IFS licensing covers the enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) and field service management (FSM) software sold by IFS, chiefly IFS Cloud. Since July 2026 IFS has used one contract structure for all its offerings: the IFS Master Agreement, together with the Product Terms for each product, the Support Terms, the Order Form and the documents they incorporate. The Master Agreement applies whether the customer buys directly from IFS or through an IFS channel partner.[2] Terms that vary by country, such as governing law, arbitration seat and late payment rate, sit in Country Localizations tied to the IFS entity on the Order Form.[4]
Before the Master Agreement, customers who bought through partners signed country-specific IFS End User License Agreements (EULAs) for on-premise use and for cloud services.[6] IFS’s legal page explains the transition. From 20 July 2026, new customers and all renewals use the Master Terms. Partner customers who received the EULA and bought on or before 1 September 2026 stay on it. Additional purchases during a current term follow the existing EULA until the term ends.[1] A licence review therefore starts by finding which generation of terms each Order Form or Notification Form references.
Editions
The Master Agreement defines three deployment models. The Order Form says which one applies.[2]
| Deployment model | What the customer gets | Licence form |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS | Access to SaaS Services; no copy of the software | SaaS access right for the term |
| Software with IFS Cloud Services | A software licence, with IFS hosting and managing the software on its Platform | Subscription Software License plus IFS Cloud Services |
| Software on-premise | A software licence; the customer installs and runs it | Subscription Software License |
The Subscription Software License allows the customer to install, copy and use the Software for the term on the Order Form for the internal business operations of the customer and its Customer Affiliates, within the Entitlements on the Order Form. It also covers backup and test copies, configuration of the Application Software, and Service Updates and Releases while Support Services are active.[2] Under IFS Cloud Services the licence and the hosting are separate. If the hosting ends, the licence survives for the rest of the subscription term and the customer may take the Software and run it elsewhere.[3]
Beyond IFS Cloud, the Product Terms cover SaaS products such as Copperleaf, Softeon, EmpowerMX, IFS Customer Engagement, IFS Self-Service Portals and IFS Zero. They also cover the IFS.ai and Nexus Black AI offerings, IFS assyst, and the IFS Energy & Resources products (iLandMan, P2 Land, Merrick, Tobin), and they list third-party software that IFS embeds or resells, including Oracle.[3]
Metrics
The Product Terms close with two License Metrics glossaries, one for IFS Cloud and one for IFS Energy & Resources.[3] The catalog records the main ones:
- User metrics: Named User, Full User, Limited Task User and Concurrent User. A user with any permission set beyond the Limited Task User sets counts as a Full user.[8] See IFS Cloud user licensing.
- Operational metrics: Resource, Asset, Work Order, Country, Fixed and Processor Core.
- Product-specific and consumption metrics: Net User, Active Well Count, Transaction (IFS Self-Service Portals) and Token (IFS.ai). See IFS industry and consumption metrics.
- Oracle User for the embedded Oracle database. See IFS support and Oracle ASFU licensing.
In the partner EULAs the metric for each use category is its “Use Type” and the maximum permitted use is its “Use Level”. If no other metric is licensed, “the default is always Named Users”.[5]
Counting / floors
Entitlements and aggregate use. An Entitlement is “the specific scope, volume, and usage rights for an IFS Offering” granted on an Order Form. Customer Affiliates benefit only through the customer, and use restrictions apply to the combined use of the customer and its Affiliates.[2] A Customer Affiliate is a company more than 50% owned by the customer “and that is identified in the applicable Order Form”, so an unlisted subsidiary is not covered. Contractors may use the software for the customer’s internal operations, but not if they compete with IFS.[2] Catalog proof: IFS Customer Affiliates share the entitlement and must be named on the Order Form.
Front-end measurement. Entitlements are measured at the front end of every External Integration. That term covers interfaces, apps, multiplexing hardware or software, AI agents and robotic process automation (RPA) bots, and integrations may not be used to get around use restrictions.[2] Catalog proof: IFS entitlements are measured at the External Integration front end.
Firm subscriptions. A subscription licence runs for the fixed initial term on the Order Form. It “is firm and all fees are non-cancellable and non-refundable; the license cannot be reduced or terminated by Customer during the license term”. SaaS subscriptions follow the same rule.[2] Quantities can only go down at renewal. Catalog proof: IFS subscriptions cannot be reduced during the term.
No automatic renewal. On expiry, the Order Form and subscription licence end “unless renewed by the written agreement of the Parties”. Unless the Order Form says otherwise, each subscription licence includes Support Services.[2] When an Entitlement ends, the customer must stop using the offering and delete all copies, including archival copies. Hosted Content is erased 30 days after termination unless IFS specifies otherwise.[2] Catalog proof: IFS subscriptions end at expiry unless renewed in writing.
Compliance and verification
The customer must monitor its own use, “promptly report any excess or noncompliant use to IFS”, and keep controls against unauthorised use.[2] The software may contain licence keys and other technical limits, and users may not share licence credentials or security devices.[2] IFS Cloud records its own usage, with metrics calculated monthly.[9]
IFS may verify use “not more than once per calendar year”, more often if a previous check found non-compliance. It may do this itself or through a third-party auditor, using remote methods such as diagnostic scripts, discovery tools, log reviews and screen sharing. Records held by the customer’s hosting providers are in scope. If the customer is out of compliance, it pays the fees due “without any discounts” plus the reasonable cost of the verification, and refusing to cooperate is a material breach.[2] Audit requests from third-party software vendors must be passed to IFS to coordinate.[2] Catalog proof: IFS may verify use once a year and bill excess without discounts; IFS customers must monitor use and report excess.
Restrictions
Without IFS’s written permission, customers may not modify the software or use it for development, reverse engineer it, make it available to third parties (including through a service bureau, hosting or outsourcing), defeat entitlement mechanisms, or publish benchmark results.[2] Customers may build modifications and add-ons with IFS development tools, but may not commercialise or distribute them to third parties.[2] The customer may not assign the Agreement without IFS’s written consent.[2]
Virtualization & partitioning
The Master Agreement and Product Terms publish no virtualisation or partitioning rule for IFS application licences. The Processor Core metric is defined, but no core factor is given.[3] Hardware matters for the embedded Oracle database: full use Oracle licences depend on users combined with hardware configuration and processor licences.[3] Support covers one Code Line in one production Instance.[7]
Cloud / BYOL
IFS Cloud Services is IFS’s own hosting of a licensed copy. Capacity follows the Environment configuration size on the Order Form, and the customer must keep up with the release and Service Update requirements of the Support Policy.[3] The Platform runs on a third-party Platform Vendor, Microsoft or another, whose terms also apply.[2] The Support Policy also recognises customer deployments in other hosting and in the public cloud, as “Remote Deployments” supported under Gold or Platinum plans.[7] However, the licence bars making the software available to third parties through hosting or outsourcing arrangements without permission,[2] so third-party hosting should be agreed with IFS. Catalog proof: IFS Cloud licences survive the end of IFS Cloud Services.
Programs
- Support plans: Gold Support and Platinum Support for Remote Deployments, Cloud Support for IFS Cloud Services, and Extended Support for older releases. See IFS support and Oracle ASFU licensing.
- IFS Cloud Services, the hosting service.
- Oracle ASFU License (IFS), the restricted Oracle licence embedded with IFS Application Software.
- Channel partners. Under Schedule A, a customer buying through a partner agrees fees with the partner. The partner cannot amend IFS’s terms, IFS can enforce the customer’s contract with the partner as a third-party beneficiary, and IFS may terminate if the partner does not pay it.[2] Catalog proof: IFS may terminate partner-sold licences if the partner does not pay.
Out of scope
This article does not cover Copperleaf’s own legal terms, the IFS Partner Program terms, professional services terms, the Data Processing Addendum or the Acceptable Use Policy,[1] or perpetual licences under older IFS Applications contracts, which the current published documents do not describe. No court case about IFS licensing with a primary court record was found for this article.