Important changes to trial keys, key replacement and hosting options.

In line with our 2025 strategy, we’re making changes that affect the way trial keys, commercial key replacements and hosting on 4SC licenses are handled. Read on for a breakdown of what’s new.

Trial Keys Now Issued as 8SC PRO

Trial keys are now issued as 8SC PRO licenses instead of 4SC PRO. The validity of a trial key has been reduced from 2 months to 1 month.

This change applies to all trial keys generated from Monday 28 April 2025 onwards. Existing trial keys remain unaffected and will continue under their original terms.

Key Replacement for Commercial Subscriptions

The key replacement function was originally designed to allow trials to be upgraded. In reality it has been used to replace commercial keys – and in doing so, creates new accounts unnecessarily and causes havoc in our system! There must, therefore, be a good reason for a key to be replaced – rather than it being the default way to extend a key.

Going forward, commercial subscription keys will no longer be eligible for replacement. Existing customers must renew their keys rather than buying a new key. This can be done from the customer and partner portal.

The “Replace Key” function within the Admin Console remains available for other use cases, such as upgrading a Free license to a Commercial license. However, commercial keys cannot be replaced under any circumstances.

Hosting for 4SC Keys

If you already have an EXISTING 3CX Hosted 4SC subscription:

  • Make sure your license and hosting subscriptions remain active to maintain your existing Hosting.
  • If you allow your hosting to expire you’ll need to either self-host or upgrade to an 8SC PRO subscription.

If you want to add Hosting to a NEW key here’s what you need to know:

  • You can no longer add 3CX hosting to a new, or existing non-Hosted, and / or expired Hosting 4SC license key subscription.
  • To add 3CX Hosting choose from these 2 options:
    1. Either upgrade to an 8SC PRO subscription
    2. Or if you have less than 10 users you can move to 3CX SMB FREE
  • If you want to remain on a 4SC license you can also host the system on-premise or with an alternative cloud provider.

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