Licensing

Axon Server and the commercial modules of Axoniq Framework need a license. Axoniq Platform issues these licenses for your workspace, delivers them to your applications and Axon Server clusters, and renews them before they expire. In most setups you never handle a license yourself: connect to Axoniq Platform and it is taken care of.

This section explains what is licensed, how your software finds its license, and what to do when it cannot reach Axoniq Platform.

  • License Sources explains where a license can come from, how to configure each source, and which one wins when there are several.

  • Running Without a Platform Connection explains how to run with a license file or environment variable, without a connection to Axoniq Platform.

  • Rotation and Expiry explains how licenses are renewed and what happens when one is missing or expired.

What needs a license

Software License

Axon Server

Always. The license determines how many nodes and contexts you can use, and which enterprise features are enabled.

Axoniq Framework 5

Only for its commercial modules, listed below. An application that uses none of them needs no license.

Axon Framework 4 and the open-source Axon Framework 5

Never. These are open source. Connecting them to Axoniq Platform for monitoring and management uses an access token, not a license.

Insights

Yes. Insights uses the same licenses as Axoniq Framework 5. See the Insights installation guide in the Resource Center.

Commercial Axoniq Framework modules

Each module checks for a license when it starts. If the license does not cover a module your application uses, the application stops.

Module License identifier Included in

Dead-letter queue (axoniq-dead-letter)

framework.dead_letter_queue

All plans

Self-checkpointing event handlers (axoniq-event-streaming)

framework.checkpointing

All plans

PostgreSQL event store (axoniq-postgresql)

framework.postgres

All plans

Workflow (axoniq-workflow-engine)

framework.workflow

All plans

Data Protection (axoniq-data-protection)

framework.data_protection

Small Business and Enterprise

Distributed tracing (axoniq-tracing-micrometer)

framework.distributed_tracing

Enterprise

Multi-tenancy (axoniq-multi-tenancy)

framework.multi_tenancy

Enterprise

On plans with a message throughput limit, some modules count towards that limit. See Subscriptions.

What a license contains

A license is a small text file of key=value properties, signed by Axoniq. It is issued for one environment of your workspace and states, among other things:

  • the workspace, the environment and its type, and the plan;

  • the number of applications and Axon Server nodes, contexts and other limits;

  • which Axon Server features and Axoniq Framework modules are enabled;

  • whether the license may be used without a connection to Axoniq Platform;

  • when it expires, and when its grace period ends.

Changing any of it breaks the signature, and the license is rejected.

License versions

There are two formats:

Version Used by

V2

Axoniq Framework 5, Axon Server 2026.0 and later, and Insights.

V1

Axon Server 2025.2 and older.

Axoniq Platform sends each Axon Server node the version it understands, so you only need to choose when you download a license file yourself.

Getting a license

Connect to Axoniq Platform

The recommended way. Your applications and Axon Server clusters receive their license over the same connection they use for monitoring, and receive a new one automatically when it is renewed or when your plan changes. See License Sources.

Use a license file or environment variable

For systems that cannot connect to Axoniq Platform. This requires a license that allows running without a connection, which is only available with an Enterprise plan or another agreement made with Axoniq sales. Such a license is usually valid for a year. See Running Without a Platform Connection.

Without a license

For local development and evaluation, you do not need to arrange a license:

  • Axoniq Framework 5.3.2 and later requests a temporary development permission from Axoniq Platform when it finds no license and is not configured to connect to Axoniq Platform. This permission covers the modules that may be used for non-production purposes, is tied to your machine, and is renewed every hour. The application logs a warning every 15 minutes that it runs without a license and must not be used in production.

  • Axon Server 2026.0 and later runs for 12 hours without a license, and then shuts down.

Production use always requires a license.