Steinberg education and multi-user licensing is the set of licence forms Steinberg offers to students, teachers and educational institutions, and to any organisation that runs its software on shared computers. It sits on top of the general Steinberg Licensing model, in which a single-user licence belongs to one person and can be activated on three computers.[1] Education adds discounted prices and eligibility checks, a non-commercial use limit and a seat-based multi-user licence. The sections below set out each construct and how to count it.
Who is eligible
Steinberg’s education programme covers students in full-time education, teachers, other staff members of educational institutions and the institutions themselves. Eligibility requires proof. In the online shop the buyer starts a verification process, signs in with a Steinberg ID, states the number of licences and uploads evidence, which Steinberg reviews before the purchase can be completed.[2] Accepted proof includes, for students, an admission letter, student card, transcript, enrolment letter, course schedule or tuition receipt; for teachers, an employment contract, faculty card, appointment letter or faculty roster; and for other staff, an employment contract, staff card or appointment letter.[2] Steinberg states that teaching staff and educational institutions receive a discount of up to 40 per cent, with proof of eligibility submitted as a file during the order.[3] Resellers perform a similar check on Steinberg’s behalf and Steinberg does not review the evidence in that case.[1]
Three features of the eligibility rules affect audits. The verification applies only to the product for which it was completed, so a new product needs a new check. The eligibility is time-limited and must be repeated when it expires.[2] And several groups are expressly outside the programme: charities, clubs and associations, churches or public service institutions, and members of the military, government or ministries are directed to regular products, while social projects are generally eligible and people with a certificate of disability of 50 per cent or more are eligible.[1]
Scope of an education licence
The EULA states that every lecturer and student of an educational establishment may receive software under special educational licensing and that this software may not be used for commercial purposes.[4] The FAQ explains that education products are identical in functionality to retail products, but that work produced with them cannot be used commercially or sold, because they are intended for study and teaching.[1] The education licence metric in the catalog records this limit.
Two further rules follow.
- No resale. An education licence is personal. It cannot be resold, and to resell the product the owner must first buy an update or upgrade to exchange the education licence for a full commercial licence.[1] The Resale Wizard repeats that educational licences are personal and must not be passed to a third party.[5]
- Conversion on update. Education licences are eligible for updates and upgrades. A single-user education licence is updated by buying the appropriate regular single-user update, and the result is a regular full version licensed for commercial use.[1]
For hardware, no education discount exists.[1]
Single-user licences in education
An education single-user licence works like a retail one: it is intended for a single individual, whether a student, teacher or other staff member, and can be activated on up to three computers at the same time for that person’s exclusive use.[1] Institutions that need several licences for faculty or staff can buy single-user licences with volume discounts, with different tiers for 5 to 9 copies, 10 to 24 copies and 25 or more copies; the tiers may vary by product or promotion, and the shop shows the discounted price when the quantity is added to the basket.[1] A teacher with a classroom of shared computers should not simply install a single-user licence on all of them, because a single-user licence does not allow several users, and Steinberg’s EULA says that shared use of a single-user licence can lead to a charge for additional licences or to disabling the licence.[4]
Multi-user licences and seats
A multi-user licence is intended for use by multiple individuals and has a minimum of five seats. Each seat provides activation for one computer, so a classroom of ten computers needs a ten-seat licence.[1] The product functionality is the same as for single-user licences, and a licence can be activated and deactivated freely on the institution’s computers and managed through Steinberg’s online self-service tool.[1] Steinberg offers these licences as perpetual for the current product generation, with no subscription fee, and the institution decides when to move to a later version.[6]
Counting seats
The unit of count is the seat: one seat equals one activated computer. The licence manager should compare, for each multi-user licence, the number of purchased seats with the number of computers activated in the account. Practical points:
- The minimum for a new multi-user licence is five seats. For fewer, Steinberg suggests separate single-user licences or a five-seat multi-user licence, which it says costs roughly the same as two single-user licences.[1]
- More seats can be bought at any time by quotation.[1]
- Single-user and multi-user licences can be mixed, for example a multi-user licence for a lab and single-user licences for named teachers.[1]
- Existing single-user licences can be combined into a multi-user licence on request, which also helps scripts, because with more than three licences of one product in an account a script cannot choose a licence by name and must reference a grant ID.[1][7]
- Floating licences are not currently available, according to the FAQ.[1] The EULA says seats may be machine-based on shared computers or consumed from a pool of floating licences, so the FAQ governs the available offer and the EULA the contract language.[4]
- On an update, a multi-user licence can be upgraded for all seats to a later major version at a special per-seat price by quotation.[1]
The Multi SKUs
Steinberg’s one-page summary of multi-user usage lists the “Multi” SKUs: Dorico Pro EE, Cubase Pro EE and Cubase Elements EE. Redeeming further codes of the same Multi SKU into one Steinberg ID increments the seat count rather than creating separate licences, so one Multi licence equals one seat and the account can be centrally administered. Individual education licences remain available for single users with the standard three activations for computers they own.[8] Institutions with existing multiple licences can ask the education team to consolidate them.[8]
365 licences
For Nuendo, Steinberg also offers a time-limited multi-user licence called a 365 licence. It has a fixed term of 12 months, automatically includes any major version released during the period and, at the end of the term, the software is disabled. Steinberg describes it for institutions that want a fixed cost of ownership and the assurance of always running the latest version, or that want to give students licences to install on their own computers; 365 licences for Cubase Pro, Dorico Pro and WaveLab Pro are available on request.[1] The 365 licence metric and the 365 term licence program record this. A licence manager should track renewal dates for such licences, because the software stops working on the term end date rather than continuing under a perpetual right.
Deploying on shared computers
Steinberg publishes a Multiuser Administration Guide for administrators, covering manual installation through a graphical process and automated deployment with tools such as Jamf, SCCM and scripts.[7] The guide separates three jobs.
- Install the runtime components and products. The Steinberg Install Assistant, Activation Manager, Library Manager and MediaBay are installed on each computer, and then the products and content. Silent installation commands exist for Windows and macOS.[7]
- Activate for all local users. By default a licence activated through the Activation Manager applies only to the local user’s account. An administrator can enable All Users Mode, which requires Activation Manager 1.6.0 or later and a signed-in Steinberg ID holding the licences, so that the licence is active for all local users of the computer. If a local user signs in with a personal Steinberg ID, that user’s personal licences take precedence and the All Users licences are not used.[9] The All Users Mode activation metric describes this.
- Generate licences in bulk. For large estates the guide describes three steps: generate a licence request file on each computer, process all request files on a central administrator computer signed in with the Steinberg ID that holds the licences, and install the resulting licence files on each computer. The steps are performed by the Steinberg License Engine, a component of the Activation Manager, and Steinberg distributes sample batch, PowerShell and command scripts under a permissive licence that customers may copy and adapt.[7]
The bulk process resembles offline activation in structure, with request files going out and licence files coming back, and the licences are still drawn from the Steinberg ID and count against the seats.
Disabling All Users Mode does not remove activations that were already made. To deactivate those, the administrator must do so before turning the mode off.[9]
Practical checks
- Confirm that each education licence is used only by the eligible person for non-commercial purposes, and flag any use for paid work.
- Compare seat counts with activated computers for each multi-user licence, and record the Steinberg ID that holds them.
- Track the term end of 365 licences.
- Keep the proof of eligibility submissions and licence documents, since the EULA ties educational grants to the licence document or invoice.[4]
- Check that nobody has sold or passed on an education licence.
Out of scope
- Quotes, discounts beyond the volume tiers stated, and the contents of institutional contracts, which are provided by quotation from the education team.
- Education purchasing through resellers, whose terms may differ.
- Software for which Steinberg publishes no education offer, and third-party content.