Choosing a Licensing Model

Cryptlex supports every common software licensing model. A licensing model is really two independent choices: how your customers pay (perpetual, subscription, or usage-based) and how the license is enforced (node-locked or floating, optionally tied to a named user). You can combine any option from one dimension with any option from the other, for example a subscription license that floats, or a perpetual license locked to one machine. This guide explains each option and helps you decide, then points you to the implementation guide for each.

How customers pay

Perpetual

A perpetual license has no subscription interval or expiration date set. A customer buys the license once and can use your product for life without paying again.

Perpetual does not have to mean free updates forever. Attach a maintenance policy to cap how long the application receives new updates, so you can sell updates and support separately.

Subscriptions

Subscription licenses expire after a set period. Your customers usually pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee, and when they renew, the license is renewed as well. To learn more, refer to License Subscriptions.

Usage-based

Sometimes you want your customers to pay for what they actually use, regardless of how long they possess your product. Usage can be defined as the amount of time your app is used, the number of times it is run, or the number of specific operations performed, depending on your business requirements. To learn more, refer to Usage-Based Licensing.

Usage-based pricing does not have to replace perpetual or subscription pricing. Meter attributes are properties on a license, so you can meter a perpetual license or put usage ceilings on a subscription.

How licenses are enforced

Node-locked licenses

A node-locked license is locked to the machine on which it is activated. If the license allows a single activation (seat), the license key cannot be used on any other machine, unless you allow deactivation, which frees the seat so the license can be activated on a different machine.

If the license allows multiple activations (multi-seat), then after all the activations are used, the license key cannot be used on other machines. To learn more, refer to Node-Locked Licenses.

Floating licenses

A floating license is bound to a machine for a specific amount of time, called the lease. While your app runs, it automatically renews the lease in the background at the server sync interval, so the seat stays held. When the app stops renewing and the lease duration elapses, the seat is freed automatically, so that another machine can use the license.

So if your floating license allows 100 activations (seats), then at any instant no more than 100 machines can use your application.

Cryptlex supports hosted floating licenses, where the Cryptlex servers act as the license server, and on-premise floating licenses, where LexFloatServer runs inside your customer's network. Choose between them on connectivity: a hosted floating license needs a working internet connection to the Cryptlex servers to lease and renew a seat, while an on-premise floating license keeps working in offline and air-gapped environments.

Named user licenses

A named user license (also known as identity-based licensing or user-locked license) is tied to a specific user, who logs in to retrieve their license. It is not a third kind of binding: a named user license is itself node-locked or floating, and additionally tied to the user's identity. To learn more, refer to Named User Licenses.

Feature-based licensing

On top of either dimension, you can control which capabilities of your product each license unlocks, so you can sell tiers like Standard, Pro, and Enterprise from a single build of your app. It is not a separate license type; you attach feature entitlements to any license. To learn more, refer to Feature-Based Licensing.

Trials

You can offer timed trials of your product so customers can evaluate it before buying. To learn more, refer to Timed Trials.

Which licensing model should I choose?

Most of the time you will use node-locked licenses, either perpetual or subscription based.

When licensing your product to a university or a large company that needs many license seats, you will usually opt for floating licenses, as that is more economical for your customers.

You can also add restrictions like usage counts, or implement a completely custom licensing model using metadata fields on your licenses. For how each model maps to license template properties, refer to Implementing License Models.

Need help

If you need help implementing any of these licensing models, we'll be glad to assist. Contact us through the contact page.

Launch Checklist Implementing License Models

Last updated: 8/6/2026