The Autodesk transition to named user licensing is the programme by which Autodesk replaced licences identified by serial numbers (network or “multi-user” subscriptions, perpetual licences on maintenance plans and the Design & Creation Suites) with subscriptions assigned to individual people through an Autodesk ID. Autodesk announced it as the FY21 Transition to Named User Program, launched on 7 May 2020, stating that it was “retiring plans based on serial numbers”.[1] The transition ran through a sequence of retirement dates between 2020 and 2023, a two-for-one trade-in offer, and price commitments that Autodesk says will end on or around May 2028; a separate M2S/TNU Exit offer, available from 9 February 2026, governs how customers leave those commitments.[4]
Under the current Terms of Use the named-user model is the Single User Offering Type: each Authorized User is assigned a unique Autodesk ID and no one else may use it.[5] Multi User remains defined in the Terms of Use because some products are still sold that way and older contracts still refer to it, but it is no longer available for mainstream titles such as AutoCAD and Revit.
Editions
Autodesk did not change the product editions sold during the transition; it changed the access model. The FAQ describes the new plans as designed for named users and emphasises administrative, support and reporting capabilities, including visibility of usage data and no need to manage license servers or track serial numbers.[1] At trade-in customers could also move to an Industry Collection or to “a higher plan for more advanced features, such as single sign-on and detailed user reporting”.[1]
Premium and the Business Success Plan
That higher plan was the Premium plan, now called the Business Success Plan. Autodesk’s Success Benefits terms treat it as a Success Plan, “a packaged set of Success Benefits made available to You, and for which You may be charged a fee”, which is separate from the Offering Type that licenses the software.[8] Its main commercial terms are:
- Minimum size. “A Business Success Plan requires a minimum of 50 seats of eligible Offerings”. Autodesk gives the price as approximately US$200 SRP per subscription each year.[7]
- Term. From 7 June 2025, three-year Premium contracts could no longer be bought or renewed; the plan continues as a one-year subscription.[2]
- Benefits. The Success Benefits Guide (last updated 1 September 2026) describes single sign-on, Engagement Reports, digital support, community access and assisted technical support as Success Benefits included with eligible Offerings. The Business Success Plan tier adds a designated Customer Success Manager, an annual executive business review, prioritized 24/7 assisted support, personalized expert coaching and fast track services.[9]
- Usage data. Under the same guide, Autodesk collects Engagement Data during the Offering Term and may use it to “assist You or Your reseller with sizing and quoting renewals and true up”.[9] See Engagement Reports: usage data may support sizing renewals and true up.
Capacity Offerings are not eligible for Success Plan benefits.[5] Catalog rows: Business Success Plan requires at least 50 seats of eligible Offerings, Three-year Premium (Business Success) plans ended 7 June 2025, Success Plans are benefit packages, not Offering Types.
Metrics
Two Autodesk metrics are involved. The replaced metric is Multi User, under which “the number of concurrent Authorized Users may not exceed the maximum number of Authorized Users as specified in Your subscription documentation”, with access over a LAN or VPN from a license server.[5] The replacement metric is Single User, which counts people rather than simultaneous sessions. A named user may use one Desktop Device and one Mobile Device at a time, and a subscription may be reassigned to another person under Autodesk’s reassignment policy.[5]
The switch from concurrency to named users is why the trade-in used a ratio rather than one-for-one conversion: a single network seat could serve several people at different times, so Autodesk offered two named-user subscriptions for each network seat traded in.
Timeline
Autodesk’s documents publish the following dates. Where two Autodesk pages disagree, both are shown.
| Plan or benefit | New sales ended | Retired / renewals ended | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2- and 3-year subscriptions with multi-user access | 2020-02-29 | 2020-02-29 | [1][2] |
| Design & Creation Suites | varies by suite | 2020-04-16 | [1][2] |
| Maintenance plans (perpetual licences) | not stated | 2021-05-07 | [1] |
| 1-year subscriptions with multi-user access | 2020-08-07 | 2023-02-07 (FAQ); 2023-02-06 (retired products list) | [1][2] |
| Extra Territory Rights (multi-user) | not stated | 2023-02-07 | [1] |
| 3-year Premium plan | 2025-06-07 | 2025-06-07 | [2] |
The one-day difference for multi-user retirement appears to be a matter of convention rather than substance. The FAQ states that subscriptions with multi-user access “will retire on February 7, 2023 and cannot be further renewed”, while the retired products table gives 6 February 2023 as the retirement date, which is consistent with 6 February being the last day before retirement took effect.[1][2] Catalog rows: Subscriptions with multi-user access retire on 7 February 2023 and Retired products page: 1-year multi-user new sales ended 7 August 2020, retired 6 February 2023.
Trade-in offers
Multi-user and network maintenance trade-in
The central mechanism was the Multi-User Trade-In Business Offer. The FAQ describes it as the ability to “trade-in one multi-user subscription or network maintenance seat for two standard subscriptions for one named user each at a similar SRP” to the existing seat, with renewal at an ongoing discount to 2028. Its example is 20 multi-user subscriptions traded for 40 standard subscriptions.[1]
Autodesk published three different end points for the offer, and the difference matters when reconstructing historical entitlements:
- The FAQ’s quick reference table gives the last day to trade in as 6 May 2022 for a network maintenance plan and 6 February 2024 for a multi-user subscription.[1]
- The same FAQ says the offer applies “at your first renewal before February 7, 2024” for multi-user subscriptions.[1]
- The formal offer terms, as updated with effect from 25 February 2021, extend the two-for-one benefit to subsequent renewals “between the Offer Start Date and the end of availability of the offer on August 7, 2023”, and state that the offer is unavailable once an offering type has reached end of life and expired.[3]
Autodesk has not reconciled the FAQ’s 2024 date with the end of multi-user renewals in February 2023 or with the August 2023 end date in the offer terms. For an individual trade-in, the formal offer terms and the customer’s order documents govern, not the FAQ. Catalog rows: Multi-user trade-in: last day to trade in published as 6 February 2024 and Multi-User Trade-In Offer terms: two-for-one available on renewals until 7 August 2023.
Some products had special trade-in rules. CFD Premium and Ultimate, Moldflow Adviser, Moldflow Insight, Moldflow Synergy and Netfabb Local Simulation were excluded; Arnold, Inventor ETO and the VRED Core, Render Node and Server products were not eligible and continued to renew; Flame, Flare and Lustre became eligible from 7 November 2021.[1]
InfoCare trade-in
After the acquisition of Innovyze, Autodesk ran a parallel InfoCare to Subscription Trade-in Offer from 7 May 2023 to 7 May 2025. It offered one single user subscription per fixed perpetual licence on maintenance and two per floating subscription or floating licence seat, required the old software to be uninstalled within 120 days, and capped suggested retail price increases at 5% in 2025 and 2027 with no increase in 2024, 2026 or 2028.[4]
The M2S/TNU Exit
In 2026 Autodesk published terms for the M2S/TNU Exit, prompted by “the forthcoming end of Autodesk’s Maintenance to Subscription (“M2S”) and Transition to Named User (“TNU”) programs, anticipated to be on or around May 2028”.[4] The main terms are:
- Eligibility. Only current subscriptions previously enrolled in M2S or TNU can enrol, during their renewal window, for a new three-year term, with no more seats than were in the programme and no additional seats at enrolment.
- Price cap. The price of each enrolled subscription “would increase by no more than twenty percent (20%)” of the existing M2S or TTN price.
- Exclusions. New, switched, substitute or successor subscriptions, end-of-life products, and token-based Offerings such as Flex and Token Flex cannot enrol.
- All-in requirement. A customer who enrols any eligible subscription must enrol the rest as they come up for renewal, or not renew them.
- Effect. Enrolment ends all earlier M2S and trade-in discounts and benefits and replaces the trade-in terms, except that Previous Version Rights continue.
- Dates. The offer became available on 9 February 2026 and continues until Autodesk ends it.[4]
Catalog rows: M2S/TNU Exit: price increase capped at 20% of existing M2S or TTN price for a 3-year term and M2S/TNU Exit: all remaining eligible subscriptions must enroll or not renew.
Counting after the transition
Once subscriptions are named-user, an effective licence position counts people with an assigned subscription, not peak concurrent use. The FAQ presents this as dedicated access for every employee who needs it, at home or in the office.[1] Under the General Terms, Autodesk may verify compliance by report or by remote or on-site audit. The customer must use an Autodesk-approved tool, submit results within 15 calendar days including machine IDs, serial numbers and Autodesk IDs, and buy Offerings covering any noncompliance plus Autodesk’s reasonable costs.[6] See Verification: audit results due within 15 calendar days using an Autodesk-approved tool.
Virtualization and home use
Multi User and named-user subscriptions differ in virtualization rights and home use. Multi User includes a Home Use Copy right: one additional installation on a device in the Territory away from the business site, valid for up to 13 months per authorization code and not usable at the same time as the office seat.[5] Single User has no separate home-use right, because the named user may already install the software on several devices and use one Desktop Device at a time. These rights are covered in Autodesk previous-version, virtualization and home-use rights.
Cloud / BYOL
The transition did not create a bring-your-own-licence route for serial-number licences onto public clouds. Named-user subscriptions authenticate against the Autodesk ID wherever the software runs, subject to the virtualization list.
Programs
- Transition to Named User Program: the overall FY21 programme and timeline.[1]
- Multi-User Trade-In Business Offer: two-for-one trade-in (closed).[3]
- InfoCare to Subscription Trade-in Offer: Innovyze legacy licences (closed May 2025).[4]
- M2S/TNU Exit: 2026 renewal offer ending the M2S and TNU discounts.[4]
- Business Success Plan: the renamed Premium plan, which requires at least 50 seats of eligible Offerings.[7]
Out of scope
- Customer-specific renewal prices or discount percentages under M2S or TNU.
- Current commercial network (Multi User) SKUs for AutoCAD, Revit and similar titles, which are no longer sold.
- Perpetual licence rights under the legacy License and Services Agreement, which the Terms of Use do not govern.
- Token-based offerings, covered in Autodesk Flex, Token Flex and the Enterprise Business Agreement.