the Developer Dashboard will now always have the is_org_compliant flag present (even though implicitly it has a true value).

This week we are releasing another update where our deployment mechanism will inspect the codebase itself and automatically add the flag if it is missing. This change ensures existing products remain compliant, even if the integration snippet was not manually updated.

Improvements to Email Customization UI & Placement

As a follow-up to the recently released email customization feature, this week we are deploying the following enhancements:

  1. The email section no longer requires a title to be present, giving you more flexibility when adding concise instructions or contextual notes.
  2. The custom section now appears earlier in the email, with a UI that feels more naturally integrated into the overall email layout.

You can head to Emails → Customization to start customizing it right away.

Email customization in Freemius Developer Dashboard

We have also further enhanced the UI/UX of the Developer Dashboard around this feature:

  1. The preview UI is now snappier and more compact.
  2. A separate Styling tab has been introduced for email branding customization, reducing clutter under the single Customization tab.

Customer Portal UI Consistency & Styling Improvements

This week we are rolling out follow-ups addressing several UI glitches and styling enhancements in the Customer Portal.

Customer Portal - Freemius

These changes are primarily at the infrastructure level and touch many UI components across the portal. As a result, you should now experience better visual consistency, especially when applying custom themes using CSS variables. Below are the notable improvements:

  1. All icons are now rendered as inline SVGs, allowing your custom CSS to style them more reliably.
  2. Several minor alignment issues have been resolved based on feedback from our makers.
  3. We audited and replaced all remaining hard-coded color values with CSS variables to ensure custom styling works more predictably.

In addition to the UI fixed, we also fixed an issue where the portal could remain on a stale page after login. For example, if a store sells only SaaS products (and has no Websites page), users will now be correctly redirected to the Licenses page.

Developer Dashboard Improvements: Templates, Higher Bulk Pricing & Webhooks

We have rolled out the following quality-of-life improvements to the Developer Dashboard.

Template Under WordPress Products

We realized in the last release we accidentally removed the “Template” type from the WordPress category. Many makers use Freemius to sell WordPress-related templates (for example, page builder templates or customization templates for plugins), so this made it harder to locate the correct product type during setup.

Templates inside WordPress category

To address this, the Template type has now been added back under the WordPress Products category in the new product form.

Higher Bulk Pricing Support

Based on feedback from makers selling large credit bundles, we have increased the quota limit of pricing to support values up to 100,000,000 (100 million).

Bulk pricing supporting 100 million

This makes it easier to configure plans for products that operate with high-volume credit systems.

More Exposure to Webhooks

To improve discoverability, webhooks are now available as a top-level menu item instead of being nested under “Integration”.

Webhook as top level menu

We received consistent feedback from SaaS & App makers that webhooks are a core part of the integration. Promoting it to a primary navigation item makes the integration workflow more direct and aligned with how modern SaaS products are built.

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