Glean licensing is the set of terms under which Glean Technologies, Inc. sells its enterprise Work AI Platform, a service that connects to a customer’s business applications and content repositories and lets users find knowledge, generate content and automate work with AI while keeping each connected application’s identity and access controls. The Terms of Service describe the platform as an open, horizontal service with extensible connectors, APIs, configuration options, customer-controlled hosting choices and support for multiple third-party large language models.[1] The product families a buyer meets are Glean Assistant and enterprise search, Glean Agents, connectors and developer tools, and Glean Protect for governance.[2]
The licensing model differs from the licence key arrangements that many asset managers know. Glean is a subscription service. Access is granted for a Subscription Term in accordance with the Order Form and the Documentation, and the Order Form carries the commercial terms.[1] The Terms of Service say that use in excess of the licences granted in the Order Form is billed in arrears.[1] What counts as a licence depends on which of three pricing models the agreement uses.
Editions
Glean’s documentation describes three pricing models. They share a per-user, per-month seat but differ in how AI consumption is charged.
| Model | Seat | AI consumption | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glean Enterprise Flex | Enterprise Flex Seat per user per month, intended for every employee | Pooled FlexCredits, with a base pool included and more sold as packs | Enterprise Flex page[3] |
| Glean Core Suite | Core Suite seat per user per month | Model Hub Usage, an upfront commit charged at model or hosting provider API rates | Core Suite page[2] |
| Legacy Glean Enterprise | Per-user licence from earlier agreements | Premium models and some features at Glean’s discretion; must move to Enterprise Flex at the end of the current term | Enterprise Flex page[3] |
Enterprise Flex is described as combining “the simple budgeting of a per-user license” with a pooled allowance of pay-per-use credits.[3] The Core Suite page describes the Core Suite as licensed on a per-user, per-month basis, with connectors, Glean Protect, billing insights, search, the library, agent building and developer tools included in the seat fee, and with features that call large language models drawn from Model Hub Usage.[2] Seat prices are not published. The deeper article is Glean Enterprise Flex, Core Suite and FlexCredits.
Several items sit beside the seat as separate licences. Glean Protect+ and Premium Support are each licensed site-wide as an annual fee rather than per seat, and Flexible Model Management is charged as a percentage of total LLM usage.[3][2] Technical Services are bought under a Technical Services Addendum and statements of work.[4]
Metrics
The contracts and documentation name the following units.
| Unit | Meaning | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| User | A person allowed access by or on behalf of the customer, including employees, independent contractors and consultants of the customer and its Affiliates[1] | Seat counting |
| Enterprise Flex Seat and Core Suite seat | Per-user, per-month licences | Enterprise Flex and Core Suite |
| FlexCredit | Pooled pay-per-use credit consumed by advanced capabilities according to a rate card[3] | Enterprise Flex |
| Model Hub Usage | LLM usage charged at provider API rates per million tokens, as an upfront commit[2] | Core Suite |
| Thinking Mode Assistant Query | A reasoning-mode Assistant query, included up to 100 per user per week with standard models[3] | Enterprise Flex |
| Glean Agent Run | One execution of an agent, using a variable number of FlexCredits[3] | Enterprise Flex |
| Client API call | A call to the Search, Chat or Agents API[3] | Developer tools |
| Connected Application | A supported third-party application licensed independently by or for the customer, whose data is sent to the service[1] | Connectors |
Counting / floors
Users. A user is anyone allowed access by or on behalf of the customer, and the definition names independent contractors and consultants of the customer and its Affiliates explicitly.[1] Affiliates and authorised managing third parties may act as Users if the use is solely for the customer’s benefit, and the customer is responsible for each User’s compliance.[1] The Acceptable Use Policy treats sharing a username and password between individuals as prohibited unauthorised access.[5] An Affiliate that buys on its own Order Form creates a separate agreement with the Glean entity that signs it.[1]
Term and commitment. The service may not be cancelled or terminated by the customer during the Subscription Term, except as the Agreement provides, such as termination for an uncured material breach after a 30-day cure period.[1] Core Suite carries an upfront commit for Model Hub Usage, and Enterprise Flex always includes a base pool of FlexCredits.[2][3]
Changes to the terms. Modified terms become effective on renewal of the Subscription Term or on a new Order Form, although continued use after the updated version takes effect is deemed acceptance.[1]
Virtualization & partitioning
Glean does not meter processors or virtual machines. The partitions are the Subscription Term, the Affiliate and the identity. Affiliates buy through their own Order Forms, and a user counts once per person, not per device. Where the customer self-hosts, the customer’s own cloud costs are separate from the Glean fee.
Cloud / BYOL
Glean offers a hosting option. The customer may deploy the service in its own cloud service provider account or in Glean’s. In Glean’s account it may select any supported provider and region.[1] If the customer hosts in its own account, or uses its own model key, it must promptly implement Localized Updates, and Glean has no liability to the extent caused by failure to do so.[1] The model option allows the customer to use supported models from any supported Model Provider, either on Glean’s key or on its own key, and Enterprise Flex seats and FlexCredits are discounted for customers that bring their own LLM keys or self-host.[1][3] Third-party enterprise applications that Glean connects to are licensed independently by the customer, and Glean says it offers more than 275 out-of-the-box connectors.[6]
Programs
- Hosting option. Customer cloud account or Glean cloud account.[1]
- Customer Key and Glean Universal Model Key. Customer-supplied or Glean-supplied model access, with different retention and indemnity commitments. See Glean AI Addendum, models and data handling.[7]
- Trials and Preview Features. Evaluation use with no support, no warranty and a 50,000 US dollar liability cap for trials.[1][8]
- Business Associate Agreement. Needed before protected health information may be processed.[1][9]
- Technical Services Addendum. Glean-owned deliverables licensed for the term.[4]
- Reseller and marketplace purchasing. Prices and payment terms agreed with the reseller.[1]
- Usage limits and alerts. Monthly limits by organisation, user, department and agent.[10]
The contract set is explained in Glean Terms of Service and contract documents, and consumption controls are in Glean usage limits, connectors and agents.
Audits and compliance
The Terms of Service contain no licence audit or true-up clause. Compliance for a software asset manager therefore runs through the Order Form quantity, billing in arrears for excess use, and the Usage dashboard that Super Admins, Admins and Billing Moderators can open to view consumption by user, department, model and agent.[1][11] The restrictions that matter in practice are the bans on reselling or providing the service as a commercial hosted service, on benchmarking except for internal evaluation, and on using the service to build competing products.[1]
Liability and disputes
Each party’s aggregate liability is capped at the fees paid or payable in the twelve months before the claim, and a higher Data Protection Claims Cap applies to certain data breaches.[1] Glean defends and indemnifies against third-party claims that the service infringes a copyright, trademark or U.S. patent or misappropriates a trade secret.[1] The Agreement is governed by New York law.[1]
Out of scope
- Seat prices, discounts and negotiated terms. None is published.
- The Security and Privacy Standard and certifications, which are security documents rather than licensing terms.
- Customers’ own licences for connected applications such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
- Litigation. No court case about Glean software licensing or licence scope was identified with a primary court record, so no case article is included.