Pricing, Packaging and Licensing for Qt

• If you create a device, you need Qt for Device Creation License. When you build a hardware that incorporates, integrates, or links to parts of Qt’s software libraries, it is a device. Also, when the main intended use case of a hardware product depends on Qt’s products and there are no other means for using the hardware for its main intended use case, the hardware is considered a device.

• The Qt for Application Development license is sufficient to create applications that run on desktop PCs, mobile phones, or tablets. These kinds of computers are typically used also for reading email, browsing the Internet and so on. A Qt-based application is only one of many applications on these computers. The main use case of these computers is not dedicated to the use of your Qt-based application.

Yes. A License Manager, that needs to be assigned for each organization using Qt, can assign licenses from one user to another in Qt’s customer portal. Note that the License Manager can reassign a license only once within six months. Qt’s Support Center can nominate the License Manager from any of the license holders within the company.

You can cancel your subscription at any time, this will stop the auto-renewal of your subscription and your license will be terminated at the end of your current term. For logistical reasons there is a 30 day cancel period before the end of your term, i.e., you need to cancel no later than 30 days before the expiry of your subscription. If you cancel the subscription less than 30 days before expiry, then your subscription will be automatically renewed for the next term.

If you purchased your licenses under the Qt License Agreement 4.4 (released in Feb 2022) or later, you can continue to distribute your applications after your subscription has expired. Distribution of devices is subject to having acquired the corresponding Distribution Licenses. However, you are not allowed to make any changes to the software including bug fixes or security updates using Qt’s tools.

With older Qt License Agreements, there are more limitations on distributing the applications or using already purchased Distribution Licenses beyond the expiration of your license.

If you are unsure, you can check your License Agreement version from your Qt Account customer portal or contact Qt Sales.

Yes, if you have unused distribution licenses, you may continue distributing the applications with your device, if you have licensed Qt under Qt License Agreement version 4.4 (released in Feb 2022) or later. Otherwise, you have 6 months to utilize your Distribution Licenses after the end of your developer license term.
You are however not allowed to access Qt updates or use Qt tools or libraries to further develop or maintain the applications for the device. We recommend that for maintenance and security reasons you maintain at least one Qt developer license.

No. If you are a subscription license holder, your rights to continue using the tools, APIs and libraries or access to any updates will expire when the subscription expires, or the subscription is cancelled. You will not have the rights to future development.

Yes. Distribution of Qt libraries in binary form in conjunction with the developed application is allowed.

Yes. You can install the Qt framework and our development tools to up to five computers. Our licenses are per named individual, so all members of your team using Qt need to have a valid license. For example, Qt software running on build server established using your license may not be accessed by a user without license. Misuse may lead to payment entitlement of all applicable license fees retrospectively.

Yes. Locking of devices, also known as Tivoization, is allowed under the commercial license.

Designer licenses can be mixed freely with developer licenses. In other words, any designer license, Qt Design Studio Professional or Enterprise, can be used with any developer license such as Qt for Application Development Professional/Enterprise or Qt for Device Creation Professional/Enterprise.
All members of the same product / project team need to have same Qt developer license type; Qt for Application Development Professional/Enterprise or Qt for Device Creation Professional/Enterprise. For example, one part of the team cannot be using a license for Qt for Device Creation Professional and another part Qt for Device Creation Enterprise as it would create difficulties to manage which user can use which feature.
Likewise, all designers in the design team must have same designer license type, either Qt Design Studio Professional or Qt Design Studio Enterprise.

Yes, you can use your commercial license to design, develop or test multiple products.
A Qt for Application Development license can be used for creating many different application products on generic desktop and mobile targets. Likewise, a Qt for Device Creation license can be used for all Qt for Application Development use cases as well as for creating multiple products.
Only the Qt for Device Creation Distribution licenses and Qt Extended Support are dedicated for a specific  product.

If you have chosen the commercial licensing, each Qt user must have their own assigned Qt commercial license. UI Designers, Technical Artists, Software Developers, or Test Automation Engineers might have different kind of Qt licenses, but every single person needs a valid subscription license. It is not permitted to mix Qt commercial licensees with open-source licensees in the design, development and testing of one hardware device or application. The Qt Company has the right to audit the use of commercial Qt products.

To provide or distribute a Qt-based application on devices under Qt commercial license, distribution licenses are also required. This means if your device incorporates or integrates parts of the Qt software libraries or if the main functionality of the device depends on Qt’s products regardless of whether Qt’s products are distributed or not, then you need a distribution license.

Yes, unlike some open-source setups, static linking is allowed with a commercial Qt license.

No, it does not. Qt libraries may be distributed in binary form only with the application.

Please contact Qt sales for discussing the best possible upgrade choice.

Your subscription will be automatically converted to the corresponding license which contains all the same features during the autorenewal at the end of the term. If you have the Qt for MCUs Essential package, then this will be renewed to the Qt for Device Creation Professional license. If you have the Qt for MCUs Ultimate license, then the license will be converted to an Qt for Device Creation Enterprise license.

Your subscription will be automatically converted to the corresponding license which contains all the same features during the autorenewal at the end of the term. For licensees of the Qt for Application Development license, this will be Qt for Application Development Enterprise license. If you have a Qt for Device Creation license, then the license will be converted to an Qt for Device Creation Professional license unless you have acquired components previously licensed for the automotive industry. In that case, your license will be converted to the Qt for Device Creation Enterprise license.

Yes. Wrappers do not block the licenses of the libraries they wrap. Licenses are passed on through the wrapper, hence developers using the wrapper must comply to the wrapped libraries’ licenses.

The features and functionality and license are the same. The only difference are the payment options.

You can convert from developing under open source to commercial terms and conditions by contacting the Qt Company. The commercial license does not by default allow using of code created under open source license, thus you will need to contact the Qt Company to help you with the transition.

To protect the interest of the creators and maintainers of Qt, every user of Qt must either have a valid commercial license or needs to agree to the open-source terms and conditions. The commercial Qt license gives you the full rights to create and distribute software on your own terms without any open source license obligations. The Qt open-source licensing is ideal for use cases such as open source projects with open-source distribution, student/academic purposes, hobby projects, internal research projects without external distribution, or other projects where all GPL and LGPL obligations can be met.