Veeam licensing

Veeam licensing is the set of terms under which Veeam grants rights to its data protection and recovery software, chiefly Veeam Data Platform, which delivers Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE and Veeam Recovery Orchestrator. The contract is the Veeam End User License Agreement (EULA), last updated 2026-08-25, which grants a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to use the software for internal business purposes.^[2] The product-level rules are in the End User Software Licensing Policy, version 19, published June 2026, which “is incorporated into and is part of” the EULA.^[1] Veeam Data Cloud and other Veeam-hosted services are governed by separate agreements.^[1]

Veeam’s main licence unit is the Veeam Universal License (VUL), a portable License Instance consumed by each protected workload, whatever its type. Veeam says it has prioritized VUL since 2019, and perpetual per-CPU Socket licences have ceased new sales.^[1] For a software asset manager, a Veeam estate is therefore usually a count of protected workloads against VUL entitlements, sometimes mixed with older Socket keys, plus separate counts for per-User, per-TB and per-Node offerings. The counting detail is in Veeam Universal License and Veeam Data Platform licensing; this page summarises the whole landscape.

Editions

The Licensing Policy groups Veeam’s software into these families:^[1]

Veeam Recovery Orchestrator is available primarily in Veeam Data Platform Premium or as an add-on to Advanced, is not available as an add-on to Essentials or Foundation, and requires Veeam ONE.^[1] Catalog rule: Veeam Recovery Orchestrator: packs of 10, needs Veeam ONE, only with Premium or as an Advanced add-on. Package upgrades from Essentials through Foundation and Advanced to Premium are available for all VULs, and every upgrade or downgrade requires current Support and Maintenance. Veeam does not refund the price difference on a downgrade.^[1] Catalog rule: Upgrades and downgrades require current Support and Maintenance; no refunds on downgrade.

Metrics

Seven catalog rows hold Veeam’s licence units under Veeam’s own names: License Instance, Socket, TB, User, Orchestrated Instance, Node and Point Per Unit (PPU). The definitions are in the rows; the guide explains how each is used.

Counting / floors

The main counting rules from Licensing Policy v19, summarised:^[1]

• VUL consumption. One License Instance covers one VM, cloud VM, server or application server, three workstations, 500 GB of unstructured data or 10 Entra ID users. Rule: VUL License Instance consumption per workload type.
• Protected workload. A workload counts only if it had at least one restore point created in the past 31 days. Restore operations do not consume licences. Rule: Protected workload: restore point in the past 31 days.
• Clusters. Each node of a clustered server, application server or workstation needs a licence. Rule: Servers, application servers and workstations: every cluster node needs a licence.
• Capacity Packs. Once a Capacity Pack is present, all unstructured data is licensed by TB and no longer by VUL. Rule: Capacity Pack replaces VUL for all unstructured data.
• Microsoft 365. Per user account in all customer organizations, with shared, resource and group mailboxes and external SharePoint users not counted. Rule: Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365: per user, minimum 10; shared mailboxes and external SharePoint users free.
• Salesforce. Every used Salesforce user licence must be covered; unused licences and sandbox users are not counted. Rule: Veeam Backup for Salesforce: cover 100% of used Salesforce user licences; sandbox users excluded.
• Veeam Kasten. Licensed per worker node. Rule: Veeam Kasten: per worker node; one licence can cover a multi-cluster system.

The software tolerates some overuse. With licence autoupdate enabled, VUL usage can exceed the licensed count by up to 10% (or 10 instances) without warning and up to 20% with weekly warnings, after which extra workloads are not processed. Socket and per-TB licences cannot be exceeded.^[5] Rule: VUL exceed thresholds (autoupdate on 10%/20%, off 5%/10%). This is product behaviour, not a contractual allowance: the EULA says exceeding the purchased capacity may lead to Maintenance being postponed or refused.^[2]

Subscription and rental licences have a 30-day grace period after expiry; evaluation and NFR licences have none.^[6] Under the Licensing Policy, an expired VUL disables product functionality after the grace period, while expired Socket support only blocks later updates.^[1] Rule: Grace period after license expiration.

Support and lifecycle

The Veeam Customer Support Policy (last updated 2025-10-10) names Premier, Production and Basic support programs. Production Support provides 24/7 support for critical issues. Basic Support covers business hours, and one year of Basic Support is included with a product licence purchase. To receive Production Support, “all production licensed sockets for a product must be licensed at Production Support levels”, otherwise support defaults to Basic.^[3] The Licensing Policy states the same principle generally: the support level always defaults to the lowest contracted level.^[1] Rule: Support level defaults to the lowest contracted level.

A VUL subscription includes support for its whole term, with a maximum prepaid term of five years.^[1] Other support rules in the Licensing Policy:^[1]

• Renewals are priced at Veeam’s list price in effect at renewal, and a renewal with lower volume or a shorter term is repriced without regard to prior pricing. Rule: Renewals priced at list price in effect; smaller or shorter renewals are repriced.
• Past-due support renewals carry a 25% reinstatement fee. Rule: Expired support: 25% reinstatement fee.
• Prepaid prorated support SKUs can be bought only within six months of the original purchase. Rule: Prepaid prorated support SKUs only within six months of the original purchase.
• Merged License Keys take the earliest licence and support expiration dates. Rule: Merged License Keys take the earliest expiration and support dates.

The Product Lifecycle Policy limits hotfix development to customers on the most recent publicly available build. It lists End of Fix and End of Support dates per version: Veeam Backup & Replication 13 was released in November 2025, and version 12 ends support in February 2027.^[4] Rule: Hotfixes only for the most recent build; version end-of-support dates per the lifecycle table.

Audit and compliance

Section 8 of the EULA lets Veeam audit compliance with the EULA, including the Licensing Policy, “no more than once per year unless there are reasonable grounds”, such as a suspected breach. An audit may be an online request for logs or an inspection of the customer’s infrastructure, by Veeam or third parties, and the customer must respond within 30 days. If the audit finds a breach, the customer pays the cost of a third-party auditor.^[2] Rule: Audit: once per year, 30 days to provide logs or access.

Two further clauses shape the compliance position:

• Telemetry. Products that support automatic licence updates send licence usage statistics and telemetry to Veeam. This is on by default and can be disabled, except for Free and Community Edition licences, where it is mandatory.^[2]
• Non-transferability. Veeam licences are non-transferable; exceptions are requested through a licensing case with proof of purchase.^[1] Rule: Licenses are non-transferable.

Non-commercial licences have their own limits. Community Edition and Free licences are limited to one installation per source infrastructure and may not be used to serve third parties. Evaluation licences are for demonstration and evaluation only, and Not For Resale licences may not be used in production.^[1] Rules: Community Edition and Free: one installation per source infrastructure, no third-party services, telemetry mandatory, Evaluation and NFR licences: no production use and no third-party processing.

Virtualization & partitioning

Under VUL a VM consumes one License Instance whatever the hypervisor. Legacy Socket licences count each occupied CPU socket on source hosts, as reported by the hypervisor API; replication and migration target hosts need no licence. When a Socket licence is present, it protects all VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V hosts, and the customer cannot split vSphere or Hyper-V VMs between Socket and VUL.^[1] Rules: Socket counting: occupied CPU sockets on source hosts, Socket licenses protect all vSphere and Hyper-V VMs when present. Perpetual Socket customers receive one free VUL per Socket, up to six, for non-VM workloads.^[1] Rule: Perpetual Socket customers get one free VUL per Socket, up to 6. See Virtualization and partitioning and Processor and core licensing.

Cloud / BYOL

Cloud VMs on Amazon EC2, Azure and Google Cloud consume one VUL each, and Veeam Backup for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud are sold in packs of 10 VUL. Software pre-installed on a Veeam-published marketplace image may be used only in VMs deployed from that image.^[1] Rule: Veeam-published marketplace image: use only in VMs deployed from it. For Veeam Kasten, Multi-Cluster Manager lets one licence cover all clusters in a multi-cluster system, leasing spare node capacity to secondary clusters.^[11] Veeam’s Kasten pricing page offers an enterprise trial covering up to 500 nodes for 60 days.^[10]

Programs

• Veeam Universal License subscription. The standard commercial model: the right to the latest version for the term, with support included.^[1]
• Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) rental licensing. The EULA prohibits processing third-party data or offering commercial hosting without “a specific license to do so”.^[2] VCSP rental licences provide that right if the provider reports usage to Veeam every month.^[7] Usage is reported through VCSP Pulse by the third day of each month and billed by a Veeam Aggregator in Points Per Unit.^[8] Rules: No third-party data processing without a specific license, VCSP monthly usage reporting obligation.
• No Commit and Volume Rental Agreement. A No Commit agreement starts with a 75-day licence, extended by 30 days each time usage is reported; a Volume Rental Agreement gives longer terms for a monthly minimum commitment.^[9]

Recent licensing changes

• Licensing Policy v19, June 2026. The current version of the End User Software Licensing Policy.^[1]
• EULA, 2026-08-25. The current EULA includes sections on automatic updates and an AI-enabled Assistant, and confirms that exceeding purchased capacity may lead to Maintenance being postponed or refused.^[2]
• End of new perpetual Socket sales. Perpetual per-CPU Socket licences have ceased new sales, and Veeam encourages customers to migrate to VUL.^[1]
• Veeam Backup & Replication 13. Released November 2025; version 12 reached End of Fix in November 2025.^[4]

Guides

The articles on Veeam licensing, in reading order:

1. Veeam Universal License and Veeam Data Platform licensing: VUL consumption per workload, Socket and VUL in merged environments, Capacity Packs, Entra ID, exceed thresholds and grace periods, and VCSP rental points.
2. Veeam Data Cloud and cloud workload licensing: protected-instance counting for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, free and paid appliance editions, marketplace images, the Veeam Data Cloud Service Agreement and Fair Use Policy, and Veeam Vault capacity.

Out of scope

• Veeam Data Cloud and other Veeam-hosted services, which have separate agreements.^[1]
• List prices and part numbers. Veeam publishes no public price list; the catalog SKU rows are offering names only.
• Kasten Free and edition feature differences beyond the licensing rules above.