Camunda 8 Self-Managed is the form of Camunda 8 that customers download and operate on their own infrastructure, as opposed to the hosted Camunda SaaS service. From version 8.6, Camunda licenses the Self-Managed components in two layers. The source code of most components is available under the Camunda License 1.0, which permits use only in non-production environments. The compiled software is distributed under a proprietary licence, either the Camunda Self-Managed Non-Production licence or the Camunda Self-Managed Enterprise Edition licence, and the documentation says that to use the software in production a customer must purchase the Enterprise Edition.[1] Camunda’s pricing page states the same split: Self-Managed is free for local development and non-production use, and any production deployment requires an Enterprise licence.[12]
Components and their licences
The licensing page for versions 8.6 and higher assigns a licence to each group of components.[1]
| Component group | Source code | Compiled software |
|---|---|---|
| Zeebe, Operate, Tasklist, Identity, Optimize | Camunda License v1[1] | Non-Production licence or Enterprise Edition licence[1] |
| Connector SDK, REST connector, Connector Runtime image, Connectors Bundle image | Apache 2.0[1] | Apache 2.0[1] |
| All other out-of-the-box connectors | Camunda License v1[1] | Non-Production licence or Enterprise Edition licence[1] |
| Web Modeler and Console | Proprietary, available on demand[1] | Non-Production licence or Enterprise Edition licence[1] |
| Desktop Modeler | MIT[1] | MIT[1] |
The table reads the page’s wording that the Apache 2.0 licence applies to the Connector SDK, the REST connector and the two connector Docker images. The 2024 announcement had said that all connectors, including the REST connector, would be free only for development from 8.6.[5] The current documentation lists the REST connector as Apache 2.0, so the documentation for the installed version should be treated as the authority. Desktop Modeler stays under the MIT licence, as stated in the LICENSE file shipped with each distribution.[1]
The Camunda License 1.0
The Camunda License is a source-code licence. It grants a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, non-sublicensable and non-transferable right to use the source code, limited to use in or for the purpose of using the software in a Non-Production Environment.[2] It defines a Non-Production Environment as a setting used for development, staging, testing, quality assurance, demonstration or evaluation, and not for any live or production systems. A user whose use does not comply must buy a commercial licence from Camunda, its affiliates or authorized resellers, or stop using the software.[2] Two conditions matter in an audit. The user may not move, change, disable or circumvent the licence key functionality, or remove functionality protected by it, and anyone who distributes the software or a modification must attach the licence to each copy.[2] The licence grants no patent or trademark rights.
Self-Managed Non-Production Terms
Users who download the compiled software without a commercial agreement accept the Self-Managed Non-Production Terms. These grant a royalty-free, non-transferable, non-sublicensable and revocable right to access, use, deploy or install the software in object code solely in non-production environments or for testing and evaluation. The terms define non-production as development, testing, quality assurance, demonstration or evaluation, and not any business, commercial, operational or production purpose.[3] The grant is expressly no wider than what Camunda may grant for the source code under the Camunda License, and a separate commercial agreement supersedes the terms.
The restrictions are strict. The user may not use the software for production purposes, real-time data processing or any environment that serves end users or generates revenue, may not modify it or create derivative works, and may not “make the Software available to any third party, including within the User’s own organization” without Camunda’s written consent.[3] The terms also give no indemnity, no warranty and no support, cap Camunda’s liability at USD 50, and let either party end the agreement on ten days’ written notice, after which the software must be deleted.[3] Certain features collect telemetry, to which the user consents.
What counts as development and production
Camunda’s 2024 announcement gives the working definitions. Development use covers designing workflows, developing process applications and testing within the teams developing them, where the application is not accessible to employees or customers outside those teams. Production use is use that powers one or more aspects of the business, internal or external, outside development and testing, including live environments that support operations or customer interactions.[5] A process that is deployed and becomes accessible to customers for onboarding moves from development to production use under that example.
Camunda Self-Managed Enterprise
A production licence is the Camunda Self-Managed Enterprise subscription, governed by Exhibit D of the General Terms for Camunda Enterprise. Camunda delivers the software in object code only and sends the licence key electronically after the first Order Form. Delivery and acceptance are deemed to occur when the key is provided, and renewals need no further delivery.[4]
The licence is limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable, for the Subscription Term, and covers use “within the Permitted Usage”. The customer may install, run and use the software, let Contractors or Affiliates exercise the rights on its behalf, and use the software for developing, testing and staging.[4] The licence does not limit rights under any applicable open source or third-party licence, which govern independently. The customer may not:
- use the software for its own internal business purposes outside the scope of the Permitted Usage;
- reverse engineer the software, or modify or copy any part of it;
- sell, lease, distribute or lend it to a Third Party;
- circumvent restrictions on use, including those enforced by a licence key.[4]
The Permitted Usage is the number of process instances, tenants and straight-through-processing tenants with any defined License Scope in the Order Form.[4] The Enterprise terms count a process instance as the technical execution of a BPMN process definition regardless of status, and exclude process instances started by call activities from separate counting. A tenant is a logically isolated environment, and an STP Tenant is restricted to processes of under 30 seconds with no task users.[4]
Reporting, audit and true-up
Exhibit D requires the customer to email its consumed quantities for each Permitted Usage metric to Camunda no later than 21 days after each calendar quarter of a Subscription. If Camunda receives no report, or reasonably believes a report is materially inaccurate, it may audit the customer’s records no more than once per calendar year on reasonable notice. Audits are in normal Business Hours at the customer’s cost, the right survives for one year after the subscription ends, and any underpayment is payable within 30 days of notice.[4] Separately, if usage exceeds the Permitted Usage, the customer must notify Camunda, which invoices the new annual fee less the annual fee already paid for the current term. Use outside the Permitted Usage can also discharge Camunda’s obligation to provide support at its sole option.[4]
Because of the reporting duty, the product records usage. In 8.8 and higher the usage metrics endpoint returns process instances created, decision instances executed, unique task assignees and active tenants for a date range, with an optional per-tenant breakdown. Metrics are exported every five minutes by default, and the older actuator endpoints are deprecated from 8.8 for removal in 8.10.[9] The documentation warns that some Enterprise agreements require the Elasticsearch usage indices, named camunda-usage-metric and camunda-usage-metric-tu, to be kept for at least 18 months.[10] Telemetry data is collected only if the customer enables it, in which case the customer consents to its collection and use to provide and improve the software and services.[4]
Licence keys
Installations that need a licence supply the key to the components in the CAMUNDA_LICENSE_KEY environment variable. Helm installations set it globally in the values file, either as an inline secret, which the chart describes as for non-production usage, or by reference to an existing Kubernetes Secret and key.[6][7] The key text is delimited by “BEGIN CAMUNDA LICENSE KEY” and “END CAMUNDA LICENSE KEY” lines. The Orchestration Cluster REST API exposes a licence status call, added in 8.6.[11]
Without a valid key the components may display “Non-Production License” in the navigation bar and issue log warnings, which the documentation says have no impact on startup or functionality. The one functional limit is in Web Modeler, which is limited to five concurrent users when running without a valid enterprise licence.[6] The absence of enforcement does not widen the grant: the contract terms still limit the software to non-production use without an Enterprise subscription.
Camunda 8 Run and free programs
Camunda 8 Run is a lightweight Self-Managed distribution for local development and prototyping, and the documentation says it is not intended for production use.[8] For production deployments the documentation says to install the Orchestration Cluster manually as a Java application.
Camunda said in 2024 that it would continue to provide free licences for non-profits, academic institutions and personal or non-commercial use such as hobby projects, and pointed other small businesses to a starter plan from EUR 99 per month at that time.[5] The announcement gave no application terms. Customers who upgraded from Zeebe 8.5 or earlier, which could run in production without a commercial licence, need a production licence once they move to 8.6 or later.[5]
Counting and floors
The public documents define no minimum quantity for Self-Managed Enterprise: quantities and tiers sit in the Order Form. They also do not define core-, processor- or virtualization-based counting, because the metrics are process instances and tenants rather than infrastructure. Contractors and Affiliates may exercise the customer’s rights on its behalf, but only under the customer’s agreement and inside the Permitted Usage.[4]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Camunda SaaS clusters, the Camunda 7 Enterprise Edition, Optimize licensing beyond its place in the component table, Camunda’s support plans and service levels, or third-party licences of bundled libraries, which the Enterprise terms leave to their own licences.