IMPORTANT: From February 2023, we will be making changes to the way licenses work. Please read more about these changes here.
Capture One offers perpetual and subscription licenses for users. The difference between those is the term of validity. A perpetual license is everlasting (for life, providing that you meet the minimum system requirements), while with a subscription plan you have to make regular payments to keep the license active – but you always have access to the latest version.
About perpetual licenses
Once you make a full one-time payment for the Capture One software version (for instance, Capture One Pro 23), you obtain a lifetime license. You can use this license to activate the version you purchased for, and for any older versions.
Be sure to keep your workstation inline with the minimum system requirements to ensure the version you purchased will always work with your hardware.
Upgrading perpetual license
Once the new major Capture One release is out, you may upgrade your perpetual license. For instance, when Capture One 23 is released, you can upgrade your Capture One 22 perpetual license with a special price here - https://www.captureone.com/en/account/upgrade.
Capture One brand (Fujifilm, Sony and Nikon) perpetual license holders will be offered an option to upgrade to the latest version of Capture One Pro only. Read more about the brand products removal here.
The owners of perpetual Capture One Fujifilm licenses, however, still have an option to upgrade their license to the latest version of the same product variant (Capture One Fujifilm). You will see that option on the list in the upgrade store.
For every perpetual license, one of the upgrade options is switching to a subscription. Read about that here.
IMPORTANT! After an upgrade, you will get a new license key which you can also use to activate the older versions of Capture One. An old key will be deactivated without the possibility to be reactivated again.
If you have purchased Capture One shortly before the newest major release came out, check whether there are any free upgrades outlined in the specifications of your license which can be found by visiting our website captureone.com and navigating to My Account -> Manage licenses-> License Management -> [perpetual license]. If your license contains a free upgrade, it allows you to activate the next major upgrade of Capture One at no extra cost.
This article explains the whole upgrade path in details.
NOTE: Upgrading is possible for perpetual license owners only. If you currently have Capture One Express or trial, in order to get the full version of Capture One Pro, you need to make a new purchase in our e-store.
About subscription licenses
With a subscription license, you have to make payments monthly or annually based on your subscription plan. As long as you make regular payments, a subscription license works with the latest upgrade or update. You can also activate the previous versions of the software with your subscription license.
NOTE: To use Capture One on a subscription basis, you must have and maintain an internet connection allowing for communication between your equipment and Capture One's equipment over the internet for the purpose of Capture One being able to validate and reconfirm your valid subscription license, including payment of applicable subscription license fees from time to time during the subscription period.
Subscription plans
| Subscription plan | Description |
| Annual prepaid |
When you choose an annual-prepaid subscription plan, it means that you will be charged the indicated amount once a year. The first payment is done at the moment of purchase, while ongoing payments will be made on the date specified in your Order History -> Subscriptions -> Next Charge field. |
| Monthly | This subscription plan is particularly suitable for those who value flexibility. It means that you will be charged on a month-by-month basis while your subscription is active. |
| Annual paid monthly | An annual subscription billed monthly meant that you would make monthly payments on the specified dates during the 1-year contract period. The subscription couldn't be canceled prior to the end of the 12-month term. No longer sold. |
Cancelling subscription
If you want to cancel your subscription and not prolong it for another month or year (depending on your subscription plan), you can do so through your Capture One account. See the detailed instructions in this article.
The number of activations per license
Every Capture One license is cross-platform compatible (be it macOS or Windows) and allows you to activate the software on a specific number of machines. The number of available activations depends on your license type. Read more about how many computers can be activated with each Capture One license in our dedicated article:
How many computers can I install Capture One on?
Backward compatibility
All Capture One licenses are backward compatible which means that they can be used to activate older versions too. Let's say you have obtained Capture One 23 license key and use it on your new MacBook running the latest macOS. You have the second computer on an older macOS that requires an earlier version of Capture One compatible with that OS version. That's not a problem – simply download Capture One 22, 21, 20 or 12 (the one supporting your old macOS) and activate it with your Capture One 23 license key. Older software installers can be downloaded here (scroll a bit down to see versions prior to 22).
IMPORTANT: The backward compatibility of Capture One subscriptions depends on whether it was issued by FastSpring. FastSpring licensing was first introduced in Capture One 11.3.2. If you can find your license in the FastSpring Order History, your license is a FastSpring one.
Like this, all Capture One Pro subscriptions purchased via FastSpring can activate the software starting from version 11.3.2 onward. Sony and Fujifilm subscriptions were introduced even later and have been supported since the release of Capture One 12. Subscriptions for Capture One Nikon can activate the software starting from version 20 (13.1.0) accordingly.
Legacy subscriptions (obtained before November 2018) are supported since Capture One 8 onward and allow customers to use Capture One from version 8 to the latest one. These are no longer sold and cannot be found under the FastSpring order history.
Comments
101 comments
where do I cancel my subscription so that it is no longer debited after 12 months
I have Capture One 20 Express for FujiFilm. I have downloaded and installed the full version but still only have the Express functionality (have rebooted, retried, etc.)
I have a big issue with the subscription I just purchased and in particularly the following statement
This is not at all correct and unfortunately it is what I was lead to believe when I logged in to check out the Black Friday offers you had. I had a choice between upgrading to the latest Capture One 23 perpetual license + styles for £179 or a annual pre-paid subscription for only £89 + £92 one off paiment for the styles (actually there were two other choices, 4 in total, but these weren't discouinted) which worked out slightly more expensive than the Capture One 23 perpetual license + styles at £181. I was going to go for the pepertual license + styles offer (which I actually came for, but I couldn't work out why the subscription offer was more expensive. After ages trying to to get my head around this, and consulting the FAQs I stumbled upon this article among others which indicated that I will be "charged the indicated amount once a year" which I took to mean that the anual pre-paid subscription offer I received for £89 would renew each subsequent year and this would explain why it was priced more or less / slightly more than the perpetual license. Hence against my better judgement I decided to go for the subscription, which I generally dislike, and to my horror I discovered shortly afterwards that the renewal for the next year was not £89 as I was expecting but double.
To me this is dishonest advertisement which tricked me to opt for the subscription I didn't really want and I feel utterly disapointed, cheeted even. I immediately tried to contact someone about this, in order to have this corrected, but there are not contact details anywhere on your website. I ended up sending a request via some webform (ticket has the ID number 165840 & ID number 165847) but I would much rather speak to a representative in person about this to clear this mess up ASAP
Why are there no support contact numbers anywhere? So frustrating.
In any case pleasse escalate this and have this FAQ updated as it was one of the reasons I mistakenly took the subscription offer together with the missleading marketing; instead of displaying £89 for the pre-purchased annual subscripton + £92 one off payment you should clearly indicate that the £89 pre-purchased annual subscripton is discounted for a limited period only i.e. one off discount for this year only, similar to what you did for the one off payment for styles which you did specify clearly, so that it is completely clear what we are being asking to sign up to.
Thank you and I wait to hear from someone shortly I hope.
So I have Capture One (for Sony) 20 - Perpetual license bought in August.
Guess I cant upgrade to the latest version without paying for it again?
Hi Ilaha,
Thank you for the question.
First of all, you will have to log into your account at captureone.com
Then click on Order History and you will be redirected to the FastSpring page.
There you will have to enter your e-mail. Then go to the Subscriptions tab and select your subscription. Click on Manage and select Cancel subscription from the drop-down list.
Thanks Lily. Now subscribed and have it activated on Mac and Windows. All very straightforward.
Hi RY,
Thank you for the comment.
That is possible for sure.
Learn how to deactivate Capture One in this article.
You can deactivate Capture One either directly from the application on the particular device or from your account on the website. This will reveal the activation seat allowing you to activate Capture One on another device.
Hi Sheila,
Thank you for the comment.
Note that the Capture One Pro product variant allows working with all the supported cameras and RAW files.
Meanwhile, Capture One (for Sony) can work with supported Sony cameras only.
Please, let me know which license do you currently own? Is it Capture One Pro perpetual license or Capture One (for Sony) perpetual license?
Thanks,
Lily
Fir those looking for clarity: if you upgrade a perpetual license to a subscription **you will lose access to that perpetual license** and **you will not be eligible for future upgrade discounts.** These essential details are not stated anywhere.
Buyer beware! I would definitely not have switched had I known. IMO this puts a bad mark on Capture One... it’s the kind of thing I expect from A*obe, not C1!
I currently have a Fujifilm subscription license. Im curious if upgrading to a regular Capture one license is possible? I didn't think I would need it, but I have other files I want to edit.
I had inquired a few months ago about the same issue as Richie - I’m on a Fujifilm subscription and I’d like to upgrade to Pro. Is this now possible?
Hi Louis,
Thank you for your clarification.
In general, when switching from subscription to perpetual license, there is no discount as such, however, we often have different kinds of campaigns offering discounts for new and existing users. If you are subscribed to Capture One newsletters, you will get updates and notifications about those in the e-mails.
Also, if you had a perpetual license previously (before obtaining a subscription plan), you can simply upgrade in here - https://account.captureone.com/en/store/upgrade
Sieglinde,
A section in the post on which you are commenting has the information you require.
How to cancel my subscription?
HTH.
Hi Trevor,
Thank you for your comment.
Please, note that upgrading could be applied to perpetual licenses only.
Meanwhile, the procedure is different for switching from one subscription type to another (as was suggested by the Support Team).
Can you spell out the exact procedure here? It seems to be a common request but it’s difficult to find public information on the procedure.
From what I understand, if you have an annual subscription you can only switch to another license type at the end of your subscription. This is very inconvenient - so it is important information for people to know!
Hi Peter,
Thank you for the comment.
I have converted your request to a support request. The Support Team will get back to you soon.
Hi,
Thank you for the comment.
I have converted your request to a support request.
The Support Team will get back to you soon.
Hi Burt,
Thank you for the comment.
I have converted your request to a support request. The Support Team will get back to you via the ticket soon.
Hi Castro,
Thank you for your comment.
Please check our article with the list of supported cameras Camera models and RAW files support in Capture One
Lily,
I pay a monthly fee for Capture and when I upgraded to 21, I was automatically given a Free 30 Day Trial. If I have a subscription, why would it do that? The 30 Day Trial is now over and it now wants me to purchase or enter my key. I have had my subscription for 3 years now and cannot find a key, if I ever even had one. What should I do to resolve this?
Peter
Note, attention, if you have a perpetual license, do not buy an upgrade with subscription, because you will lose the perpetual licenses for previous versions C1. This is a capture one cheat, I'm terribly disappointed, got robbed. Give me back my perpetual license
I have a Capture One Pro 20 perpetual license and would like to upgrade to Capture One Pro 21. There is a third-party approved vendor who is selling the full perpetual license version of Capture One Pro 21 for a price that is currently lower than your upgrade price. If I purchase this new perpetual license from the third party vendor, will I still have the three activations for Capture One 21 that I am entitled to from my Capture One Pro 20 purchased via your website in March 2020 and would it still be backward compatible with my previous version? Thanks.
Hi Maryna!
It seems that the new policy regarding the pre-upgrade to Version 22 is messing a lot of things up.
People who upgraded from 20 to 22 are limited to using 20 only and it was not very clear that they won't be able to use 21 until 22 is released.
This article states that when you purchase the upgrade you're able to use OLDER versions of Capture One - not just the current one you already own.
Not only is this very confusing to your customers, you're also causing issues for those who HAD bought the upgrade to 21 and now upgrade to 22. They too seem to be stuck with version 20 until 22 is released.
I think this whole mindset of always trying to withhold stuff from customers is not a good business strategy and seems to backfire quite a bit.
It used to be quite simple: once you upgraded to the latest version you could use all older versions too. But it seems that was too "generous" and now your support team is getting flooded with questions, requests and quite probably a lot of requests for refunds as well.
Maybe you should consider sticking to your own long standing terms regarding licenses and simply enable all users who bought the V22 pre-upgrade to also use V21 in the meantime.
hi,
I have a question about deactivate C1 on my computer. I lost my laptop and I want to deactivate C1 on it. I have a new laptop with active C1 and I don't want to lose it. How to do it properly?
Thank You Lily, have a nice day. J.
Hi Trevor,
Thank you for the comment and clarification.
I have checked your case and see that you did not get a subscription as a separate license but substituted your perpetual license with it by choosing the corresponding upgrade option.
While upgrading from Capture One 12 for Fujifilm / (for Sony), there are several available options: Capture One 20 for Fujifilm as a perpetual or a subscription license, and also as a Capture One 20 Pro perpetual.
That Capture One 20 for Fujifilm as a perpetual license could be upgraded to Capture One 20 Pro. However, the procedure is different for Capture One 20 for Fujifilm as a subscription, which is provided by the Support Team in the ticket.
I currently own a Capture One (for Sony) perpetual license. And when I go to the upgrade page $258 is the price they list. I haven't upgrade since the 10
I purchased CaptureOne; why it listed as 'Capture One 21 Pro (Trial)' when I review 'About Capture One 21'? Did something go wrong with my download?
Hi Mirko,
Thank you for your comment.
A single-user perpetual license for Capture One Pro can activate the software on 3 workstations of the same individual.
Hi Sheila,
Thank you for the clarifications provided.
I have forwarded your request to the Support Team.
They will get back to you soon.
Thanks,
Lily
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