Cisco Meraki license renewals: what MSPs need to know

An organization must run one MX edition throughout; Advanced Security and SD-WAN Plus apply to MX appliances and not to the Z-series teleworker gateways.

Meraki documents that all licenses are available in 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10-year terms, with the MS130 Advanced license limited to 1, 3, and 5. Per-device licensing adds 1-day licenses, MR Advanced is limited to 1, 3, and 5 years, and per-device SD-WAN Plus is 1, 3, and 5 years only.

Meraki does not sell pro-rated licenses. Under co-termination the averaging math does the pro-rating for you when you add a license mid-term.

Co-termination organizations: once the co-term date passes, the organization enters a 30-day grace period. During those 30 days it continues to function as usual, network clients see no difference, and administrators receive weekly email reminders. When the grace period ends the organization is shut down: devices cease to pass client traffic but continue to pass Meraki management traffic, and dashboard access is restricted to the License Info and Device Status pages.

Per-device licensing organizations: each device gets its own 30-day grace period from its own expiration date, after which only that device shuts down and ceases to operate until the licensing issue is resolved. One-day licenses get no grace period.

Because the device stops rather than degrades, a Meraki lapse is an outage, not a security-posture problem. The 30-day grace period is the entire safety margin.

Meraki does not back-date. Under co-termination, licenses start consuming time from the date they were processed, not the date they are claimed, so there is no time benefit gained from delaying activation, and a late claim simply shortens what you get. An expired organization can be reactivated at any point by adding the necessary number of valid licenses.

Under per-device licensing the grace days are deducted: Meraki's example is a device 10 days into its grace period that receives a 365-day license and ends up with an expiration 355 days out.

One trap on the claim screen. Claiming a key as "Renew" resets all license limits to only the number and types of licenses in that key and extends the term by the key's length. Additional keys have to be claimed as "License more devices," or they overwrite the count.

Co-termination is Meraki's default: as of September 2023 every new organization uses it, per-device licensing is no longer offered to new customers, and conversion from co-term to per-device is one-way.

The math, in Meraki's words: multiply each license's term in days by the number of devices it covers, add them up, and divide by the total licensed device count. Meraki's worked example is one 5-year license and two 1-year licenses covering three devices: 1,825 plus 730 divided by 3 gives 851 days. Adding six access points with four months left to an organization of sixteen yields 24 AP-months, which spread across 16 devices adds 1.5 months to the organization date.

Because the co-term date depends on the license limit rather than the devices present, removing hardware from the organization does not move the date.

Meraki announces end of sale typically six months before the last order date. End of support typically falls five years after the end-of-sale date, and after it cloud connectivity, support, and firmware are no longer guaranteed. Device-specific licenses for discontinued hardware remain purchasable after end of sale unless the model appears on the end-of-life products list.

The dates below are from Meraki's end-of-life products list. The non-cellular MX67 and MX68 were not on that list as of the check date.

• Co-termination: Organization > Configure > License info shows the status (OK, Warning, or License Required), the co-term date, the license limit against the current device count per model, and the license history.
• Per-device licensing: expiration dates for every device are listed on Organization > Configure > Inventory.
• Email, co-termination: while in compliance, Meraki emails at 90, 30, 2, and 1 days before the co-term date; once out of compliance, at 30, 21, 14, 7, and 1 days before shutdown, with a dashboard banner throughout.
• Email, per-device licensing: reminders at regular intervals listing the devices expiring within 60 days.

Renewals are bought through an authorized Meraki partner or reseller. A license-only order ships nothing physical; the 12-digit license key arrives in a software fulfillment email, and the key is required for origination, additions, and renewals alike.

The key is claimed in the dashboard at Organization > Configure > License info > Add licenses, choosing "To renew current licenses" or "To add devices," and the dashboard shows the resulting expiration before you confirm. Hardware order claim keys do not carry licenses; licenses are claimed separately.

Renewal SKUs follow a readable pattern: LIC-MX68-ENT-3YR, LIC-MX68-SEC-3YR, and LIC-MX68-SDW-3YR for the three MX editions; LIC-ENT-1YR through LIC-ENT-10YR for access points; LIC-MS220-24-1YR style for switches. Order the right count, because the "Renew" claim resets the license limit to what the key contains.

For a co-termed organization, MSP Renewals tracks one record per organization: the co-term date as the expiration, the edition as the tier (Enterprise or Advanced Security), and the license count in the notes, so the 90, 30, and 5-day alerts fire on the date that actually shuts the client down. For per-device organizations, each MX, MR, or MS is its own record with its own date.

The pricing request to your distributor carries the model, edition, term, and count, and the end-of-support date for the MX64, MX65, MX67C, MX68CW, MX84, MX100, MR33, and MR42 so a renewal is not bought past the hardware's life. When the client approves and the key is claimed, the expiration rolls forward and the countdown restarts.

What happens when a Meraki license expires?

A 30-day grace period starts, during which everything works normally and Meraki emails weekly. When it ends, a co-termed organization is shut down and its devices stop passing client traffic; under per-device licensing only the expired device stops. Meraki states that its hardware does not operate without a valid license.

Does a Meraki device keep working during the grace period?

Yes. Meraki documents that during the 30-day grace period the organization continues to function as usual and network clients will not see a difference. The cutoff is the end of the grace period, not the expiration date.

If I renew late, does Meraki back-date the new license?

No. Co-term licenses consume time from the date they were processed, so a late claim just shortens the term. Under per-device licensing, days used in the grace period are deducted from the new license.

How is the Meraki co-termination date calculated?

Multiply each license's days by the devices it covers, add them together, and divide by the total licensed device count. One 5-year and two 1-year licenses across three devices gives 851 days. The date depends on the license limit, not on which devices are physically present.

What is the difference between Meraki Enterprise and Advanced Security on an MX?

Enterprise is SD-WAN and basic security. Advanced Security adds unified threat management: content filtering, SNORT intrusion prevention, and Advanced Malware Protection. The whole organization has to be on one edition, and it applies to MX appliances, not Z-series gateways.

Can I still buy a license for an MX64 or MX84?

Meraki keeps device-specific licenses purchasable after end of sale unless the model is on its end-of-life list. The MX64 reaches end of support on July 26, 2027 and the MX84 on October 31, 2026, and Meraki does not guarantee cloud connectivity or firmware after those dates.

1. Meraki — Co-Termination Licensing Overview
2. Meraki — Per-Device Licensing Overview
3. Meraki — Per-Device Licensing configuration (queued renewals)
4. Meraki — The science behind Per-Device Licensing (grace deduction)
5. Meraki — Per-Device Licensing FAQs
6. Meraki — Licensing (default model, licensing required to operate)
7. Meraki — Licensing FAQs
8. Meraki — Co-Termination Licensing FAQs (email schedule, no back-dating)
9. Meraki — License Info page, co-termination model (grace period, shutdown)
10. Meraki — Co-term license problem: out of compliance
11. Meraki — License more devices vs renewal
12. Meraki — MX/Z security and SD-WAN licensing (editions)
13. Meraki — MR license guide
14. Meraki — Claiming devices and licenses in a PDL organization
15. Meraki — End-of-life products and dates
16. Cisco — Meraki product end-of-life policy
17. Cisco — MX67C / MX68CW end-of-sale notice
18. Meraki licensing FAQ (Meraki-authored PDF, 2020, secondary host)