N-able Quantity Commitment billing is the commercial model N-able applies to its subscriptions. The customer commits to a quantity on a Sales Order and pays at least for that quantity every billing period. Anything used above it is billed as overage. The commitment then ratchets upwards at renewal when usage has exceeded it. The same fee clauses appear, in nearly identical words, in the Software Services Agreement and the End User License Agreement, so they apply to hosted and downloadable products alike.[1][2] For a software asset manager at an MSP, the commitment is the effective licence position floor, and monthly invoices are the main compliance record.
Editions
The Term sets the renewal cycle but does not change the billing model.
| Plan | Term | Renewal | Exit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Month-to-month Term | One month | Renews monthly unless terminated at least 30 days before the Subscription End Date | Terminate or Downgrade in N-ableMe; effective the last day of the first full calendar month after notice[1] |
| Fixed Term subscription | Subscription Dates on the Sales Order, one to three years | Renews for one year, “subject to a price increase” | Cancellation request in N-ableMe at least 30 days before the Subscription End Date[1] |
For new customers on month-to-month plans, “any price increase will occur following the twelfth (12th) month” of a continuous month-to-month Term. Contracts invoiced monthly must enroll in automatic payment unless N-able agrees otherwise.[1] Catalog proof: Month-to-month plans renew monthly; termination effective after a full calendar month; Fixed terms auto-renew for one year without 30 days notice.
Metrics
The commitment is expressed in whatever unit the product uses: devices for N-central and N-sight, server, workstation and user licences for Cove, and concurrent licences for Take Control. The contracts define two general terms. The Quantity Commitment is “the quantity of Software or Services purchased listed under ‘Qty’ (or a similar term) on the Sales Order”. Usage is “the quantity of the Software or Services used during the relevant subscription period”.[1] The Charged Price is the price listed on the Sales Order.[2]
Counting / floors
Overage (effective 2026-07-31). If the customer or its Users exceed the Quantity Commitment, or “enable any other Software or Services through any of our platforms”, the Usage above the commitment is charged at the Charged Price. If the Sales Order specifies no price for that item, the current list price applies. Payments are in US dollars unless the Sales Order says otherwise. They are “non-refundable and non-recoupable”.[1] Two points follow. Turning on a feature in a platform console creates a charge even if it was never ordered. And a product with no negotiated price is billed at list. Catalog proof: Usage above the Quantity Commitment is charged at the Charged Price or list price.
No reduction mid-term. “Any changes to Your Services or Software may be made only once per year, cannot reduce your fees due under the Agreement, and will require mutual written amendment of the relevant Sales Order.”[2] Additions are allowed at any time. Their price change is effective immediately and prorated for the first month.[2] Take Control’s documentation applies the same logic at product level. It charges “for the highest number of licenses used in a given month”, and “It is not possible to downgrade licenses past your commitment.”[9] Catalog proof: Changes once per year and never below current fees; Added licences are billed immediately and prorated; Take Control charges the monthly peak and bars downgrades below commitment.
Monthly activity. For backup enabled through N-central, adding a device adds a licence and removing it removes the licence. N-able “checks for licenses that have been active that month for billing purposes”.[10] A device that is protected for part of a month is therefore billable for that month. Catalog proof: Backup enabled from N-central is billed by devices active in the month.
Renewal pricing and the commitment ratchet
Renewal pricing starts from the Charged Price on the invoice issued 90 days before the renewal date. It may be raised by up to two components. The first is 5% plus any increase in the US Consumer Price Index during the previous year. The second is “the incremental value of additional features and functionality that have been added to Your Products and Services during the term, in N-able’s sole discretion”.[2] CPI means CPI-U for the US City Average, calculated at the last month of the term over the prior twelve months.[2] The first component is a cap. The second has no stated ceiling. Catalog proof: Renewal price may rise by up to 5% plus CPI and added-feature value.
The renewal also resets the commitment. The new Quantity Commitment equals “Your previous Quantity Commitment as listed in Your most recent Sales Order plus eighty (80) percent of Your Usage in excess of such previous Quantity Commitment”. The excess is measured on the last invoice sent 120 days or more before the renewal date.[2] Catalog proof: Renewal Quantity Commitment adds 80% of excess Usage.
A worked example shows the effect. An MSP commits to 1,000 devices. The invoice sent four months before renewal shows usage of 1,250. The renewal commitment becomes 1,000 + 0.8 × 250 = 1,200 devices. Usage in the final four months does not count, so a device count that is falling as renewal approaches does not reduce the new floor. Because fees cannot fall mid-term, the commitment can only be lowered at renewal. N-able’s standard terms do not describe a mechanism for that. The commitment is similar to a true-up, except that it is automatic and one-directional.
Relief for loss of a Client
The only standard route to a lower commitment during a Term is discretionary. N-able “will consider, in its sole discretion, Quantity Commitment relief (net of any Usage) on a dollar-for-dollar basis relative to Your monthly minimum spend” if the customer loses a Client that represented at least 10% of relevant business revenue on the preceding monthly invoice. Five conditions apply. The request may not be made within 90 days of the start or renewal date. Relief is given only once during a Term. N-able must approve written evidence of the Client termination. Relief takes effect the month after approval. It “does not involve any refunds or credits”.[2] Catalog proof: Quantity Commitment relief on loss of a 10% Client; Quantity Commitment relief for Client loss.
Invoices and disputes
A customer that believes an invoice is wrong “must notify N-able within ninety (90) days of your receipt of the invoice. If You fail to do so You waive any right to contest the invoice.”[2] Late payment allows N-able to suspend the Services, charge interest at the highest lawful rate, or terminate.[1] Catalog proof: Invoice errors must be raised within 90 days.
N-able provides three sources of usage data for checking invoices within that window:
- Invoice Details. For N-sight RMM, the usage breakdown shows “the total usage per customer, and what they have committed to compared to what is actually deployed in their environment”. It also lists the billed devices in each feature section.[3] For Cove it also shows the fair use limit and any overage per customer.[4] The billing tab lets the customer compare “what was committed to, compared to what was actually deployed”.[5]
- Invoice efiles. A data-usage efile can be downloaded for each invoice from the Partner Success Center and loaded into N-able’s pivot-table template for a per-client breakdown. The account number format shows which entity bills the customer: five-digit accounts are invoiced by N-able Technologies, Inc. and nine-digit accounts starting with “A” by N-able Solutions ULC.[6]
- Billing API. A free API returns invoice-based, device-level usage for N-central, Cove and EDR. For N-central it is available only to “NCOD customers on the Flex licensing model”.[7] Usage data “is not finalised until the 4th of the following month”.[8] Catalog proof: Billing API usage data only for NCOD customers on Flex licensing; N-sight usage is reported per billed device and feature.
Virtualization & partitioning
The billing clauses have no virtualization rule of their own. Usage is counted in the product’s unit, and the contractual Device includes virtual machines. See N-able licensing.
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable. Billing is the same for N-able-hosted services and downloadable Software. The retrieved documents do not describe the terms of the N-central Flex licensing model beyond its name.[7]
Programs
- Quantity Commitment, the floor and overage mechanism above.
- Renewal price increase cap, the 5% plus CPI and added-feature uplift.
- Quantity Commitment relief for Client loss, available once per Term at N-able’s discretion.
- N-central Flex licensing model, named in the Billing API documentation without published terms.
Out of scope
- Prices and discount levels, which appear only on Sales Orders.
- Distributor and reseller billing, which uses the separate Partner Billing API.
- Product-specific counting rules, covered in N-central, N-sight and Take Control licensing and Cove Data Protection licensing.