Free vs Pro
Exactly what the free plugin includes, what Pro adds, and what happens to your work when you upgrade or go back.
Logo Carousel comes in two editions. The free plugin (from WordPress.org) gives you the Carousel and Grid blocks, Ready Patterns, Build with AI, Saved Templates, and page-builder support. Logo Carousel Pro adds three more blocks and the features that make logos interactive — filtering, search, pagination, tooltips, popups, links — plus scheduling, motion effects, and analytics.
Both editions are built from the same code and save data the same way, so moving between them never loses your work.
Throughout these docs, anything marked Pro needs Logo Carousel Pro.
Comparison
Blocks
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Carousel | ✅ | ✅ |
| Grid | ✅ | ✅ |
| List | Preview only | ✅ |
| Marquee | Preview only | ✅ |
| Table | Preview only | ✅ |
| Transform one block into another | — | ✅ (between all five) |
"Preview only" means the block shows up in the inserter under Logo Carousel Pro Blocks as an upgrade preview — it doesn't build anything.
Carousel block
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Carousel styles | Standard, Center | + Staggered, Multi Columns |
| Columns, gap, alignment (per device) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Autoplay, speed, pause on hover, loop, and the other Carousel tab basics | ✅ | ✅ |
| Navigation Arrows and Pagination Dots, every icon and style | ✅ | ✅ |
| Vertical orientation | — | ✅ |
| Partial Slide View, Variable Width, Edge Fade | — | ✅ |
| Slide to Scroll, Sliding Effects | — | ✅ |
Grid block
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Grid styles | Standard Grid | + Grid Strip, Staggered Grid, Zigzag Grid |
| Justify logos | Left, Right | + Center |
| Pagination (Load More / numbers) | — | ✅ |
Logos and images
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Upload or pick logos from the Media Library, reorder, remove | ✅ | ✅ |
| Logo Title and Logo Alt Text | ✅ | ✅ |
| Logo URL, Description, and Category fields (edit a logo) | Locked | ✅ |
| Bulk Add to category | — | ✅ |
| SVG uploads | ✅ | ✅ |
| Aspect Ratio, Resolution, Lazy Load | ✅ | ✅ |
| Click Actions — link each logo, or open a details popup | — | ✅ |
| Random Display Order | — | ✅ |
| Hover animations, custom color, image filters, overlay | — | ✅ |
Showing more, and helping visitors find logos
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Display Elements — title, description, read more | — | ✅ |
| Tooltips | — | ✅ |
| Ajax Live Filter | — | ✅ |
| Ajax Search | — | ✅ |
Modules and tools
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Ready Patterns | ✅ (Pro-tier patterns need Pro) | ✅ |
| Build with AI | ✅ | ✅ |
| Saved Templates and page-builder integrations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Section background, spacing, responsive visibility, CSS class & ID (Advanced Settings) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Scheduling | — | ✅ |
| Motion Effects | — | ✅ |
| Glassmorphism backgrounds | — | ✅ |
| Analytics (impressions and clicks) | — | ✅ |
| Import & Export | ✅ | ✅ |
| Automatic updates and priority support | WordPress.org updates | ✅ with an active license |
In the free version, Pro-only panels and options are still visible in the editor with a Pro label, so you can see what they'd do before upgrading. The free dashboard also has a Lite vs Pro tab with the same comparison.
Classic views
The classic Manage Views builder exists in both editions. In the free plugin, these view options are Pro:
- Layouts other than Carousel and Grid: Multi Rows, Masonry, Isotope, List, Inline, and Table
- The Center and Ticker carousel modes, vertical orientation, multiple rows, and slide to scroll
- Showing logos by category, choosing specific logos, or excluding some
- Click actions, random order, and drag-and-drop ordering
- Scheduling, Ajax live filters, and Ajax logo search
- Logo title, description, and read more; tooltips; the CTA button
- Pagination, hover animations, grayscale and blur effects, and the extra arrow and dot styles
The full option list, with Pro markers, is on View Options.
What a license changes
Pro needs an active license key on each site. While it's active you get updates and support, and your blocks render normally. Two things are worth knowing:
- If the license was never activated (or you deactivate it), Pro blocks stop rendering for visitors. Administrators see a notice in their place. See Installation → the license notice.
- If the license expires, nothing disappears. Your logos keep showing; only updates and support stop until you renew.
So a lapsed subscription is not a reason to switch back to the free plugin.
Upgrading from Free to Pro
Upgrading is an install, not a migration. Pro uses the same block names, settings, and stored data as the free plugin, so it picks up everything you've already built.
- Buy Pro and sign in to your ShapedPlugin account.
- Download the Pro zip and install it alongside the free plugin. You don't need to remove the free plugin first.
- Activate Logo Carousel Pro. From that moment the free plugin stands down — it stays in your plugin list, but it no longer loads anything, and Pro takes over.
- Activate your license key.
- Optional: deactivate and delete the free plugin to tidy up. Deleting it while Pro is installed never touches your data, even if the free version's clean-up setting is on.
What carries over: every Carousel and Grid block on your pages, the logos and settings inside them, your classic logos and views, Saved Templates, and your dashboard settings.
What changes straight away: the locked Pro controls in the inspector become usable, the List, Marquee, and Table blocks become real blocks in the inserter, and the Pro modules (Scheduling, Motion Effects, Glassmorphism, Analytics) start working — they're on by default, and you can switch them in Dashboard → Modules.
Check one page after upgrading
Open a page with a Logo Carousel block and confirm it still looks right, then clear any caching plugin. If the block is missing for visitors, the license isn't active yet.
Going back to Free
If you deactivate Pro and use the free plugin instead, nothing is deleted — but the free plugin only shows what it supports. Specifically:
- Carousel and Grid blocks keep working. Pro-only settings saved in them are kept but ignored when the block renders. For example, a Staggered or Multi Columns carousel shows as Standard, a vertical carousel shows horizontally, a Zigzag grid shows as Standard Grid, and click actions, hover effects, filters, search, pagination, tooltips, and display elements are switched off.
- List, Marquee, and Table blocks stop showing. The editor marks them as unsupported, but their content is preserved. Reinstall Pro and they come back as they were.
- Pro modules switch off. Motion effects and glassmorphism stop showing, analytics stops recording, and scheduling stops applying — so a block you'd scheduled to appear later, or to disappear after a date, will show all the time.
Reactivate Pro at any point and every saved setting takes effect again.
Check scheduled blocks before you switch
If you use Scheduling for time-limited promotions, remove or unpublish those blocks before moving to the free plugin. Otherwise they'll be visible outside their dates.