# Licence states

Licensing is a single boundary around the whole app, macros included. There is no grace period and no read-only mode: either the app is licensed or it shows a licence panel.

Seat-level behaviour is different and much softer, and it is the one that affects your readers.

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## Licence states

| **State**       | **What people see**                                                                |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Licensed        | Everything works                                                                   |
| No licence      | A yellow "License Not Found" panel, with Manage Apps and View on Marketplace links |
| Trial expired   | A red "Trial expired" panel, with the same links                                   |
| Licence expired | A red "License expired" panel, with the same links                                 |

⚠️

**There is no grace period and no read-only mode.** When a licence lapses, the panels appear immediately. Content is not deleted, but it stops rendering through Capable macros.

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## Viewers without a seat

Viewers with no seat, and logged-out visitors on public pages, see a static "Powered by Capable" notice on three surfaces only: the Capable byline, the global page and the space page.

* Macros keep rendering real content for them. Their reading experience is intact.
* The notice appears on the Capable surfaces themselves, not on your pages.
* This is what makes public spaces and published sites work for anonymous readers.

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## The free app

Capable Search is a free app with licensing switched off entirely. It never shows these panels.

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## A few things worth knowing

* A lapsed licence stops macros rendering, which looks exactly like a broken migration if you are also mid-migration. Check the licence first.
* Automatic heading re-sync rides a licence-filtered event, so it stops working on an unlicensed site.
* Nothing is deleted when a licence lapses. Re-licensing restores rendering.

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## Related

[EditionsStandard and Advanced.](https://help.gocapable.com/capable/editions.html)

[Install, update and uninstallWhat deletion actually looks like.](https://help.gocapable.com/capable/install-update-and-uninstall.html)

[Working better togetherWhat the seatless notice appears alongside.](https://help.gocapable.com/capable/working-better-together.html)

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_No grace period. But readers keep reading._