SciChart – Developer Licensing FAQ

We've collected FAQs for licensing SciChart below. If you have a specific question then please contact our sales team!

Q: How many licenses do I need to purchase?

This is defined in the SciChart EULA. As an explainer, please see below:

All our licenses are per-developer. This means

• You will need to purchase 1 license for each developer* on your team.
• You do not need to purchase licenses for Build Servers or Testers.
• If your team grows, you will need to purchase additional licenses.
• You are responsible for monitoring that you meet our Terms & Conditions with regard to licensing. 

* A developer is defined as ‘an individual who compiles, debugs and develops against code which references SciChart DLLs, Frameworks, npm packages or AARs’.

A simple way to test if a person is a developer and needs to be licensed is 'Does the person open, compile and run a Visual Studio solution, Xcode project, Android Studio project, VSCode project which references SciChart DLLs (Windows), Frameworks (iOS), AARs (Android) or npm packages (JavaScript)? If so, then this person is considered a developer by our licensing mechanism and needs to be licensed' - source: SciChart EULA

Prefer a graphic? Check out our flow diagram here!

Q: What is the Subscription and how does this work?

All our licenses come with a minimum 1-year subscription. Multi-year subscriptions may also be purchased at a significant discount. 

After purchase, you will receive license key(s) which are valid for the specific platform(s) of SciChart you have purchased. You'll need developers in your organisation to activate their license keys using our License Wizard.

During your subscription:

• Your license will be valid on any major/minor version of SciChart released during your subscription.
• You will be able to access technical support.
• You will be able to access customer support for license management.

Source code customers

• If you are a source-code customer, you will receive access to our private Github repository with the SciChart source-code.

Q: What happens if a Subscription Expires, Lapses or is Cancelled?

Near the end of your subscription you will be invited to renew your subscription by our sales team. However, if you allow a subscription to lapse or expire, then the following happens:

• Applications you have created with commercial licenses of SciChart will continue to work in perpetuity. This includes applications published to the app/play store, web applications and desktop applications.
  
  
• You will not be able to use the latest version(s) of SciChart. This means if there is a bug-fix build, or major/minor release after a lapsed subscription, your license key won't work on it.
  
  
• You will no longer be able to access technical support. This includes support for transferring or managing expired SciChart licenses.

There are a few exceptions to these rules, these are:

Exception #1 - JavaScript customers only

• Test domains will no longer work with an expired subscription.
• Production domains will continue to work.
• OEM / Server-Side Licensing or Advanced Licensing customers must maintain at least 1 license as a subscription.

Exception #2 - Source-code customers only

• Access to our private Github repository with the source-code of SciChart will be revoked. 
• Any forks you have made of our Github repository will no longer be accessible.

Q: Are there any restrictions on using SciChart after I have purchased licenses?

For all customers, the only restriction we have is to obey our licensing terms (EULA). Some restrictions for specific product types are found below. 

JavaScript Customers

• For our JavaScript customers, there is a limitation on the number of domains/hosts that you can deploy to. 
• You can find out more in our SciChart.js Domain Licensing FAQ.

OEM / Advanced Licensing Customers

• OEM Customers may have a custom contract with limitations on the number of end-users or deployments. 
• These are negotiated on a case-by-case basis during your purchase.

Q: After paying for licenses on a per-develop basis, am I free to distribute SciChart embedded in our application free of charge?

This is defined in the SciChart EULA. As an explainer, please see below:

Yes, you are free to copy and distribute SciChart when embedded in your application free of charge, so long as

• You are not creating a substantially similar product or component to SciChart, e.g. wrapping the SciChart library in a wrapper for distribution to multiple developers/departments, either for sale or as part of an internal framework used by other developers in your organisation.
• Your end users are not developers who will be debugging or developing against your code.
• You are not exceeding domain-licensing restrictions for SciChart.js. For more information, see our SciChart.js Domain Licensing FAQ

These are both rare cases, but if you are doing either of the above you may need developer licenses for each end-user, or an OEM or Global Enterprise license. Please contact sales if in doubt.

Q: Can I activate a SciChart license on my laptop computer as well as my desktop computer?

Yes, sure! The license is per-developer, not per machine. If one developer installs SciChart on both a laptop and a desktop PC this is allowable, so long as both instances are not being used by different users, or at the same time.

There is a limit to the number of concurrent activations for a developer license. If you hit this limit, deactivate a SciChart license using the Licensing Wizard to free up an activation.

Q: Can I upgrade my License?

Yes, upgrades are typically the difference in price between your existing product license and the license you wish to have. Get in touch with sales to find out more. 

Q: Does the Watermark show in the full version of SciChart?

Of course not! The watermark 'Powered by SciChart' is visible on the trial version(s) only.

Q: Can I get a license for free for non-commercial or educational use?

Educational licenses are available, please see our page on educational licensing for more details. 

For SciChart.js (JavaScript) - we have launched community licensing for non-commercial projects. See the Community Licensing page for more details.