Use the Vuforia License Manager to add, remove, or change between Vuforia license types and add-ons. In this guide, we present a few scenarios on how to apply and update your Vuforia licenses to get the full benefits of the Vuforia Engine features.
Vuforia Engine Licenses
Vuforia Engine has a Basic plan that is free to use and publish your applications with. It does not support publishing apps containing Advanced Features, like Model Targets and Area Targets.
Vuforia Engine has a Premium plan that can be acquired by contacting PTC’s Sales team. It unlocks the use and publishing of applications using Advanced Features, like Model Targets and Area Targets.
To each plan (Basic and Premium), a Cloud or Cloud Plus add-on can be purchased. The Cloud Plus is available in different tiers. See Vuforia Engine Plans for details.
See the overview of supported features in each of the plans in the FAQ section of Pricing and Licensing Options.
All existing licenses and subscriptions are now part of either a Basic or a Premium plan.
License Manager
The License Manager is an online tool on the Vuforia Engine Developer Portal that lets you create, manage, and cancel license keys that are used to authenticate your applications using the Vuforia Engine. A license key is created as a Basic or Premium key. For an introduction, please see Vuforia License Manager.
Create a Basic License Key
A Basic license key can be created in just a few steps. Create a new key and add it to your application to gain the benefits offered in the free Basic plan.
- Login to your Vuforia Developer Account.
- In the License Manager window, press Get Basic.
- Enter a license name, check the terms and conditions box, and press Confirm.
- Add the new license key to your application and publish it.
The old license key can then be cancelled.
Many Vuforia Engine features are now part of the Basic plan, so, if you have used a Vuforia Engine feature that used to require a paid license, you can switch to the Basic plan by:
- Upgrading your project to Vuforia Engine 10.3 and later.
- Create a Basic license key and replace it with the license key in your application. Only then will the Basic license take effect. When users have updated the app on their device, the features of the Basic plan will be in effect and a watermark will no longer be shown (unless Area Targets and Model Targets are used).
Create a Premium License Key
A Premium plan is for those who wish to use advanced features such as Area Targets and Model Targets. Follow the steps below to get a Premium plan and license key.
- Request first a Premium plan by contacting the PTC sales team.
- Login to your Vuforia Developer Account.
- In the License Manager window, press Get Premium.
- Enter a license name, check the terms and conditions box, and press Confirm.
- Add the new license key to your application and publish it.
If you are replacing a license key with another, you can let the existing license key expire or you can cancel it.
Purchase a Cloud or Cloud Plus add-on
Cloud or Cloud Plus add-ons are for those who wish to use Cloud Recognition and Cloud Databases. A Cloud add-on allows for up to 10,000 recos (target recognitions) and a Cloud Plus add-on is offered in several tiers. The Cloud add-on is obtained as a self-service while the Plus tiers are obtained by contacting the sales team.
When the Cloud add-on is acquired, a license key is added to your License Manager list view. Use When you create a new Cloud Database, this key can be associated with it. .
- Login to your Vuforia Developer Account.
- In the License Manager window, press Buy Cloud Add On and fill the self-service form.
- Cloud Plus add-on is obtained by contacting sales.
- When processed, a new license key is available in the License Manager.
- Add the new license key to a new Cloud Database.
NOTE: If your app is already in production with either a Basic or Premium Plan license key, you don’t need to replace the license key of your app after obtaining the Cloud add-on. You only need to make sure that the new Cloud license key is attached to your Cloud Database within the Target Manager in the Developer Portal.
Re-associate a license key to an already created Cloud Database
A new license key can be re-associated to a Cloud Database that already has an active license key associated. This is helpful for cases where you need to change the license key upon renewal or want to downgrade or upgrade your Cloud add-on.
NOTE: Cloud Database licenses are NOT to be used as the main Engine license in your app. Make sure that your associated Cloud license key is not used in your app as the main Engine license as this process requires you to cancel the license. A canceled app license will fail during SDK initialization and canceling a license key is a non-revertible action and cannot be recovered.
If your Cloud license key is not used as the main app license, this process will not cause any issues.
- Navigate to your Cloud Database in the Target Manager.
- Select your associated license key under License Key.
- Click Cancel License.
- Navigate back to your Cloud Database.
- Click Add License Key.
- Select a new, unassociated license key.
NOTE: Cloud Recognition fails during the period of a Cloud Database not being associated with a license key.