Licensing¶
OctoEdit is free for personal use and paid for commercial use. Every install starts with a 30-day evaluation that has everything unlocked, so you can try the full product before deciding.
Work modes¶
The mode is shown in the status bar (while unlicensed or evaluating) and in About ▸ About OctoEdit… (on macOS: OctoEdit ▸ About OctoEdit…).
| Mode | How you get it | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluation | Automatic on first run, for 30 days | Everything (all Pro features) |
| Free | After the evaluation, with no licence | Full editor for personal use; Pro features off |
| Home | A free, registered Home licence | Same as Free, but registered and with no purchase reminders |
| Licensed | A paid commercial licence | Commercial use; Standard or Pro features |
There is no activation server and no node-locking — a licence is a file you import, and you can move it to another machine by importing it again.
Standard vs Pro¶
Two feature levels:
- Standard — the full editor and all everyday plugins (search, spell check, snippets, function list, previews, compare/diff, and more).
- Pro — Standard plus the heavier tools: Log Analyzer, the LSP client, Folder Compare, and the AI Assistant (and macros in a future release).
Free, Home and commercial Standard all have the same features — the Pro tools are what a Pro licence (or the evaluation) unlocks.
Buying a licence¶
Commercial licences are sold on octoedit.com/buy in two editions:
- Commercial Standard — commercial use of the Standard feature set.
- Commercial Pro — commercial use of the full Pro feature set.
A Home licence (Standard, non-commercial) is free — request it and import it like any other. Any Buy a license button in OctoEdit opens the store.
Entering, viewing and removing your licence¶
Everything lives under the About menu (on macOS these entries follow the platform convention and sit in the application menu instead — OctoEdit ▸ License and OctoEdit ▸ About OctoEdit…):
- About ▸ License ▸ Enter License… — pick your
.octolicensefile (or paste its text) and press Import. OctoEdit verifies it and switches mode immediately. Restart OctoEdit afterwards so the Pro plugins and the AI Assistant update to match your licence. - About ▸ License ▸ Remove License… — deletes the stored licence from this
computer and returns to the evaluation/Free rules. Your original
.octolicensefile is untouched, so you can import it again later. - About ▸ License ▸ License Agreement… — opens the End-User License Agreement.
- The About dialog shows your licensee name, licence type, tier and coverage.
By using OctoEdit you accept the License Agreement (the first-run dialog links to it).
What Free mode limits¶
Free mode is a full editor for personal use. It only turns off the Pro tools — the Log Analyzer, LSP client, Folder Compare and AI Assistant. In Preferences ▸ Plugins the Pro plugins appear greyed with a "Requires a license" note; View ▸ AI Chat is disabled with a matching tooltip. Everyday editing is never restricted.
Your data¶
A licence file contains only your name, an optional seat label, your e-mail and an order reference — never invoice data such as a tax id or postal address. See the privacy policy for how licensing data is handled.