Cloudera subscription terms are the contract documents under which Cloudera, Inc. licenses its software and online services. They sit on top of a platform that is largely built from Apache open source projects. An Order Form with Cloudera incorporates the Enterprise Subscription Master Terms (ESMA), the Order Form Supplemental Terms, the Commercial License Terms and, for hosted services, the Online Service Terms.[4] The Supplemental Terms prevail over the governing agreement for the Order Form, and the Order Form itself prevails over the Supplemental Terms. If no agreement exists between the parties, the published terms apply.[2] For an asset manager, the most consequential provisions are the time-limited licence grant, automatic renewal and reinstatement, the audit clause, licence-key handling, and the rule that software can be obtained only with a subscription.
Editions
The contract set is the same for all Cloudera products. Differences between offerings sit in the Subscription Specific Terms, which list licensed components and prerequisites per offering (see Cloudera on premises licensing), and in the Cloud Usage Pricing and Billing Terms for Cloudera on cloud (see Cloudera on cloud consumption and credits). Products used without a negotiated agreement, such as trials, fall under the click-through Cloudera Standard License. It grants a “nonexclusive, nontransferable, non-sublicensable, revocable and limited license” for the subscription term.[9] Online services used without other terms fall under the Cloudera Online Services Terms of Service.[11]
Metrics
The ESMA defines Metrics as the usage, subscription and support entitlement measures “necessary to meter Customer’s usage”, including Nodes, Cores, Unique Identifiers and Capacity Under Management, and points to the Licensed Metrics page for definitions.[1] The metrics themselves are described in Cloudera licensing. The restriction that matters contractually is the first one in the licence terms: the customer shall not “exceed the applicable usage limits (e.g., quantity of Metrics) stated in this Order Form”.[3]
Counting / floors
The ESMA’s licence grant is “worldwide, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and non-sublicensable”. It runs only during the Subscription Period, for internal business purposes and in line with the Documentation.[1] There is no perpetual right. At expiry the customer must stop using the software and return or destroy all copies.[3] On any expiration or termination the customer must also “immediately delete any associated license keys” and, on request, confirm this in writing.[1] Catalog proof: Use must stop when the Subscription Period ends.
Usage above the Order Form quantity must be notified to Cloudera. Its fees run from the installation or increase date and are co-terminated with the existing Subscription Period.[1] Cloudera may suspend services and support if payment is more than 30 days overdue, “including due to any over deployments”, or if use restrictions are breached. A suspension does not extend the Subscription Period.[2] Catalog proof: Fees for capacity above the Order Form run from installation; Services may be suspended for overdue fees including over-deployment.
Use restrictions
The Commercial License Terms prohibit modifying or reverse engineering the Cloudera Software, transferring it to third parties, and making copies. They also prohibit using it “to provide services for, or otherwise for the benefit of, third parties”, including software-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service offerings, and circumventing access controls.[3] A service provider that wants to run Cloudera for its clients therefore needs a partner arrangement. The Order Form Supplemental Terms define Authorized Partners to include managed service providers authorised by Cloudera.[2] Catalog proof: No use of Cloudera Software to provide services to third parties.
Affiliates and assignment
An Affiliate may use the customer’s purchased products if four conditions are met. It must agree in writing to the ESMA, or the customer must accept responsibility for it. It must not be a separate Cloudera customer or in purchase discussions with Cloudera when the Order Form is signed, and it must not be a Cloudera competitor.[1] The customer may assign the ESMA or Order Forms to an Affiliate on written notice if the Affiliate assumes all obligations and Cloudera judges it “adequately capitalized and credit-worthy”. Any other assignment needs Cloudera’s consent.[1] Catalog proof: Affiliates may use the customer's subscriptions under conditions.
Virtualization & partitioning
The contract documents do not add virtualization rules beyond the Licensed Metrics definitions, under which virtual machines are Nodes and virtual or hyperthreaded cores are Cores. These rules are covered in Cloudera on premises licensing.
Cloud / BYOL
Cloudera on cloud is a Cloudera Online Service. Customers access it during the Subscription Period for internal business purposes. Software Cloudera distributes to deliver the service, for example to a customer’s cloud workload environment, is licensed under the same grant as on premises software.[1][2]
Programs
Subscription Period and automatic renewal. Unless a party gives written notice at least 30 days before expiry, a subscription “will automatically renew for successive twelve (12) month Subscription Periods thereafter at Cloudera’s then-current list price”. Other terms may be agreed in writing.[1] Order Forms are non-cancellable and fees are non-refundable.[2] A renewal notice date therefore falls 30 days before each anniversary, and a renewal that is not managed resets to list price. Catalog proof: Subscriptions renew automatically at list price; Order Forms are non-cancellable and non-refundable.
Reinstatement fee. A customer may decline to renew, or renew after the term date, and later buy a new subscription for the same products. Cloudera then charges the subscription fees for the gap since the original term ended, “plus a twenty percent (20%) reinstatement fee”.[5] The same policy requires every system running Cloudera Products to be covered while any subscription is active.[5] Catalog proof: Lapsed or late renewals incur a 20% reinstatement fee; All systems running Cloudera Products must be covered by a subscription.
Subscription for binary access. See the next section.
Audit
Under ESMA §12.15, during the ESMA term and for two years after, “Cloudera may audit Customer’s use of Cloudera Products and Cloudera Software via diagnostic reporting and/or an independent auditor”. The auditor reviews the customer’s systems, books and records. Audits may take place no more than once per calendar year unless the previous audit found non-compliance, and must be held during normal business hours.[1] Each party pays its own audit costs. Any underpayment is due immediately with interest of 1.5% per month or the legal maximum, whichever is lower. If the underpayment exceeds 3% for any reporting period, the customer also reimburses Cloudera’s reasonable audit costs.[1] Catalog proof: Audit may use diagnostic reporting or an independent auditor; Annual audit right with cost shift above 3% underpayment.
“Diagnostic reporting” ties the audit clause to the product telemetry described in the Order Form Supplemental Terms. Clusters on Cloudera Manager 7.13.2 or later must be registered, and asset reports must reach Cloudera at least quarterly. Cloudera “may use the information from Cluster registration and asset reports to confirm” compliance and invoice excess fees.[2] For general audit practice see software license audit. Catalog proof: Clusters on Cloudera Manager 7.13.2 or later must be registered; Air-gapped sites must send asset reports quarterly.
Licence keys and open source
Licence keys “are personal to Customer”, may not be given to third parties, and are Cloudera Confidential Information.[3] Cloudera Software includes open source components under licences such as the Apache License, GPL, BSD and MPL. They remain open source software for contract purposes even if Cloudera modified them.[3] Where an open source licence allows redistribution, the customer may redistribute the components only after removing all Cloudera trademarks and logos. The terms add that modifying Cloudera Products may affect Cloudera’s ability to support them.[2] Catalog proof: Licence keys are personal and confidential; Redistributing open source components requires removing Cloudera marks.
Software access and the 2021 paywall
In November 2020 Cloudera announced a “Software Access Update”. It said that since November 2019 new releases, including maintenance releases, had been available only to customers with a valid subscription. From 2021-01-31, “all Cloudera software requires a valid subscription to that software in order to access it”, including legacy CDH, HDP, HDF/CDF and Cloudera Data Science Workbench versions.[6] Access requires a valid licence key and customer-specific repository credentials, both issued with a subscription. Support portal credentials give access only to trial software and selected drivers.[6] Cloudera’s 2025 pricing update restates that a subscription is required for “all Cloudera software version releases including software binaries, maintenance and security releases, and new product releases”.[7] Catalog proof: All Cloudera software, including legacy CDH and HDP, requires a subscription.
The same announcement describes what happens when a subscription expires. The customer loses support, future releases and security fixes. From Cloudera Manager 6.x some management features revert to the Cloudera Express feature set. Cloudera Manager 7 blocks the admin console until a valid licence is uploaded, though “clusters will continue to function”.[6] The current documentation describes the same behaviour for Cloudera Private Cloud Base licences and the one-time 60-day trial.[10] Catalog proof: Expired licence locks the Cloudera Manager Admin console.
For an asset manager this means that holding Cloudera binaries on internal mirrors is not evidence of entitlement. Continued use of a release after the Subscription Period ends breaches the time-limited grant described above, whatever the open source licences of the underlying Apache projects allow.[3]
Legacy CDH and HDP
Cloudera’s Support Lifecycle Policy lists the End of Support dates for its legacy distributions:[8]
| Release | GA | End of Support |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudera Enterprise (CDH) 6.3 and 6.2 | July 2019; March 2019 | March 2022 |
| Cloudera Enterprise 6.1, 6.0 | December 2018; August 2018 | December 2021; August 2021 |
| Cloudera Enterprise 5.14 to 5.16 | 2018 | December 2020 |
| HDP 3.1 | December 2018 | December 2021 |
| HDP 3.0; HDP 2.6 | July 2018; April 2017 | July 2021; December 2020 |
| HDF 3.5 | April 2021 | April 2023 |
| Cloudera Data Science Workbench 1.10 | May 2024 | |
| CDP Private Cloud Base (Cloudera Base on premises) 7.1.7; 7.1.9 | August 2021; September 2023 | August 2025; October 2028 |
Eligible customers received six months of Limited Support after these dates: HDP 3.1 from 2022-01-01 to 2022-06-30, and CDH 6.2 and 6.3 from 2022-04-01 to 2022-09-30.[8] The policy also warns that “using a newer Cloudera Manager version does not extend the lifetime of a CDH or Cloudera on premises version”.[8] Catalog proof: CDH 6.2/6.3 and HDP 3.1 Limited Support ended in 2022; Newer Cloudera Manager does not extend CDH or Base support.
Out of scope
- Negotiated master agreements, which replace the published ESMA for the customers who sign them.[2]
- Indemnification, warranty, liability and data-protection terms, which do not affect licence counting.
- The licences of individual Apache projects when obtained from the Apache Software Foundation rather than from Cloudera.
- Court cases. No Cloudera litigation on licence scope, audits or software copyright with a primary court record was identified.