Display Licences and Authorisation | easyCMS Digital Signage

easyCMS licences are lifetime, and they are counted per display. One screen, one licence. There are no monthly fees and no per-user charge on the standard plans.

What your account includes

An easyCMS account (49€ one-time) includes the CMS and one display licence.
Each additional screen needs its own easyCMS Licence (99€ one-time, lifetime).
A standard account manages up to 5 displays. Beyond that, the PRO account or an Enterprise account is the right fit.

Licences do not expire and are not billed again. See pricing for the current figures.

Authorising a new display

When a player connects to easyCMS for the first time it registers itself but stays unauthorised, it appears in the CMS and waits. Nothing plays until you authorise it. This is deliberate: it stops an unknown device consuming a licence.

In easyCMS, open Displays.
Find the new entry, it will be named after the device unless you set a name in the player.
Open its row menu and choose Authorise (or edit it and tick the licensed option).
Give it a meaningful name straight away: “Reception – ground floor” beats “android-8842f1” the first time something goes wrong.
Assign it to a display group, a display settings profile and a default layout.

A registered-but-unauthorised display is the classic cause of “the player says it is connected but nothing happens”. See Connecting Your First Display.

Naming and grouping from the start

On a network of any size, do this at authorisation time, not later:

Name by location, not by hardware.
Group by what they show, schedules target groups far more comfortably than individual screens.
Tag by anything you will want to filter on later: region, client, screen orientation.

Retrofitting a naming convention across 40 screens is a genuinely miserable afternoon.

Replacing or moving hardware

A licence belongs to your account, not to a specific box. When a player dies:

Delete the old display entry in easyCMS, this frees its licence.
Install and connect the replacement.
Authorise it, and re-apply the name, group, profile and default layout.

If you delete the old entry after authorising the new one, you may briefly need a spare licence. Delete first.

Note that deleting a display also removes its history and statistics. Export any reports you need before deleting.

When you run out of licences

A new display simply cannot be authorised, easyCMS will tell you the limit is reached. Either free one by deleting a display you no longer use, or buy another licence. Licences are activated on your account, so a new one is available as soon as the order completes.

Displays you are not using

A screen taken down for a month still holds its licence while its entry exists. That is usually what you want, it keeps the name, schedule and history. If you need the licence elsewhere, delete the entry and re-authorise the display when it returns.