The Wolfram Engine implements the Wolfram Language with interfaces designed to be called from other software, and it is the core that Wolfram says sits at the heart of Mathematica, Wolfram|One and Wolfram|Alpha.[1] Wolfram licenses it in two quite different ways: a free Community Edition (“Free Engine”) for developers, and production licences negotiated for deployment. A software asset manager meets the Engine in three places: developers who have downloaded the free edition, engineering teams who want to deploy it, and vendors who embed it.
The Free Engine for Developers
Allowed uses
The Free Wolfram Engine for Developers is subject to its own Terms and Conditions of Use, to the Wolfram Terms of Use, and to an FAQ for guidance.[2] The terms grant a non-exclusive licence to install and use the Free Engine on any physical or virtual system able to run it, for “development but not production of software applications”.[2] Allowed uses include pre-production development of a product for oneself or one’s organisation, non-commercial personal projects, and exploring the Wolfram Language for later projects; open-source projects approved by Wolfram are also allowed, and current licensees of other Wolfram products may make other uses under the terms of their existing licences. Wolfram states that the classification of a use is solely its decision.[2]
The FAQ gives examples. A commercial product can be developed with the Free Engine, including demos, testing and prototyping, but a production licence is needed before deployment.[1] R&D is allowed when it serves the development of a product, but the licence does not permit using the Free Engine expressly to produce output such as papers or reports for commercial or organisational use; Wolfram points to Wolfram|One, Mathematica or other products for that.[1] Paid services are allowed if they consist of developing products with the Engine, but not if deliverables are direct outputs.[1]
Prohibited uses
The terms prohibit running the Free Engine in a production software application, running it expressly to produce output for commercial or organisational use, decompiling or modifying it, distributing or sublicensing any part of it, copying it other than a single archival copy, and using a password or activation key other than as authorised.[2] Teaching a course is outside the Free Engine licence, which is for software development and does not cover providing educational services; Wolfram refers educators to its education licensing, and a university may be covered by a Wolfram site licence.[1]
Two counting questions come up in practice.
- Web services and APIs. Prototype or demo web services are allowed, but the service needs a production licence before it goes into production, even when it is used only inside the organisation. Wolfram considers a web service or API to be in production if its output is used for purposes other than demos or testing.[1]
- Non-commercial projects. Even if the project is not commercial, a production licence is needed to deploy it for end users to use.[1]
Open-source projects
The Free Engine may be used when developing an open-source project, but the licence does not permit end-user use except for further development. End users need a separate Wolfram Engine licence, which they may already hold if they have Wolfram|One, Mathematica or a site licence. Open-source projects can apply for a special Wolfram Engine licence that lets end users use the Free Engine freely as part of using the project.[1] Wolfram’s Engine page lists free use of the Wolfram Engine in open software projects as an additional licensing option alongside production and OEM licensing.[3]
Authentication and redistribution
Each copy of the Free Engine must be authenticated once with the Wolfram Cloud. Authentication does not expire, although Wolfram reserves the right to terminate use in case of abuse; production licences can allow deployment without separate authentication.[1] Activation happens by launching WolframScript and logging in with the account used for the download; two keys are assigned to each account, and if both are used they can be reset by contacting Wolfram.[1] Copies of the Free Engine cannot be redistributed. To maintain versioning and security, copies must be downloaded directly from Wolfram, but production licences can permit redistribution.[1]
Customers who hold a Wolfram|One or Mathematica licence may download the Free Engine and use it subject to the terms of that licence.[1] Wolfram also says that Engine licensing is included in the Wolfram Technology System for Education and other site licences.[3]
Records and audit
The Free Engine terms require the licensee to maintain accurate records of use sufficient to show compliance, give Wolfram the right to audit those records, and require a response within ten business days after written notice of an audit.[2] The Free Engine terms also say Wolfram may change them without notice by posting them.[2] The licensee indemnifies Wolfram for claims arising from a breach, and the agreement is governed by Illinois law with irrevocable consent to the jurisdiction of Illinois courts.[2] Data collections reached through the Engine are protected intellectual property that may not be copied or used to build a database, and Wolfram|Alpha and Wolfram Cloud functionality carry their own terms of use.[2]
Production licensing
Wolfram’s commercial options page lists five production licence families.[4]
| Family | Licensing basis | Typical uses listed by Wolfram |
|---|---|---|
| Local individual and enterprise systems | Individually licensed to a machine with any number of cores; site-licensed to a facility; or cluster-licensed to a machine cluster | In-house tools, report generation, supercomputer deployment |
| Distribution with software | Licensed to embed in a software system running on any machine; price per copy typically 5 to 100 US dollars; fixed price up to a volume, or per system; revenue sharing; special arrangements for free and open software | Embedding machine learning or Wolfram Language functions in an application |
| Distribution with hardware | Fixed price for a given hardware system or configuration | Turnkey products with in-product computation and a Wolfram Cloud back end |
| Cloud computing platforms | Licensed by number of virtual machines | Deployment on AWS, Microsoft Azure, VMware, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud and similar platforms |
| On-demand usage in the Wolfram Cloud | Engines made available on demand, including on-site deployment of the full Wolfram Cloud stack | Custom APIs, smart forms, deployed reports |
Wolfram’s FAQ states that cost depends on volume and application, and that for distribution inside a software or hardware product typical per-copy costs fall between $5 and $100.[1][4] The page frames the per-copy price as typical, not as a published price list, so quoted prices should be recorded from the order document.[4]
For counting, the relevant metrics differ by family. Cloud deployments are counted by Virtual machine (Wolfram Engine cloud deployment); embedded distribution by Per-copy distribution (Wolfram Engine); and local installations by machine, site or cluster.[4] The FAQ adds that the Free Engine may be run as local software in the virtual environments of standard cloud providers such as AWS, and that a web service in production needs a production licence.[1]
Relationship to other Wolfram licences
The Engine is described as the same core as Mathematica but with a different interface and different licensing: Mathematica is for interactive computing in the notebook interface, while the Engine is intended to be called by other programs and, in its free form, is licensed for pre-production use rather than for generating outputs for commercial or organisational use.[1] The version of the Engine bundled with Raspberry Pi’s operating system is the same software with a licence that allows noncommercial production use.[1] Wolfram’s Compute Services documentation notes that jobs submitted from Wolfram Language 14.3 or later always execute with the latest released Engine.[5]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Wolfram Application Server or Enterprise Private Cloud, which are covered with System Modeler and the cloud services in a separate article, and it does not record production licence prices, which Wolfram quotes individually.[4]