Installing Add-ons

After purchasing an add-on on benecaster.com, installation is handled directly from within the Benecaster admin. There is no manual download, no ZIP file, and no WordPress plugin upload.

How It Works

When you complete a purchase on benecaster.com, your entitlement is pushed to the Benecaster license server and associated with your account. The next time your site checks in with the license server, it receives the updated entitlement list.

From that point, the add-on appears in the Ready to Install section of the Add-ons screen (Settings → Add-ons). Click the card to download and activate it — the process takes a few seconds and happens entirely within the Benecaster admin.

Which Licence an Add-on Applies To

An add-on is bought on a licence and covers every show registered to it — there is nothing to enter at checkout to direct it, and nothing to choose afterwards. A show is attached to a licence by connecting the site, so the licence an add-on reaches is the one you connected with. See Purchasing Add-ons if you hold more than one licence.

Step-by-Step

Purchase the add-on at benecaster.com — at checkout with your plan, or from Your add-ons on your account. Make sure your site is connected to your account. See Connecting Your Site if you haven’t done this yet.
Go to Settings → Add-ons in your WordPress admin. If the add-on doesn’t appear in the Ready to Install section immediately, wait a minute and reload — your site checks in with the license server on a short schedule.
Click the add-on card in the Ready to Install section. Benecaster downloads and activates the add-on automatically.
The add-on moves to the Installed section, showing “Active on this site.” It is ready to use.
Choose which shows it runs on, if you have more than one. Every entitled card carries an Active on list with a switch per show, and a new add-on starts switched on everywhere your licence covers. See Add-ons overview.

If Your License Lapses After Installing

An installed add-on that loses its entitlement — most often because your license lapsed — is not uninstalled or deleted. Its card moves to a new Installed — no license section on the Add-ons screen, and its functionality stops working until the entitlement is restored. Renewing or restoring your license moves the card back to Installed automatically, on your site’s next check-in with the license server.

Uninstalling Benecaster

If you uninstall Benecaster with Delete all data on uninstall switched on, the data your Benecaster add-ons stored goes with it — even if the add-on plugins are still installed. Their plugin files stay in place; only the data is removed. See Settings & Tools → Delete All Data on Uninstall for what that switch removes.

Uninstalling an individual add-on (rather than Benecaster itself) removes whatever that add-on’s own uninstall removes — the add-on’s plugin files, and any data it deletes on its own.

Updating

Installed add-ons update the same way Benecaster Core does — through WordPress’s normal Plugins → Updates screen, not a separate process. Your site checks the license server for new versions and shows the update there like any other plugin, with the release’s changelog. Click Update Now the same way you would for any WordPress plugin.

There’s nothing to download or upload manually, and no separate update check inside the Benecaster admin — it’s the same WordPress update flow you already use for every other plugin on the site.

If the Add-on Doesn’t Appear

A newly purchased add-on may take up to a few minutes to appear in Ready to Install. If it still doesn’t show after a few minutes:

Confirm your site is connected to your Benecaster account — go to any show’s Settings → Subscription tab and check the connection state.
Make sure you completed the checkout on benecaster.com and received a purchase confirmation.
Reload the Add-ons screen. If the issue persists, reach out to support with your order confirmation number.

Studio Tier

If you are on the Studio tier, every add-on is included with your plan — there is nothing to buy individually.

The Add-ons screen works exactly the same way it does on any other plan; the difference is that all of them are already entitled. So every add-on you haven’t installed yet appears in Ready to Install, ready to click, and none of them shows a “purchase” link. Install them as you need them rather than all at once.

If an add-on is missing from the list entirely, that is not a Studio-specific problem — work through the troubleshooting steps above first, since the usual cause is the site not having checked in with the license server yet. Contact support if it persists.