NEXT HMIDocs
GitHub
Licensing / Commercial licensing

Commercial licensing

NEXT HMI is free and open-source under AGPL-3.0. Most users need nothing on this page — a factory self-hosting an unmodified build owes nothing, forever, even in production, even commercially, even for many operators.

The AGPL only asks something of you when you redistribute a build or network-serve a modified one: then §13 requires you to offer recipients the complete corresponding source of what you shipped. A commercial licence is the alternative to doing that — not a fee the licence imposes.

This page says who each paid option is for and how to buy. It is not the licence text — ask mailto:licensing@next-hmi.com for that.

Redistribution licence

For OEMs and machine builders embedding NEXT HMI in shipped equipment, integrators delivering modified builds, and SaaS vendors serving a modified NEXT HMI.

Grants two things:

  • No copyleft obligation on redistribution or network serving.
  • White-labelling. The open-source runtime shows a NEXT HMI logo and AGPL-3.0 notice on every boot, minimum two seconds. The commercial build drops the notice and adds a shell.bootLogo project setting for your own mark. Both are properties of the build, not a runtime licence check — the open-source build ignores bootLogo and always shows the notice. Shortening the two seconds without this licence is a contract violation, not something the software blocks.

Priced per shipped unit — one fee per machine or panel that leaves your building with NEXT HMI on it, perpetual for units already delivered. Enforced by contract only; the open-source build contains no licence check at all. Ask mailto:licensing@next-hmi.com for a quote against your volume.

Enterprise module subscription

Adds a compliance audit trail — a tamper-evident record of operator actions — for plants under regulatory audit requirements. Separate signed build, own per-device key, commercial licence, code not in this repository.

Unlike the open-source build, this one is activated. Details worth knowing:

  • An unactivated build serves its manager (where you paste the key) but starts no project.
  • The check runs only when a project starts. A lapsed key cannot stop a running line; it refuses the next start.
  • Nothing phones home — the expiry is a date inside the signed key.
  • The open-source build in this repository has no licence check and never will.

Support and commissioning

Open to everyone, including AGPL users who never redistribute: commissioning help, priority support, an SLA, a real invoice, and a contractual counterparty. It adds a relationship, never a different binary.

Release binaries are currently unsigned. Windows and macOS portable builds ship without Authenticode or Developer ID today, so SmartScreen and Gatekeeper warn on first launch; run from source or Docker if plant IT forbids that. When signing lands it applies to the public release for everyone — it will not become a paid tier.

Bundled LGPL components

Two backend dependencies are LGPL and used unmodified: asyncua (OPC-UA client, LGPL-3.0-or-later) and zeroconf (LAN discovery, LGPL-2.1-or-later). This matters to commercial licensees, who don't get the AGPL's automatic source provision.

  • Source installs import both from site-packages — independently replaceable there.
  • Binary builds (portable, Docker) ship them as loose package directories under lgpl/ beside the executable rather than frozen inside it, so a recipient can swap in their own build. Licence texts travel with the build (LICENSE-LGPL-3.0.txt, LICENSE-GPL-3.0.txt, LICENSE-LGPL-2.1.txt).

Written offer for source. Upstream publishes it: asyncua, zeroconf. The lgpl/ directories in a release are themselves the complete corresponding source for the exact versions shipped; on request we send them directly (mailto:licensing@next-hmi.com).

How to buy

Everything — redistribution licences, the enterprise module, support, commissioning — goes through mailto:licensing@next-hmi.com. Say what you are building and who receives it; you get a straight answer, including "you do not need to buy anything" when that is the true one.

Trial keys for the enterprise build: https://next-hmi.com/trial.