The Delphi Community Edition and C++Builder Community Edition are free editions of Embarcadero’s development environments. The licence describes them as “a free edition, limited commercial use edition”.[1] Embarcadero says it shares them free of charge with freelance developers, startups, students and non-profits, and that Delphi CE can build iOS, Android, Windows and macOS apps from one codebase.[2] They are governed by the same Software License and Support Agreement as the paid editions, with additional Community Edition terms. RAD Studio itself “is not offered and may not be licensed as a Community Edition”.[1]
For a licence manager, the Community Edition is mainly a compliance risk. Developers can download it freely, but most organizations are not eligible to use it.
Editions
| Edition | Licence | Who may use it |
|---|---|---|
| Delphi Community Edition / C++Builder Community Edition | Free, one-year term[1] | Licensees with cumulative annual revenue or donations up to USD 5,000, and no more than five users[1] |
| Professional, Enterprise, Architect | Perpetual licence plus maintenance, or subscription[5] | Anyone; required above the threshold[3] |
The FAQ contrasts the paid editions as a “Perpetual license (Community License is a one year term)” with “No annual revenue restriction”.[3] The Community Edition does not include or support Kai, the AI coding assistant, which is sold separately for paid editions.[2] Like Professional, it may use dbExpress and FireDAC only with a database on the same machine as the application.[1]
Metrics
The Community Edition has no paid metric. Eligibility is measured by two thresholds: revenue and team size.
- Revenue threshold. The licence applies only if the licensee’s cumulative annual revenue, or a non-profit’s donations, “does not exceed USD $5,000.00 (or the equivalent in other currencies)”.[1] This covers for-profit organizations, government entities and individual developers.
- User limit. The total number of Community Edition licences deployed may not exceed five individual users.[1] The FAQ adds that companies with teams of more than five developers must buy a Professional, Enterprise or Architect licence “for each developer rather than using CE”.[3]
Catalog: Community Edition is limited to USD 5,000 annual revenue and five users.
Counting / floors
Company revenue, not project revenue. A company whose cumulative annual revenue exceeds the threshold “is not allowed to use the Community Edition”. This applies even if the software is used only for internal applications or produces no direct revenue.[1] The FAQ states it plainly: a Professional, Enterprise or Architect licence is required to develop or deploy any apps or components within any company whose total revenue exceeds USD 5,000.[3]
Individual contractors. For an individual developer, all contract work in a calendar year counts toward the threshold, whether or not the Community Edition was used for it. A developer paid USD 5,000 for a single project may not use the Community Edition. A developer building only an app store application loses eligibility once app store revenue reaches USD 5,000 in a year.[1] The FAQ adds that contractors must download and use it on their own computer, not on company-issued hardware.[3]
Employees of larger companies. An employee of a company with more than USD 5,000 in revenue may use the Community Edition only for personal purposes. It must not be installed on an employer-issued device, on company premises or on the company network, and the use must not benefit the employer. If use is connected to the employer, Embarcadero “at its sole discretion” will treat it as use for the employer’s benefit.[3]
Non-profits and open source. The Community Edition may be used to build apps for a non-profit whose revenue and donations are below USD 5,000, and to contribute to open-source projects within the revenue rules.[3]
Virtualization & partitioning
There is no hardware metric. The command line compiler, which paid editions may install on a separate build machine, may not be moved to another machine under a Community Edition licence.[1] Only single-user licences are available. Network named and concurrent licences start with the Professional editions.[3]
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable. The Community Edition is a desktop IDE licensed to individuals, with no cloud or bring-your-own-licence provisions.
Programs
- Term. The licence runs for one year from the first download or unsealing and expires automatically without renewing. To continue, the user must reinstall the latest Community Edition and accept the agreement then in force.[1] A new one-year key is requested through the website and applies to the Community Edition current at that time.[3]
- Versions. The licence always covers the most recent version. Access to earlier versions comes only with Professional, Enterprise and Architect.[3]
- Distribution of apps. Software developed with the Community Edition may still be distributed after the term ends, subject to the agreement.[1] Apps and components built with it may be distributed royalty-free.[3]
- No support or indemnity. The support section of the agreement does not apply to Community Edition licensees, nor do its indemnification rights.[1]
- Source code. Licensees may only read the VCL, FireMonkey and other source code supplied with the Community Edition.[1]
Audits and compliance
Embarcadero “will collect information about your use of the Community Edition for auditing purposes”.[1] A licensee that does not qualify “may not download or use” the Community Edition. Such use is unauthorized, violates the agreement and “may constitute a misappropriation” of Embarcadero’s intellectual property. The licence terminates automatically on breach of the Community Edition terms.[1] The general audit clause in Section 11 applies as for paid editions, with underpaid fees invoiced at current list prices; see Embarcadero RAD Studio licensing.
Community Edition downloads have featured in litigation. In Embarcadero v. NCR, the downloads Embarcadero listed as implicated included a RAD Studio 10.2.3 Community Edition installer, and the first incident was described as a trial download by one employee of a foreign subsidiary.[4] See Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. v. NCR Corporation.
Out of scope
- Academic programs and educational licences, which follow separate terms.
- InterBase Developer and ToGo Lite free editions.
- Earlier Community Edition versions, whose terms may differ.