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Licensing FAQs

New Licenses

Old Licenses

To make using and deploying Aspose products, we changed our licensing structure. This affects products bought before March, 2006. If you are using a product bought before then but with a valid subscription, you will have been updated to the new system by now. If you have let your subscription expire, look at the questions below and contact the sales team with questions.

New Licenses

Are Aspose developer license per user, or per named user?
Aspose developer license are per user, not per named user. We understand that members of a coding team may change over time and that it is not practical to have to update licensing each time that occurs.

We have a sizeable development team, but only one person using Aspose components. Do all developers need to be licensed or only the one working directly with the Aspose products?
All developers who are working on the project need to be licensed.

Do we need licensing for only active developers? For example, we have a team of two developers working on shift A and a second team of two developers working on shift B … in this situation do we need two or four licenses?
All developers who are working on the project need to be licensed. In this situation Aspose sees your team as having four members (even though they work at different times).

We have several developers working on a single project, but they are working in a distributed model. Can we still use a site license to properly license our team?
Yes, a site license can cover a distributed team so long as the size of the team does not exceed the maximum user count.

I'm a contractor who works with different companies on a project basis. I was licensed for an Aspose component on my last job. Does that mean that I can use it in my next job?

No. Our components are licensed to the organization, not an individual within the organization. Aspose components are not personal tools that you can move freely from one workplace to another.

If you are working for a company to implement a solution that they will deploy, it is that company's  responsibility to ensure that they have licenses for the tools that you need. If you are working as part of their development team, they should buy a Site Small Business or Site OEM license to let other members of the team continue maintaining the code when you have left.

On the other hand, if you are self-employed and develop solutions that you sell to other companies, then you should have a Developer OEM license. This allows you to use the product in any number of derived works and deploy them freely.

What's the difference between a license and a subscription?
When you buy an Aspose product you get two things: a license and a subscription. The license entitles you to use the software. The subscription entitles you to software updates for a year. The subscription expiry date is stored in the license so when you renew your subscription, you get a new license file.

There are five of us in the team, but we all work in different offices. What kind of license do we need?

That depends in in part on where you intend to deploy the derived works (the applications you use Aspose products to create). We recognize that a team can be distributed and allow that in our license structure. In this case, you have a team of five. Whether they are in the same physical location or not, you need enough licenses to cover five developers. When we refer to a site when discussing licenses we refer to the site where the product is deployed, that is, where your users will use the derived work.

Here are some scenarios:

  • Scenario 1: The team is distributed over five offices and the derived works will be deployed to and used in the same five offices.
    You should buy either five Developer Small Business licenses (we offer discounts for multiple licenses) or one Site Small Business license. The latter will allow your team to grow the team to up to 10 developers, and deploy to up to 10 sites.
  • Scenario 2: The team is distributed over five offices and the derived works will be accessed by an unknown number of customers online.
    You should buy five Developer OEM licenses (we offer discounts for multiple licenses) or one Site OEM license. The latter allows you to grow the team up to 10 developers.
  • Scenario 3: The team is distributed over five offices and the derived works will be accessed by staff in six company offices.
    You should buy a Site Small Business license. This allows you to deploy the the derived works in up to 10 sites. It also allows you to grow the team up to 10 developers.

I work in our London offices but the solutions I create for my company are used in our New York and Paris offices. What license do I need? 
That depends on how many physical offices are in New York and Paris. Here are a couple of scenarios:
  • Scenario 1: You are the only developer working with Aspose products. Your derived works are used in one office in New York and one in Paris.
    One developer, two sites - you need two Developer Small Business licenses.
  • Scenario 2: You are the only developer working with Aspose products. Your derived works are used in six offices in New York (housed in six separate buildings) and seven offices in Paris.
    One developer, more than ten sites - you need a Developer OEM license.

What's the difference between a Small Business and an OEM license?

The number of sites that the derived work can be used at. An OEM license allows you to deploy to any number of sites. This is appropriate when the derived work will be distributed on digital media, or offered as an online service to any number of people, all in different physical locations.

A Small Business license allows you to deploy to a specified number of sites:

  • A Developer Small Business license allows your derived works to be used in one site, for example, your company's head quarters.
  • A Site Small Business license allows your derived works to be used in up to ten sites, for example, your company's head quarters and the nine offices your company has globally. 

Old Licenses

In the past I bought product licenses that are no longer offered in the new Aspose purchase system, does Aspose intend to honor the old licenses?
Yes. Any licenses that were previously sold will be honored. If you have questions or concerns, please contact our sales staff. We are always keen to help.

In the past I had to have a license file for each developer machine as well as a separate deployment license file. Now when I go to download a license file there is only one file. Does the single file replace all of the other files?
Yes, now you only need license file. This makes using and deploying our products easier.However, it is important to note that you must have an updated version of the component in order to use the new license file. The older versions of the components do not support the newer license files.

Do I have to change the code to use the newer license file?
Yes, in order to support both the old and new licensing methods we had to change the way the new license is called. Read our new licensing instructions page for instructions and new code samples for each component.

More Questions?
If you still have questions about our licensing, please contact a member of our sales team and they will be glad to answer your questions.