Understanding the Domain Licensing Model in SecurePrivacy
Managing licenses for your domains in SecurePrivacy is essential for tracking cookie usage and ensuring proper consent management. This guide explains how the domain licensing model works, when licenses are needed for domains and subdomains, and special cases like language-specific subpages.
What Is the Domain Licensing Model?
SecurePrivacy requires a license for each domain and subdomain that places cookies or trackers. Licenses cover a single domain or subdomain and all its subpages, but separate licenses are needed for different domains and subdomains.
- Domain: example.com → Requires a license
- Subdomain: subdomain.example.com → Requires a separate license
- Subpage: example.com/subpage → Included under the domain’s license; no separate license needed
[screenshot: domain licensing overview]
How Licenses Are Assigned: Domains, Subdomains, and Subpages
Licensing for Domains vs. Subdomains
Domains and subdomains are treated as separate entities because both can independently place cookies and trackers. This means each requires its own license.
Subpages Do Not Require Separate Licenses
All subpages beneath a domain or subdomain fall under the same license. For example:
example.com/contactshares the license forexample.comblog.example.comrequires a different license fromexample.com
[diagram: example domain and subdomain license coverage]
Special Cases: Licensing for Language-Based Subpages
Some customers structure their websites with language versions on subpages, like example.com/en or example.com/fr. If you want unique consent management, cookie blocking, or customized text for these language subpages, you will need to purchase a separate license for each one even though they're technically subpages.
Licensing for Development and Testing Environments
You may have test or staging domains and subdomains where SecurePrivacy is not required. However, you might want to license specific environments such as:
- Staging or user acceptance testing domains
- Customer-specific subdomains
- Country or brand subdomains
How to Discover Your Subdomains
To identify all subdomains that need licensing, you can use public DNS subdomain discovery tools:
[screenshot: subdomain discovery tool in use]
Who Is This Guide For?
- Website Administrators managing multiple domains
- Developers responsible for cookie compliance
- Marketers handling multilingual sites or numerous brand domains
Common Issues & Fixes
Q: Do I need a license for every subpage?
A: No. Subpages under the same domain or subdomain do not require separate licenses unless you have special customization needs.
Q: How do I know if I need multiple licenses?
A: If your site uses multiple domains, subdomains, or language-specific subpages with different consent requirements, you will need separate licenses.
Q: Can I license my test and staging sites?
A: Yes. You can purchase licenses for important testing environments but it’s optional for many cases.