License support states explained

This article explains the various states a license can be in.

Supported

A supported perpetual license is covered with support & upgrades contract entitling you to the latest tool versions, bug fixes, platform support, new features and technical support.

Subscription

A subscription license includes support & upgrades in the rented subscription of the product also entitling you to the latest tool versions, bug fixes, platform support, new features and technical support as long as the subscription is active. If it's not renewed you will lose access to the product.

Perpetual

Redgate historically sold 'lifetime' perpetual licenses which means that when purchased, you own the product outright. Renewal of perpetual licenses gives you access to our support team and all new product versions. If you choose not to renew a perpetual license, the license remains yours but you would no longer have access to support & upgrades and the product will be fixed at that version.

Expired

An expired perpetual license means that the support & upgrades contract has expired but the license belongs to you so you can still continue to use it indefinitely.

If your license has expired you are only entitled to the version you purchased and the minor versions up to the next major version. E.g. If you purchase a license for SQL Compare 14 and it expires, you are entitled to 14, 14.1, 14.2 etc up to the last minor version of v14 but not v15.

Once a license expires you are no longer entitled to help with technical questions but we're happy to help with licensing and customer portal questions although you may experience a delay in reply time.

Trial

If you are evaluating a Redgate tool you will be given a trial key which gives you full tool use and automatically expires after 14 days.

When you upgrade to a new major tool version a trial warning message is displayed so that the licensing server can check that your license is entitled to the upgrade. You will need to activate your license key or log in with your Redgate ID to move back into licensed mode.

Never Supported

If you have a license that shows in the customer portal as never supported, it's a very old license that was purchased without support & upgrades. All new licenses now come with support & upgrades when you purchase. 

You can find more information on Support & Upgrades here.