All about licenses

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), 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.

• Perpetual license 
  • about upgrades
  • number of activations
    
    
• Subscription license
  • subscription plans
  • canceling subscription
  • number of activations

About perpetual licenses

Once you make a full one-time payment for the Capture One software version (for instance, Capture One Pro 21), you obtain a lifetime license. It means that you are not limited in time to use Capture One 21 or any previous versions of the software (Capture One 20, Capture One 12, and older) that you can activate with your license key.

Upgrading perpetual license

Once the new major Capture One release is out, you may upgrade your perpetual license. For instance, when Capture One 21 is released, you can upgrade your Capture One 20 perpetual license with a special price here - https://www.captureone.com/en/account/upgrade. The owners of perpetual licenses for Capture One Fujifilm/(for Sony) have an option to upgrade their license with the same product variant or to Capture One Pro as well. You will see that option on the list in the upgrade store.

For any perpetual license, one of the upgrade options is to switch to the 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 a 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.

The number of workstations you can activate Capture One on with a perpetual license

• Capture One Pro (single-user)
  

  • The license key for Capture One 21 - 2 activations - this number of activations is applied for new users who made purchases after November 17, 2020; current users will keep the same number of activations after upgrading their licenses.
    

  • The license key for Capture One 9, 10, 11, 12, and 20 - 3 activations. In case you upgrade your license key to the newer version, you will keep the same number of available activations.

  • License key for Capture One 6, 7, and 8 - 2 activations.
    
    

• Capture One for Fujifilm / (for Sony) / for Nikon
  

  • The license key for Capture One 21 and earlier versions - 2 activations. In case you upgrade your license key to the newer version, you will keep the same number of available activations.
    
    

• Capture One Pro (multi-user)
  • a "5-User" license can be used on 5 computers simultaneously. A “10-User” license can be used on 10 computers simultaneously.
    
    
• Capture One Express for Fujifilm / (for Sony)
  • Capture One 20 and Capture One 21 license key - 1 workstation
  • Capture One 12 and older versions do not require a license key
    
    
• Capture One for Phase One
  • Capture One 20 and Capture One 21 license key - 3 workstations
  • Capture One 12 and older versions do not require a license key
    
    
• Capture One Enterprise
  • the license key is scalable on seats.

NOTE: If you have purchased the license before November 17, 2020, the number of available activations will be preserved.

NOTE: New users who purchase Capture One 20 + 21 starting from November 17, 2020, will receive the Capture One 21 license key which can activate Capture One 20 and other previous versions of the software. Thus, the number of available activations will correspond to Capture One 21.
  

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.

Backward compatibility of Capture One licenses depends on whether it was issued by Fastspring. Fastspring licensing was first introduced in Capture 11.3.2. If you can find your license in the Fastspring order history, your license is a Fastspring license.

NOTE: If you have the Capture One Pro subscription license but want to switch to the Capture One for Fujifilm / (for Sony) / for Nikon subscription, please submit your request to the Support Team here.

Subscription plans

How to cancel my subscription?

In general, it is not possible to cancel the subscription before the contract period expires once it has been activated with a license key.

Any purchase can be canceled in the following cases:

• The license key was never activated for any reason. 
• Duplicate order (Refund is not guaranteed if both keys were used).

NOTE: If a subscription becomes deactivated as expired, unpaid, or canceled, it's impossible to activate it again. If your subscription is deactivated, you can only order a new license.

The number of activations per license

To use Capture One on a subscription basis, you must have and maintain a stable Internet connection allowing for communication between your equipment and Capture One’s equipment via the Internet for the purpose of Capture One being able to validate and reconfirm your valid subscription license.

• Capture One Pro (single-user)
  • The license key purchased after November 17, 2020 - 2 activations
  • The license key purchased between November 2018 and November 2020 - 3 activations
  • The license key purchased before November 2018 - 2 activations

• Capture One for Fujifilm / (for Sony) / for Nikon
  • Each license key for the brand version has 2 activations
    
    
• Capture One Pro (multi-user)
  • a "5-User" license can be used on 5 computers simultaneously. A “10-User” license can be used on 10 computers simultaneously.

• Capture One Enterprise (multi-user)
  • a number of workstations should not exceed the maximum number of permitted users acquired.