Autodesk licensing is the set of terms, offering types and programs under which Autodesk makes its design, engineering, construction and media software available. Since the completion of its move away from serial-number licensing, almost everything Autodesk sells is a subscription whose access model is an Offering Type defined in the Autodesk Terms of Use. The current types are Single User, Multi User, Capacity-based Offerings, Flex, Autodesk Platform Services (APS), Education and Cloud Credits.[1] For most commercial customers the working choice is between Single User seats, each assigned to one person’s Autodesk ID, and prepaid Flex Tokens spent at daily rates. Large customers can instead sign an Enterprise Business Agreement (EBA) for Token Flex.[1][7]
The Terms of Use are organized as a set of tabs. The General Terms, last updated 30 March 2026, form the binding contract for an account and its Offerings.[2] The Offering Types and Benefits tab sets out the access models and the benefits attached to them, such as previous-version, virtualization and home-use rights.[1] Program-specific offers, trade-ins and exits are published separately as Subscription and Offerings Terms and Conditions.[10]
Editions
Autodesk sells individual products, such as AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, Maya and 3ds Max, and three Industry Collections that bundle them. The Terms of Use define a Collection as “two (2) or more Autodesk products licensed together in a single Offering”.[1] The three are the Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) Collection, the Product Design & Manufacturing (PD&M) Collection and the Media & Entertainment (M&E) Collection. Their contents are published on product pages rather than in the Terms of Use, and change over time.[16] Collections replaced the Design & Creation Suites, which Autodesk retired on 16 April 2020.[8] See Autodesk Industry Collections.
Some products are sold with editions in their names, for example PowerMill Standard and PowerMill Ultimate, which carry different Flex rates.[4] Cloud services such as the Forma family and Autodesk Platform Services are Offerings in their own right and are metered through tokens or capacity when bought under Flex or Token Flex.[5]
Metrics
The catalog records five Autodesk metrics under Autodesk’s names:
| Metric | Unit | What the Terms of Use say |
|---|---|---|
| Single User | User | Each Authorized User must be assigned a unique Autodesk ID, which no one else may use; concurrent use is limited to one Desktop Device and one Mobile Device |
| Multi User | Concurrent user | Concurrent Authorized Users may not exceed the maximum in the subscription documentation |
| Flex Token | Token | Prepaid unit spent on Flex Offerings at published rates; exclusive to Flex |
| Token Flex | Token | Enterprise tokens under an Additional Agreement such as an EBA |
| Capacity Unit | Output or processing measure | Countable outputs such as renders or processing time, on top of an Underlying Offering |
Sources: Offering Types and Benefits.[1] Autodesk’s Flex FAQ describes both Single User and Flex as forms of named-user access.[3] Autodesk publishes no conversion between Single User seats and tokens. Cloud Credits, the older consumption unit, can no longer be bought: purchases ended on 29 March 2022.[20] The full metric rows and their rules are in Autodesk Single User and Flex licensing.
Counting / floors
- Single User. One subscription per named person. The user may install the software on several devices but use it on only one Desktop Device and one Mobile Device at a time. Reassignment under Autodesk’s policy is permitted; pooling is not.[1]
- Flex. A Flex day is a contiguous 24-hour period starting when a user first launches a Flex Offering. Tokens expire twelve months after the Token Pack is bought, individual tokens and partial packs are not sold, and a zero balance blocks access to all Flex Offerings, including those with a zero rate.[1] Daily rates are published on the Flex Rate Sheet, where tokens from one pack may not be split among multiple teams.[4] When a user holds both a Single User subscription and Flex access to the same product, the FAQ states that tokens are not consumed.[3]
- Token Flex. Desktop rates are set in each customer’s EBA and are not public. Cloud-service rates are published in the Cloud Services Catalog, and the Additional Terms for Specific Offerings apply to Offerings made available through an EBA.[5][6] Usage is reported under the Usage Data Table, for desktop products through Network License Reporting Services.[7]
- Collections. A Collection is one Single User subscription, so one person may use its titles within the Single User device limits.[1]
Autodesk publishes no minimum purchase for Single User subscriptions. The Business Success Plan, a paid support tier, “requires a minimum of 50 seats of eligible Offerings”.[14] Token mechanics, rate types and EBA documents are covered in Autodesk Flex, Token Flex and the Enterprise Business Agreement.
Programs
- Flex. Self-service prepaid Token Packs for occasional use.[21]
- Enterprise Business Agreement and Token Flex. A signed Additional Agreement. Where it conflicts with the Terms of Use, the Additional Agreement controls in relation to its subject matter.[2]
- Transition to Named User and Maintenance to Subscription. Price commitments from the 2020 to 2023 transition are expected to end on or around May 2028. The M2S/TNU Exit, available from 9 February 2026, lets eligible subscriptions renew for a new three-year term with a price increase of no more than 20%, on condition that the customer enrols all eligible subscriptions as they come up for renewal.[10] See Autodesk transition to named user licensing.
- Education, startups and nonprofits. The Education Offering Type is limited to Educational Purposes.[1] Fusion for startups gives qualifying startups three years of Fusion for up to 10 users, and the Technology Impact Program donates software to nonprofits and social impact startups.[17][18] See Autodesk education and startup programmes.
Support and maintenance
Autodesk no longer sells maintenance plans on perpetual licences; they were retired on 7 May 2021.[9] A subscription’s Benefits may include updates and upgrades, rights to previous versions, global use rights, technical support and usage data.[2] The Success Benefits terms describe a Success Plan as “a packaged set of Success Benefits made available to You, and for which You may be charged a fee”.[13] The Success Benefits Guide lists digital and assisted technical support among the benefits included with eligible Offerings, and adds a Customer Success Manager and prioritized 24/7 assisted support for the Business Success Plan. The same guide says Autodesk may use Engagement Data to help with “sizing and quoting renewals and true up”.[15] The three-year Premium plan, the predecessor of the Business Success Plan, could no longer be bought or renewed from 7 June 2025.[8]
The Previous Version Right lets a subscriber install eligible earlier releases. “Generally, but not always”, it covers the three versions most recently preceding the current one, and it is subject to the same license type and quantity as the current version.[1] Eligible releases are listed on Autodesk’s Available product versions page.[12]
Audits and compliance
Section 17.8 of the General Terms, Verification of Compliance, reserves Autodesk’s right to verify compliance “by providing you with a report regarding Your noncompliant use of Offerings and/or by conducting a remote or on-site audit”. For an audit, the customer must use an Autodesk-approved tool to gather information from all devices accessing the Offerings and submit the results within 15 calendar days of notification. The results must include machine IDs, serial numbers, Autodesk IDs, Windows user names and device IDs. If Autodesk finds a violation, the customer must immediately buy new Offerings at least equal to the value of the noncompliance plus Autodesk’s reasonable costs of the Verification. Failure to comply is a material breach that can lead to suspension or termination.[2]
Unlike many enterprise agreements, the General Terms state no minimum notice period and no annual frequency limit for Verification. Token Flex customers additionally report usage under the Usage Data Table, which Autodesk may change “effective upon posting”.[7] The general process is described in Software license audit.
Virtualization & partitioning
The Virtualization benefit allows eligible Offerings to be used over the internet, a wide-area network or a VPN. Eligibility is set by the Virtualization List, where additions apply prospectively and removals retroactively.[1] Autodesk’s Virtualization Policy allows software installation in virtual environments for Single User subscriptions, Flex and EBA/Token Flex. Under Multi User subscriptions only server components, such as network license servers, may be virtualized.[11] Autodesk publishes no core, socket or vCPU metric. Details, including home-use and global-use rights, are in Autodesk previous-version, virtualization and home-use rights.
Cloud / BYOL
Autodesk’s cloud services are Offerings under the same Terms of Use; for Token Flex customers the Cloud Services Catalog is incorporated into the customer’s agreement.[5] Server components may be hosted with a third-party cloud provider if the customer can secure and control access.[11] Autodesk publishes no general bring-your-own-license rule for running desktop products on hyperscaler instances beyond the Virtualization benefit.
Recent licensing changes
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2020-04-16 | Design & Creation Suites retired[8] |
| 2021-05-07 | Maintenance plans on perpetual licences retired[9] |
| 2022-03-29 | Cloud Credit purchases ended[20] |
| 2023-02-06 | 1-year multi-user subscriptions retired[8] |
| 2023-08-07 | Multi-user trade-in offer availability ended under the formal offer terms[19] |
| 2025-06-07 | 3-year Premium plan no longer sold or renewed[8] |
| 2026-02-09 | M2S/TNU Exit offer available[10] |
| 2026-03-30 | General Terms last updated[2] |
The multi-user retirement and the two-for-one trade-in are described, with Autodesk’s conflicting published dates, in Autodesk transition to named user licensing.
Guides
| Article | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Autodesk Single User and Flex licensing | Offering Types, the five metrics, Flex day and token expiry, virtualization by purchase type |
| Autodesk transition to named user licensing | Retirement of multi-user, maintenance and suites; trade-ins; Business Success Plan; M2S/TNU Exit |
| Autodesk Industry Collections | AEC, PD&M and M&E contents, predecessor suites, Collections and Flex |
| Autodesk Flex, Token Flex and the Enterprise Business Agreement | Flex rate types, APS token prices, Cloud Services Catalog, Additional Terms, Usage Data Table |
| Autodesk previous-version, virtualization and home-use rights | Previous Version Right, Virtualization List, Multi User Home Use Copy, global use |
| Autodesk education and startup programmes | Education Offering forms and eligibility, Fusion for startups, Technology Impact Program |
The court case Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc. concerns the resale of used AutoCAD copies and whether a licensee owns a copy of software.
Out of scope
- Pricing beyond the published Flex rates and the Business Success Plan figure.
- EBA contract text and Token Flex desktop rates, which Autodesk does not publish.
- Autodesk Platform Services developer terms for building commercial applications, which are governed by separate APS terms.
- Retired perpetual licence agreements, except where the transition articles describe them.