What you pay for — and what not
The license covers only the factory itself. The cost of the AI models is not included: it runs through your own API key or — for personal use — your own subscription and is billed directly by the provider.
Demo is not a license tier but the public instance at demo.softwarefabrik.io: features visible, no calls to real AI agents, daily reset. No registration — see Demo.
Community
free
For a single seat and for trying things out. No account, just an e-mail address. Since 0.51 you request the license directly in the factory: Einrichtung → Lizenz → “Community-Lizenz anfordern” (setup → license → request Community license).
- 10 runs per day
- 3 agents at the same time
- up to 3 machines per e-mail address
- license valid for 30 days, renewed online automatically
- tenants, roles, SSO and signed audit chain included
Professional
€20–30/month per user
For professionals, freelancers and small teams. Higher limits, spec-driven development and priority support; you import the license file under Einrichtung → Lizenz.
- 100 runs per day
- 10 agents at the same time
- machines as set in the license file
- 30-day lease, online renewal
- Spec-driven development (specs, approval, AC IDs)
- Priority support (e-mail)
Enterprise
from €20,000/year
For companies and public bodies. Contracted limits, SDD governance and personal support. Three delivery forms — Cloud, Self-Hosted or Air-Gap.
- 1000 runs per day and 50 agents at the same time by default, adjustable in the contract
- machines per contract
- Spec-driven development incl. SDD governance (spec approval as a policy requirement, AC coverage in the quality gate, signed specs in the audit export)
- Priority support, account manager
Inquiries: enterprise@softwarefabrik.io or via Enterprise.
Enterprise delivery forms
- Enterprise Cloud — license server operated by softwarefabrik.io in Nuremberg; 30-day lease. For companies without their own infrastructure.
- Enterprise Self-Hosted — license server runs at the customer site (Docker Compose or Kubernetes); 90-day lease. The JWT points to the internal address, the factory renews there automatically. For strict data sovereignty.
- Enterprise Air-Gap — offline certificate valid for 365 days, signed once a year. No network contact, no grace period; the AI model must run locally. For public bodies and defence suppliers.
Limits side by side
| Criterion | Community | Professional | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | free | €20–30/month per user | from €20,000/year |
| Runs per day | 10 | 100 | 1000 (default) |
| Agents at the same time | 3 | 10 | 50 (default) |
| Machines | up to 3 per e-mail | as set in the license file | per contract |
| Lease duration | 30 days | 30 days | Cloud 30, Self-Hosted 90, Air-Gap 365 days |
| Grace period after expiry | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days (not for Air-Gap) |
| Emergency grace after that | 24 hours | 24 hours | 24 hours (not for Air-Gap) |
| Tenants and roles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SSO (OIDC) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Signed audit chain | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spec-driven development | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| SDD governance | — | — | ✓ |
| Priority support | — | ✓ | ✓ |
- How runs are counted: successful runs count; failed, cancelled or timed-out runs do not. The counter restarts at 00:00 local time.
- What is enforced today: a valid license for every new run with a real AI agent (runs with the mock are license-free, in the starter package too, and do not count against the daily limit; the public demo needs none), the runs per day and the tiers for spec-driven development. The value “agents at the same time” is in the lease but not yet checked separately by the factory; parallel sub-runs are limited independently by the workflow layer. Details under Known limitations.
Technical license check
Licenses are issued as JWS (JSON Web Signature, EdDSA / Ed25519). The factory has the public key embedded and verifies the signature offline:
- The factory renews the lease with the license server over HTTPS on every start (and manually on request); if the server is unreachable, the existing lease stays valid.
- The signed lease is then stored locally; the factory verifies it with the embedded public key.
- If the lease has expired or the connection is gone, the grace period applies; after that a short emergency grace can be activated. Once that has expired too, no new run with a real AI agent starts until the license is renewed; runs with the mock remain possible.
The public key is available at https://license.softwarefabrik.io/api/v1/pubkey and linked in the transparency document. Terms such as lease, grace period and JWT are explained in Glossary and help.