Altium Designer licence types are the three ways Altium delivers a seat of its PCB design software to a computer: On-Demand, Private Server and Standalone.[1] The documentation says that the exact features available depend on the specific licence that was purchased, and that the licensing system lets a licence be used on any computer without moving licence files or activating on each machine.[1] Altium describes web-based on-demand licensing as providing “a global floating license capability” within the geographic scope of the licence and the conditions of the EULA, without the customer running its own server.[1] The Altium Designer Agile page uses the same description but substitutes the Master Services Agreement (MSA) for the EULA.[2]
Editions
| Licence type | Where the seat comes from | Internet needed | Typical user |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-Demand | A server managed by Altium, acquired while signed in to an Altium Account | Yes, to the Altium Portal | Teams that use several machines with internet access[1] |
| Private Server | A Private License Service on an Altium Infrastructure Server or Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server on the company network | No, once licences are acquired | Organisations that keep installations offline[1] |
| Standalone | A licence file (*.alf) activated by the user | Only to activate or reactivate | A single workstation and solo designer[1] |
| Viewer | An Altium Account, used like a 1-seat On-Demand licence | Yes | People who only need to view designs[1] |
On-Demand
An On-Demand seat is acquired by a client computer only while the user is signed in to an Altium Account, and when the user signs out the seat is released so another user can acquire it.[1] Licences can be centrally pooled for use and release by all designers on a team or allocated to defined roles in the company.[1] A client may need to allow amazontrust.com through its firewall.[1] If a user runs multiple instances of Altium Designer on the same machine, each instance keeps a seat.[1] The licence tile shows the seats in use and, for a licence in use, who holds each seat, in which mode and when it expires.[1] Altium states that an On-Demand service may be inaccessible at times because of maintenance or error fixing, and gives no guarantee of availability.[4]
Roaming. A seat can instead be roamed, meaning acquired for a specified number of days or hours, so that the user can sign out and work offline.[1] The maximum is the life of the licence itself, and when the roaming period ends use stops with no grace period.[1] The user needs to sign in only to release or extend the roam.[1] Group Administrators or License Administrators can allow or forbid roaming and set a maximum roam duration, with 0 meaning unlimited roaming limited only by the licence’s expiry.[3]
Releasing seats. A user can release a seat held on another computer. A Group Administrator can remotely release a seat used by any user, who then loses the licence. A roamed seat released remotely requires the user to confirm under the “Altium Honor Code” that the licence will not be used on the other computer afterwards.[1] The remote user is notified within 20 minutes.[1]
Idle release. For Altium Designer 25.1 and later, an administrator can enable automatic release of a seat when the client is inactive, checked at a lease verification interval of 1 to 12 hours.[1][3] See Release seats on inactive clients.
Private Server
Private Server licences serve the same leasing model from a local Private License Service (PLS), for organisations that need installations isolated from the internet.[1] The PLS runs in an Altium Infrastructure Server, which is free, or in an Altium On-Prem Enterprise Server, which is licensed separately.[1] A seat is leased by the workstation while it is in use and revoked when no longer needed, and a seat can be leased on a roaming basis for a specified time.[1] The licences are acquired from Altium’s portal by the server, or imported as licence files. The article Altium Private License Service and Company Dashboard covers the server side.
Standalone
A Standalone licence is managed by the user through a licence file, which can be saved, copied and backed up.[1] It needs a sign-in to an Altium Account only to activate or to reactivate, for example after the file was deleted without a backup. During activation, information about the PC is gathered, which Altium says is done only to ensure that the licence is used in accordance with the EULA.[1] If a Standalone licence has been activated already, Altium Designer warns that using it again may conflict with another user on the network using the same licence.[1] The licence tile for an activated Standalone licence shows 1/1 seats, with an activation history.[1] A Group Administrator can activate the licence file in the Company Dashboard and pass the .alf file to users whose computers cannot reach the internet.[1]
Viewer licence
The Altium Designer Viewer licence lets a user view designs without a full-feature licence. It is created from the licence tile when signed in to an Altium Account, has no expiration date, is linked to the account and is not shown in the Company Dashboard.[1] It is used and released like a 1-seat On-Demand licence and cannot be used to update the software.[1] See Altium Designer Viewer licence.
Metrics
The seat is the unit in Altium’s documentation: “The individual installation of Altium software running on a PC”, with the number of seats set when the licence is bought.[1] The EULA licenses by Authorized Users within the geographic scope, and the MSA adds Named User and Concurrent User models.[4][5] For the rules, see On-Demand seat is held only while signed in, Each instance on one machine holds its own seat and Standalone licences are for a single workstation.
Counting / floors
The licence tile lists the product, the subscription renewal date, the seats in use against the seats available, and the licence type and geographical scope.[1] A single-computer licence under the EULA can be installed on a second computer if the second copy is never used at the same time as the first, and a backup copy may be kept.[4] Seats are fixed when the licence is bought. In the Company Dashboard a License Administrator can add seats and the price changes with the number added.[3]
Allocation can over-subscribe a licence. By default a new licence is allocated to all account members, and removing that allocation is needed before group-specific allocations take effect. A group that has more users than seats can cause a “maximum usage reached” message, and the License Management view reports seats available to the user’s groups without counting seats used by other groups.[3]
Virtualization & partitioning
Seats are counted per running installation. The EULA prohibits circumventing the Altium Security System by any means, “including but not limited to any virtualization method”.[4] The retrieved pages describe no distinct rules for virtual desktops, so each running instance of Altium Designer needs its own seat.[1]
Cloud / BYOL
On-Demand is the cloud-served type. The Altium Designer and Agile pages describe a geographic scope but no third-party cloud rules.[1][2] For the Develop plan, the installer presents the MSA for acceptance before installation, and the sign-in step verifies that the installation is valid for the user’s Altium Account.[7]
Programs
- Roaming. Offline use for a specified time.[1]
- Release seats on inactive clients. Administrator-controlled idle release.[3]
- Altium Subscription Service. Subscription renewals are no longer available for perpetual licences. After expiry the licence can be used without the latest updates and cloud capabilities, and the Dashboard offers a Trade Up to a term-based one-year licence.[1][3] See Perpetual licences with expired subscriptions can be traded up.
- Academic, Student and Individual licences. The EULA defines an Academic licence for educational institutions, a Student licence that lasts six months and an Individual licence for entities with commercial revenue up to USD 250,000 per year.[4]
- Evaluation licence. The MSA gives fifteen days by default, and the EULA says evaluation consents to Altium collecting usage information.[4][5]
Audits and compliance
The Company Dashboard exposes real-time and historical usage reports for On-Demand licences and activity logs, with CSV export, and Altium calls the information useful for auditing usage.[3] Standalone activation records the PC details, and the licence tile shows the activation history.[1] Altium may ask for compliance documentation within 30 days under the EULA or the MSA.[4][5] See Altium Designer licence terms.
Out of scope
- Price lists, which Altium does not publish for Altium Designer on the pages retrieved.
- Details of Altium Designer Develop licensing beyond the installer notes, which are covered in Altium 365 workspaces and subscription plans.
- Altium CircuitMaker and other products with their own documentation.