# Licensing Overview > How DS Server is licensed per server instance for one year: unlimited developers, royalty-free client libraries, renewal, trial token and trial version. - **Product:** DS Server - **Section:** Documentation - **Kind:** Topic - **Path:** DS Server > Overview > Licensing Overview - **1924 words** - **Web URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/overview/licensing/ - **LLMs URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/overview/licensing/llms.txt - **LLMs-Full URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/overview/licensing/llms-full.txt --- DS Server is licensed differently from the TX Text Control components: you license the server installations, for one year at a time, and any number of developers, applications and users work with them. Read on for what a license covers, what happens when it expires, how you evaluate DS Server first and how a server gets its license. The steps in the admin portal are in [Licensing](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/administration/licensing/llms-full.txt). ### The Licensing Model at a Glance | | What it covers | |---|---| | Server license | Installing and running DS Server on the number of server instances in your order, for one year | | Unlimited server license | Installing and running DS Server on any number of server instances, for one year | | Developers | Unlimited. No per-developer license is needed. | | Applications and security profiles | Unlimited | | End users and documents | Unlimited | | Client-side libraries | Royalty-free with a licensed DS Server: the NuGet and npm packages, in any number of applications | | Updates and technical support | Included for the license period | | Trial token | A hosted DS Server for 30 days, without installation | | Trial version | The downloadable DS Server, fully featured, for 30 days | Text Control sells server licenses in packages from a single server up to an unlimited number of servers. The prices are on the [DS Server pricing page](https://www.textcontrol.com/product/ds-server/pricing/). ### Per Server, Not per Developer A license is counted by server instances. Text Control's license agreement defines a server instance as a physical server, a virtual machine, a container, a cloud instance, an application service or another server-side environment on which DS Server is installed or runs. - **Every instance counts.** Instances that run at the same time, including those behind a load balancer and those for high availability, failover or horizontal scaling, each need a license, unless your order grants more. - **Scaling environments.** When containers, Kubernetes workloads or other instances are added and removed automatically, your license has to cover the largest number that run at the same time, or you use an unlimited server license. - **Users and applications are not counted.** The number of end users and client devices that use applications connected to a licensed server is not limited. You create as many security profiles for as many applications as you need. For example, one server that serves ten applications needs one license. Three DS Server containers behind a load balancer need three. ### The License Period > Warning > > **Annual Renewal.** A DS Server license is not perpetual. It is valid for one year and must be renewed every year for DS Server to keep working: > > - **During the license period**, you run DS Server and receive updates, new major versions and technical support. You can renew before the license period ends. > - **When the license expires**, your right to run DS Server ends, and DS Server may stop working. The applications you developed with the client-side libraries remain yours, but they can only use DS Server while a license is valid. > - **After expiry**, you can renew within thirty days. After thirty days, the license can no longer be renewed. An installation that has no license yet does not process documents. The Web API answers with status 400 and the message `DS Server is not registered.`, and the Document Editor shows the same message in place of the editor. ### Developers and Client-Side Libraries The client-side libraries are the NuGet and npm packages that connect your applications to DS Server, such as `TXTextControl.DocumentServices.DocumentProcessing`, `TXTextControl.DocumentServices.DocumentEditor` and `@txtextcontrol/tx-ng-ds-document-editor`. They are royalty-free for use with licensed DS Server installations: - Any number of developers use them to develop, build, test and maintain applications. Build servers, test environments and CI/CD pipelines may use them too. - You distribute them with your applications, as long as the application does more than the libraries themselves and they are not passed on as a separate development library. - You may keep them in an internal package repository or mirror. - Coding assistants and other AI tools may work with code that uses them without a license of their own. They don't extend the server licenses. The royalty-free libraries don't include the server: the DS Server files, installation files and license information must not be distributed with your application, and serial numbers must not be passed on to your customers. ### Trial Token and Trial Version You can evaluate DS Server in two ways before you buy a license: | | Trial token | Trial version | |---|---|---| | What you get | Client credentials for a DS Server that Text Control hosts at `https://trial.dsserver.io` | The DS Server archive to install on your own machine | | Installation | None | As for a licensed server, see the [Installation Guide](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/installation/llms-full.txt) | | Where to get it | Request it with your email address at [dsserver.io/trial](https://www.dsserver.io/trial/) | Sign in with a Text Control account and download it from the [DS Server download page](https://www.textcontrol.com/product/ds-server/download/) | | Validity | 30 days | Free for 30 days | | OAuth | The client credentials flow is enabled, so a backend requests tokens with the client ID and client secret alone | You create your own security profiles | The trial version is fully featured. It is registered like a purchased license: your Text Control account lists a trial serial number for DS Server under **Manage Products**, and you enter it in the admin portal. [Trial Token](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/getting-started/trial-token/llms-full.txt) shows how to use the trial token in your first application. The license agreement allows a trial version for evaluation and testing only. Unless Text Control agrees otherwise, it must not be used in a production environment, used to provide production services to third parties, distributed or sold as part of a production application, or modified to remove its evaluation notices or limitations. ### How a Server Gets Its License A new installation of DS Server is not registered. You register it with the serial number of your license, which your Text Control account, your order confirmation email and your invoice contain: - **Online in the admin portal.** On the **Licensing** page, you enter the serial number and register. DS Server registers online with the Text Control store. - **Manually, without an Internet connection.** The admin portal creates a license request string, you exchange it for a license string in your Text Control account, and you enter that in the portal. - **With the Web API.** The licensing endpoints register, renew and unregister a server, online with a serial number or locally with a license string. Scripts use them to license new instances, for example when servers are created with Docker. | Endpoint | What it does | |---|---| | [GET /license/registeronline](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/reference/web-api/licensing/registeronline/get/llms-full.txt) | Registers the server online with a serial number | | [GET /license/renewonline](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/reference/web-api/licensing/renewonline/get/llms-full.txt) | Renews the registration online | | [GET /license/unregisteronline](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/reference/web-api/licensing/unregisteronline/get/llms-full.txt) | Unregisters the server online | | [GET /license/requeststring](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/reference/web-api/licensing/requeststring/get/llms-full.txt) | Creates the license request string for a manual registration | | [POST /license/register](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/reference/web-api/licensing/register/post/llms-full.txt) | Registers the server with a license string | | [GET /license/unregister](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/reference/web-api/licensing/unregister/get/llms-full.txt) | Unregisters the server | | [GET /license/validateserialstring](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/reference/web-api/licensing/validateserialstring/get/llms-full.txt) | Checks the format of a serial number | The licensing endpoints are admin endpoints: they take the admin user name and password in a Basic authorization header, not an OAuth token. [Licensing](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/administration/licensing/llms-full.txt) walks through the online and the manual registration in the admin portal. ### The License Agreement This page summarizes the TX Text Control DS Server End User License Agreement. The agreement is binding: you accept it when you install, access or use DS Server, and your order states the number of server instances and the license period. You can [download the license agreement](https://www.textcontrol.com/download/u/ffaea57e-edc9-56a6-aafa-50266b392117/) as a Word and a PDF file. For questions about a specific deployment, such as the number of licenses for a cluster or a scaling cloud setup, [contact the Text Control sales team](https://www.textcontrol.com/contact/). ### Related Pages - [Licensing](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/administration/licensing/llms-full.txt): register a server in the admin portal, online or manually. - [Trial Token](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/getting-started/trial-token/llms-full.txt): evaluate DS Server without installing it. - [Multiple Servers with Load Balancing](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/installation/load-balancing/llms-full.txt): run several licensed servers behind a load balancer. - [Licensing](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/reference/web-api/licensing/llms-full.txt) in the Web API reference: the endpoints that register, renew and unregister a server. --- ## Nearby - **Previous:** [Supported File Formats](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/overview/file-formats/llms-full.txt) - **Next:** [Installation Guide](https://docs.textcontrol.com/ds-server/installation/llms-full.txt)