office license perpetual vs subscription

This is due, in part, to the momentum of cloud computing and SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions. There has been a significant shift in recent years from perpetual software licencing to subscription software licencing. There is no end date to the subscription it is available to the company for however long they continue to pay the fee. The buyer has access to technical support and updated versions of the software as and when they are released. Subscription software licencesĬompanies that opt for a subscription software licence pay monthly or yearly for their licence with the option to pay a per-user fee. Once the year is up, the buyer has no choice but to pay again to renew the licence.

The buyer is able to download all updates and receive technical support during that twelve-month period. Having an annual software licence is almost like renting it for a year. As such, in many cases, it’s not really perpetual at all. Many companies that purchase a perpetual licence find themselves buying an updated version as soon as the original requires a significant upgrade. These updates are usually only supplied for an initial period of between one and three years which could present a financial risk further down the line. The original agreement might include download updates to the software which the buyer has to implement. Updates are necessary to keep the software secure and compatible with hardware and systems that have been upgraded. The buyer might pay for maintenance separately or it could be included in the original package price. The licence is purchased for a one-off, up-front cost to be used indefinitely. The perpetual software licence is very much a traditional, or maybe ‘old school’ licence option.Ī perpetual software licence is what its name suggests. To begin, let’s take a look at all three types. However, where a choice is available, we will explain why at E2E Technologies we believe that subscription software licencing is the best option for most companies. Some software is perpetual only, some subscription only and so on. Sometimes there is no choice in which licence type a company can opt for. The most common types of software licences are:

Office license perpetual vs subscription