IntelliJ IDEA License or Activation Error

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Check your account

   1. Log in at account.jetbrains.com and confirm the subscription is active and assigned to you
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Re-login in the IDE

   Copy steps
   1. Open Help | Manage Subscriptions (or the account icon)
   2. Log out and log in with the account that owns the license
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Know what free gives you

   1. Free core features work without activation; Ultimate-only features lock when the subscription or trial ends
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Check network

   1. If you use a corporate license server or proxy, ask your admin and verify proxy settings under Settings | Appearance & Behavior | System Settings | HTTP Proxy
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Message that the license is expired or invalid, Ultimate features are greyed out, or the IDE asks you to log in repeatedly.

Why it happens

• Ultimate subscription expired or was cancelled
• Logged in with a different JetBrains Account than the one holding the license
• The 30-day Ultimate trial ended
• Corporate license server unreachable
• Clock or proxy problems blocking license check

This guide also covers

• intellij license error
• intellij activation failed
• intellij ultimate features disabled
• intellij license expired

Other JetBrains IntelliJ errors

• IntelliJ IDEA Indexing Takes Forever
• IntelliJ IDEA High Memory Usage
• IntelliJ IDEA Slow or Freezing
• IntelliJ IDEA Cannot Resolve Symbol
• IntelliJ IDEA Maven Import Failed
• IntelliJ IDEA Gradle Sync Failed
• IntelliJ IDEA JDK Not Found or Invalid
• JetBrains AI Quota Exceeded in IntelliJ IDEA