Installation & License Activation

What it does: Gets Antradus AI installed on your WordPress site — the free Lite edition from WordPress.org, or a paid plan with your license key and automatic updates.

Applies to Antradus AI Lite, Publisher & Studio v2.7.0 · Last updated 2026-08-26

The plans, in one paragraph

Lite is free forever and writes articles. Publisher adds everything for running a website at scale. Studio adds everything for running a show — a podcast or video channel — on top of Publisher. Managed is not software: it is us doing the work for you. You only ever install one plugin; the license decides what appears.

Before you start

• WordPress 5.8 or newer, PHP 7.4 or newer.
• Lite: nothing else needed — install straight from the WordPress.org plugin directory.
• Publisher or Studio: your license key, from your purchase email or your Antradus account page.

Installing Lite (free)

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New, search for Antradus AI Lite, click Install Now, then Activate.
2. Open the new Antradus AI menu and add your AI provider API key — that’s it. Every Lite feature works immediately, no license needed.

Installing a paid plan

Publisher and Studio are the same download. Which features appear is decided by your license, not by which file you install — so upgrading later means changing a license key, never reinstalling anything.

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
2. Choose the zip you downloaded and click Install Now, then Activate. (If Lite was active it is replaced automatically — your settings and API keys carry over, every edition shares the same settings.)
3. Click the Antradus AI menu, paste your license key and click Activate License.
4. That’s it. Your plan’s features unlock, and your site now receives automatic updates — new versions show up under Dashboard → Updates exactly like any other plugin.

What the license controls

• Lite features are always free — writing articles, SEO meta with Copy buttons, the in-editor assistant, and featured images never need a license.
• Publisher unlocks bulk publishing, YouTube to Article, internal linking, SEO clusters, AI Search (GEO), Human Voice, the WooCommerce product generator, albums, live web search, merge-2-sources, automatic Yoast/Rank Math fill, and Reporting.
• Studio unlocks everything Publisher does, plus Podcast to Articles, Saved Plans and Episode Assets. On a Publisher license those two tabs are still shown on the Bulk Publishing screen, locked, so you can see what they do before deciding.
• On the Plugins page you’ll see extra links on the Antradus row: Change License, Opt Out, and Enable auto-updates. Use Account under the Antradus AI menu to see your plan and downloads.

Tips & gotchas

• Trying it first. Publisher has a 7-day free trial — a card is required, and you are billed only if you stay past day 7. Studio is sold after a demo rather than on a trial, because there is a real conversation to have about your show first. Lite is free forever and runs the same writing engine, so you can judge the output quality before any of this.
• Moving to a new site? Deactivate the license on the old site first (Account page → deactivate), then activate on the new one. Publisher covers up to 5 sites, so you only need to do this once you’ve used them all.
• Bought before the plans existed? The original one-time license carries the full Studio feature set, permanently. Nothing was taken away from anyone who already paid, and you don’t need to do anything to keep it.
• Your own AI bill is separate. Every plan uses your own provider API key, so the AI usage is billed to you by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter or DeepSeek directly. That is the point — there is no per-word markup here.
• If you ever see "An older copy of Antradus AI Lite was automatically deactivated" — you had a pre-2.0 Lite installed alongside the new plugin; the new one includes everything it had, and your settings are kept.

Next step

→ Connect Your AI Provider — the plugin writes nothing until it has an AI provider API key.