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Free vs Pro - Plugixa Inventory
Plugixa Inventory is twenty-four apps. Thirteen are free, eleven are Pro, and the free edition is not a trial: it is a working stock system with an append-only ledger, per-warehouse stock, CSV import and export, and the whole application on a page of your own site.
The seam is absence, not a licence check
There is no licence check anywhere in this plugin, and there must never be one.
The Pro build is the free plugin plus a pro/ directory. On a free site that
directory is simply not there, so the module loader finds nothing, no routes are
registered, and the code that would have called them asks a filter that nobody
answers. The result is the free behaviour - not a disabled screen, not a nag, and
not a feature that exists and refuses.
That is the distinction wordpress.org draws between a free tier and trialware, and it is why upgrading is installing the other ZIP over the top rather than entering a key.
The matrix
Records
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Items: assets, consumables and sellables | Yes | Yes |
| SKUs, barcodes and serial numbers | Yes | Yes |
| Categories | Yes | Yes |
| Warehouses, with stock per location | Yes | Yes |
| Recipients | Yes | Yes |
| Custom fields, twelve types on three record types | - | Yes |
| Units of measurement, with conversions | - | Yes |
Moving stock
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Stock movements: add, remove, check in, check out | Yes | Yes |
| Draft then finalise, with finalised documents immutable | Yes | Yes |
| The append-only ledger | Yes | Yes |
| Stock health: the reconcile, and correcting from the ledger | Yes | Yes |
| Warehouse transfers | - | Yes |
| Inventory adjustments: addition, damage, subtraction | - | Yes |
Insight
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard: value, movement, low stock, top movers | Yes | Yes |
| Warehouse overview, per location | Yes | Yes |
| Stock valuation, at cost | Yes | Yes |
| Average costing | Yes | Yes |
| FIFO and LIFO costing | - | Yes |
| Reports: turnover, cost of goods sold, trends, ageing | - | Yes |
Data
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| CSV import, with column matching and revert | Yes | Yes |
| Opening stock posted as a real document | Yes | Yes |
| CSV export from every list | Yes | Yes |
| Report exports | - | Yes |
On your own site
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
[plugixa_inventory_app] shortcode |
Yes | Yes |
| Scanner and quick search | Yes | Yes |
| Install as an app | - | Yes |
| Dark mode | - | Yes |
Configuration
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| App manager | Yes | Yes |
| Settings | Yes | Yes |
| Notifications and alerts, in the app and by email | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop notifications | - | Yes |
| Inventory capabilities honoured everywhere | Yes | Yes |
| Roles: the screen that assigns those capabilities | - | Yes |
| Permissions: on which records | - | Yes |
For developers
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
REST API, plugixa-inventory/v1 |
Yes | Yes |
| Hooks: every action and filter | Yes | Yes |
| WP-CLI: reconcile and seed-layers | Yes | Yes |
The line people get backwards
Stock valuation is free. FIFO and LIFO costing is Pro.
The free build values everything you hold, at cost, on the dashboard, on every warehouse card and in the totals. What it does not do is keep a layer per receipt: free costs stock out at its average cost, which is a real method and right for most inventories.
Pro adds the layers, and with them FIFO and LIFO, layer-accurate ageing, and a transfer that carries its layer’s cost rather than revaluing it. See Valuation and Costing.
What upgrading does not do
It does not move your data. The tables are the same tables. Pro adds two of its own for cost layers and a few for its modules, and touches nothing that exists.
It does not change who can do what. On a Pro site with no permission profile saved, every access decision is answered exactly as free answers it. Saving the first profile is the moment the rules start being enforced, and the screen says so before it happens.
It does not need a key entered. Install the premium ZIP over the free one.
What downgrading does not do
It does not delete anything. Custom field answers, unit assignments, transfers, adjustments and cost layers all stay in the database. The screens are gone; the rows are not.
A few things degrade deliberately and say so:
- A saved FIFO or LIFO method is not available, so stock is costed at average cost - and the saved method comes back if the build does.
- A stored dark theme is kept on disk but not honoured, because the palette is not there to draw it.
- An item given a unit on Pro still saves on free, because the form only re-validates a reference you actually change.
Those three cases are each a real bug that was found and fixed, which is why they are listed rather than assumed.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| A Pro screen is missing after upgrading | Check the App Manager: the app exists but may be switched off. |
| A Pro route returns no route on free | Correct. The module is absent, not refused. |
| Nothing changed after installing Pro | Permissions enforce only once a profile exists; costing changes only once you choose a method. |
| Downgrading lost a screen but not the data | That is the design. |
| Valuation stopped matching after a downgrade | Average costing is in force. The saved method returns with the build. |
| Two copies of the plugin are installed | Expected during an upgrade. Deleting the free one is safe: see Privacy and Data. |
What to do next
- Start here: Getting Started.
- Turn features on and off: App Manager.
- The costing difference in detail: Valuation and Costing.