Licensing and activation
At a glance
Section titled “At a glance”A NextPDF Premium license adds NextPDF Pro and NextPDF Enterprise capabilities to the open-source core. You get a subscription or an evaluation grant, activate it for each deployment, and use the capabilities included with your edition. Adoption requires no application code change. Premium plugs in behind the same public contracts your application already uses, so your existing code stays intact.
This page explains licensing at the product level. For the exact terms, durations, and pricing that apply to your subscription, see your license agreement or contact sales through the license portal.
Editions and licensing
Section titled “Editions and licensing”NextPDF Premium ships as one package with both commercial editions. The license you activate selects the active edition. Installing the package alone does not grant NextPDF Pro or NextPDF Enterprise.
A license names an edition, and editions are cumulative: NextPDF Pro includes everything in the open core, and NextPDF Enterprise includes everything in NextPDF Pro. The license is delivered as a signed envelope, a self-contained, signed artifact that names your edition and entitlements. Treat the license envelope as a credential. Store it with the same care as an application programming interface (API) key, and keep it out of public version control.
After you have credentials, install the package:
composer require nextpdf/premiumThe feature matrix shows the capabilities in each edition, and Choose your path helps you choose between the open distributions and a commercial edition.
Evaluation mode
Section titled “Evaluation mode”You can evaluate NextPDF Premium with the full feature set before you buy. Evaluation output includes a visible watermark by design, so evaluation builds are clearly marked and are not suitable for production delivery. The watermark is the only functional difference during evaluation. Every capability is available for you to assess.
A paid license removes the watermark with no application code change. You do not rewrite or reconfigure your document code, and you do not learn a second path. When you activate a paid license, evaluation branding turns off. To start an evaluation, request a grant from sales at the license portal.
Activate a license
Section titled “Activate a license”Activation is a product-level step you run once per deployment, including production, staging, or a build runner. At a high level:
- Obtain a subscription or an evaluation grant from sales.
- Place the signed license envelope where your deployment loads it, following that deployment’s configuration convention.
- Run your application’s activation step. Most integrations provide it as a console command, such as through your framework’s command runner.
After activation, the runtime uses cached license state and does not require the license service for normal document processing. Deployments without outbound internet access are supported. Because the license is a self-contained signed artifact, an air-gapped environment runs by installing the license envelope produced for that deployment.
When a paid subscription reaches its end date, the software does not stop. It first enters a grace period, during which entitled capabilities keep working while you renew. It then enters a perpetual-fallback state, where the installed version keeps running but updates and support are no longer entitled. You are never locked out of software you have already deployed. Your license agreement defines the precise grace duration and renewal terms.