Sales & Licensing FAQ

Licensing

1. What are the different types of commercial licenses you offer?

We offer the following types of licenses:

  • Business Licenses are floating, concurrent-user licenses and are commercially available to companies and organizations.
  • Personal Licenses are named-user licenses, available to physical persons only, and are available for Metalama only.

2. I have an active PostSharp subscription, and I want to use Metalama for our project. Do I need to purchase another license?

Metalama is included in your PostSharp Framework or PostSharp Ultimate subscription. Simply use the same license key you received with your active PostSharp subscription during the installation wizard. Note that the licensing concept of PostSharp Framework and PostSharp Ultimate do not match. You may need Metalama Ultimate where PostSharp Framework was sufficient, or Metalama Framework could be sufficient where PostSharp Ultimate was required.

3. What does Maintenance Subscription include?

Maintenance Subscriptions provide free updates, including bug-fixing builds and new versions, during the subscription duration. Note that bug-fixing releases will not be available without a maintenance subscription.

The subscription also includes support. The support terms depend on the product you have acquired and, for PostSharp, on the number of licensed users. See support policies for details.

4. Can I order a multi-year maintenance subscription?

No, that option is not available. You can only purchase subscriptions for 12-month periods.

5. Do we need to purchase a license for our build server?

No, you don't need a license for your build server.

6. Do we need to install a license key on our build server?

Normally, no. PostSharp and Metalama will detect that it is running on a build server and will not enforce licensing. However, in case our product fails to detect the build server, you can install any license key on the build server.

7. Where can I find the complete text of the License Agreement?

The complete text of our License Agreement can be found here.

8. Will my license expire after the end of the maintenance subscription?

No, our licenses are perpetual. Each new license includes a maintenance subscription, which determines the version of the product you are allowed to use. If you are allowed to use a version one day, it will continue to work every future day. However, it is important to note that the build date of the product release must be within the maintenance period. Additionally, Microsoft releases new versions of Visual Studio and .NET frequently, and not having an up-to-date license may hinder your ability to use the latest development tools.

Free Licenses & Discounts

1. Can I use PostSharp Essentials for commercial products?

Yes, you can build commercial products using PostSharp Essentials, and redistribute them without any additional costs.

2. Can I use Metalama Community for commercial products?

Yes, you can build commercial products using Metalama Community, and redistribute them without any additional costs, as long as you are eligible for the Community edition. If you work as an employee in a company, one these conditions that no more than 3 developers in your company are using Metalama Community.

3. Do you offer volume discounts?

Only for PostSharp licenses. Learn more about our volume pricing here.

4. Do you offer free licenses of paid products?

No, we no longer offer free licenses of paid products. However, we do offer a free version of Metalama called Metalama Community, and a free edition of PostSharp called PostSharp Essentials.

5. What other discounts do you offer?

Except volume discounts and a reseller discount, we don't offer any other discounts. However, we do offer a 45-day money-back guarantee, and have free editions of our products.

Individual Licenses

1. Can a company purchase an Individual License for Metalama?

Only if this is a single-person company. Individual licenses are intended for personal use only and can only be assigned to a physical person. If you are looking for a license for commercial use, please consider our Business Licenses.

2. Can I upgrade an Individual License to a Business License?

No, it is not possible to upgrade an Individual License to a Business License. If you wish to upgrade your license, you will need to purchase a new Business License.

Business Licenses

1. How do I determine the number of user licenses I need to purchase?

All individuals who modify and build code that includes aspects need a license. If you have 100 developers who both modify and build code that uses aspects created by 5 senior developers, you will need a 100-user license. Developers who only build the code without editing do not require a license.

2. I have 100 developers but only 5 of them will be creating custom aspects. How many user licenses should I purchase?

Everyone who modifies and builds code that includes aspects needs a license. If the 100 developers modify code that uses the aspects created by 5 senior developers, you will need 100 user licenses.

3. I have 100 developers but only 5 of those will create code that uses aspects. The others will build the code but not modify it. How many licenses should I purchase?

Everyone who modifies and builds code that includes aspects needs a license. In this case, only 5 developers are modifying code that includes aspects, so you will only need to purchase a 5-user license. Developers who only build the code without editing do not require a license.

4. How and how often can I switch the assignment of a license to a developer?

Business Licenses are floating licenses. Licenses are not explicitly assigned to a developer. There is no "sign in" and "sign out" process, so there is nothing you need to do when a developer leaves and another developer arrives.

Licensing is enforced using telemetry, a mechanism we call license audit. Every day, we collect information that contains your license key, a hash of the name of the developer using the license, and a hash of the machine. We aggregate this information for each license key, every day.

If we notice that the total number of users exceeds the entitlements of your subscription, we will contact you to address the issue. Note that we do not have the technical ability to remotely block a license key and have always resolved all problems in a friendly and cooperative way.

5. Is it possible to disable license audit?

Companies with their own internal license audit processes can request to opt out of our license audit. For more information and to make this request, please contact us.

6. Can I add more users to my existing subscription?

Yes, it is possible to add more users to an existing Business License subscription before its expiration date. The price for the additional user(s) will be discounted from the original price and the subscription end date will remain unchanged.

However, it is not possible to add more users to an Individual License as it is, by definition, intended for a single user.

To add users to your subscription, go to your customer account.

7. Do you offer site licensing?

No, we no longer offer site licensing.

8. Do you offer global licensing?

Yes, we do offer global licensing. For more information and to request a global license, please contact us at hello@postsharp.net.

9. Our company has several subscriptions of the same product. How can we merge and align their expiration dates?

Yes. This operation is called co-terming. You can co-term your subscriptions during the renewal order.

To co-term and renew your subscriptions, go to your customer account.

10. Can I make changes to the License Agreement?

Some changes to the License Agreement may be accepted for orders of a significant size. Other changes will need to be reviewed by our legal team. Please contact us for more information.

11. Does PostSharp or Metalama require a connection to the Internet?

No, neither PostSharp nor Metalama requires a connection to the Internet to function. However, license audit requires an internet connection once per week. If this is not acceptable for your organization, please contact us to request license keys without audit.

12. Is it possible to get an evaluation license for our whole team?

Yes. You can request a team evaluation by visiting this page.

The license key you will receive will work with both PostSharp and Metalama.

Upgrades & Renewals

1. How can I renew my maintenance subscription?

To renew your maintenance subscription, navigate to the Customer Portal. You will need the license key of the subscription you want to renew or your customer account secret link.

2. What if I choose not to renew maintenance subscription?

If you choose not to renew your maintenance subscription, you may continue to use the software as normal but free upgrades, bug fixes and support will no longer be available to you.

3. Can I renew for multiple years of maintenance subscription?

No, you can only purchase a renewal subscription for a 12-month period.

4. When I renew, when does the new 1-year subscription period start?

The new subscription period starts on the day when the previous subscription ends, regardless on the date of the purchase.

5. Can I add more users to my subscription?

Yes, you can do so by navigating to the Customer Portal. You will need the license key of the subscription you want to add more users to, or the secret link to your customer account. The end date of your subscription will not be affected if you add new users, but the price will be discounted to reflect the shorter period.

6. Can I upgrade my subscription to an upper edition?

Yes, you can upgrade online while your maintenance subscription is active. The new subscription end date will be 1 year from the upgrade purchase.

If you switch to a superior edition within 45 days after the initial purchase of your subscription, the initial price will be fully discounted from your new purchase. After 45 days, the discount is a multiple of the remaining days until the end of the current product subscription.

You can upgrade a subscription for the same number of developers as before, or for fewer. If you renew for fewer users, you will lose the right to upgrade for more users in a later order and will need to add more users to the renewed subscription.

Navigate to the Customer Portal to make your upgrade. You will need the license key of the subscription you want to renew or your customer account secret link.

Ordering

1. How are license keys delivered?

The software is delivered electronically. An email with your license key will be sent to you shortly after the purchase.

2. What payment methods do you accept?

For online orders, all commonly used payment methods are accepted by our e-commerce partner PayPro Global, such as bank wire transfers and credit cards.

For offline orders, payments via SEPA or SWIFT bank transfers, or by credit cards, are possible.

3. I cannot or don't want to buy through PayPro Global. What are the other possibilities?

You can contact us directly. The purchase process is as follows:

  1. You send us a quote request.
  2. We reply with a quote.
  3. You accept the quote and send us a purchase order.
  4. We reply with a payment request (pro-forma invoice).
  5. You pay via wire transfer or certified check.
  6. After receipt of the payment, we send you the license key and the final tax invoice.

Redistribution

1. I would like to publish a package that defines aspects. Do you offer redistribution licenses?

We no longer offer redistribution license keys for PostSharp.

For Metalama, you don't need a redistribution license key in most cases because Metalama is open-source. If you want to enable to your users to use premium Metalama features, please contact us.