Purchasing & Licensing FAQ
Learn more about pricing and subscriptions.
Whether you’re new to Elements or considering an upgrade, this section covers everything you need to know about purchasing a license, managing your subscription, and understanding what’s included with each plan.
Pre-Sales FAQ
Q: What are the differences between the different plans?
With Elements’ five license options—Base, Plus, Pro, Studio, and Site, you can choose the plan that best fits your needs, whether you're a casual user, hobbyist, professional web designer, or multi-member team.
Every Elements license includes all you need to build the website you've always wanted, however, there are a few key differences. Please take a look at our License Types document for more details.
Q: Can I switch to a different license?
Yes, eventually Elements will support upgrading/downgrading in app, but in the meantime, email support and we'll do the change manually for you.
Purchasing FAQ
Q: Where can I purchase Elements?
You can purchase Elements via our website.
Q: I didn't receive a license email. Where is it?!
When you purchase Elements you will receive an order confirmation email within 5 minutes confirming your order along with your license number. The email will be sent from "mailer@fastspring.com" which is our payment provider. If you can't find the email it's usually because of one of the following reasons:
The email from us ended up in your Spam Folder.
You entered your email address incorrectly when purchasing (no shame, we've all done it!).
The first step is to check your spam folder for anything from Realmac Software or mailer@fastspring.com.
If you still can't find your order email, you can contact us directly: support@realmacsoftware.com. Please include your name, email address, and when you purchased Elements — this will help speed up the search!
Q: Do you offer refunds?
Yes! We offer a 7 day money-back guarantee.
If you've purchased Elements from us and are not happy, let us know within 7 days, and we'll issue a refund for you.
Please forward your original email receipt from your purchase to obtain your refund. While you don't have to do this, it does make it much quicker for us to find and process.
Send this email to support@realmacsoftware.com
We generally issue refunds within 48 hours (often quicker).
Subscription FAQ
Q: Is Elements subscription based?
Not in the traditional sense. When you purchase a Elements license from our website, you are automatically subscribed to one year of app updates. The license itself will not expire (you can use it forever), however the one year period of app updates will renew on an annual basis.
Please note the following:
Subscriptions automatically renew unless you cancel them.
If you cancel, your one year period of app updates will remain active until the next renewal date.
You can manage your subscription here.
Q: What is your subscription cancellation policy?
You can cancel your subscription anytime via your Billing Manager.
We offer a 7 day money-back guarantee from the date you initially purchase a license for our software. During those initial 7 days you can cancel your subscription and request a refund with no questions asked.
Subsequent automatic subscription renewals are not refundable under our 7 day money-back guarantee.
Q: What happens if I cancel my subscription?
Your one year period of app updates will remain active. You will continue to receive updates until the next renewal date. If you wish to receive further updates after that renewal date, you will need to manually re-subscribe.
Q: How do I cancel my subscription?
Hopefully this day will never come, but if you need to cancel your subscription for one of our apps, visit the Billing Manager page.
In the event you cancel your subscription, any apps registered will continue providing all of its updates till the end of the current subscription period (the one you’ve already paid for).
Q: What happens if my subscription expires?
You get to keep the version of Elements you're currently using, you just won't receive any further updates to it. You'll need to re-subscribe to start receiving updates again.
Q: How do I manage my subscription?
Our Billing Manager can help you check a subscription status, change payment details, and cancel your subscription. All you need is access to the email address you used to purchase our software.
If you no longer have access to the email address, contact support@realmacsoftware.com, and we'll be able to help you directly.
Licensing FAQ
Q: Help, I've lost my license?
If you've lost your license, visit our License Manager and use the automated system to help find your previous purchases.
If you’ve tried using our license manager and are still having issues, please email support@realmacsoftware.com, and we’ll get you back up and running.
Be sure to check your Spam folder. Just in case!
Q: How do I deactivate my license?
If you have access to the activated version of our Elements, do this:
Open your registered version of the App.
Go to the App menu → Registration…
Click "Deactivate" under the "Activations (1 of X)" button.
Confirm your decision.
That's it. You can now use the same license to register the app on another Mac.
If you don't have access to your old Mac, you can still manage your license activations in the "Register…" window. This includes seeing what machines are licensed and deactivating any machines you no longer require. Elements > Registration…
Q: I'm seeing an "Activation failure (404)" Error when I try to register. What should I do?
First, make sure you are running the latest version of Elements.
The first thing to check is that your license number is correct. You'll often see this error if the code is slightly wrong or missing a digit.
If you've triple-checked and made sure you're license code is correct, try the following steps:
Launch Elements and choose "Registration…" from the "Elements" menu.
Deactivate your Mac using the "Activations (1 of 2)" button, and Elements should become Unregistered. (if required)
Restart your Mac.
Launch Elements.
Open the Registration window again and press the "Activate License…" button and enter your new license details.
You should now be up and running.
If you're still having issues, you can email support@realmacsoftware.com, and we'll be able to help you out.
Q: Help, my license won't activate!
If you see the following "Unable to Activate" message, it may mean your license was entered incorrectly, or Elements is having trouble validating it over the internet.
You can email support@realmacsoftware.com with your license, we can check if it's valid and working. If it is, and your license is still not activating on your Mac, you should try the following things:
Check you don't have iCloud Private Relay or a VPN running.
Check you've not installed anything that blocks or tracks network traffic (i.e. LittleSnitch.app).
Reboot your Mac.
Try activating your license on another Mac.
Try activating your license on another network (3G/4G from your Phone).
Try starting your Mac in Safe Mode. A guide can be found here on how to do this.
Trying out the above will help you narrow down the problem and determine if your Mac or network is causing the issue.
Q: Why am I seeing an "Update Period Expired" message when trying to register Elements?
You'll see this message if you're trying to activate a newer version of Elements that was released after your subscription period ended.
If your subscription has expired and you're trying to use a new version of Elements that was released after your subscription period you'll see the "Update Period Expired" window. You now have a couple of options. You can choose to purchase a new subscription to get access to the new version or get an older version of Elements that was covered during your active subscription period.
Elements will show you what version you can still use underneath the "Renew License" button. Clicking the button will take you to the release notes page where you can download this version.
Q: I still have a question, where can I go for help?
If you question wasn't answered above or you need clarification, please post on the Elements forum, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
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