Licensing & Registration

License Types

Perpetual License

A perpetual license is valid forever for the DbSchema version available at the time of purchase, plus one full year of free upgrades and technical support from the purchase date.

During that first year you receive:

Upgrades to every new DbSchema release
Technical support by email
Security updates, bug fixes, new database support, and new features

After one year the license remains valid for the version you have, but a renewal license is required to upgrade to newer releases and to continue receiving technical support. DbSchema is under active development — we regularly add support for new databases, fix bugs, improve performance, and introduce new features, so keeping the license current is recommended.

Monthly Subscription

A monthly subscription gives you full access to the latest DbSchema release for as long as the subscription is active. This option suits short-term projects or teams that prefer predictable monthly costs.

Floating License

A floating license allows a team to share one or more DbSchema licenses. The number of simultaneously active users is limited to the purchased license quantity. Team members check out a license when they open DbSchema and release it when they close it, so the same seats can be used by a larger group across different time zones.

Floating licenses can optionally use a Floating License Server — useful when the client machines have no direct internet access.

Managing Licenses — Customer Area

After purchase, licenses are managed from the Customer Area at dbschema.com/support/customer.

The license owner can:

View and download license keys and invoices
Add users who are authorised to activate DbSchema:
- For commercial licenses with quantity > 1 — add each additional user by email address
- For floating licenses — add all team members by email address

Only the email address is needed to add a user. Once added, users can activate DbSchema by signing in with that email from the Registration Dialog (see below) — no manual key distribution required.

Registration Dialog

Open the Registration Dialog in DbSchema from Help → Registration.

Three activation methods are available:

1. Sign in with DbSchema Account (Recommended)

Enter the email address registered in the Customer Area and click Register.

If your email matches a license assigned in the Customer Area, the license is downloaded and activated automatically.
For floating licenses, signing in acquires a seat from the pool for the current session.
No license key is needed — just the email address.

This is the recommended method for teams, as the license owner manages access centrally from the Customer Area without ever distributing license keys.

2. Enter a License Key

Enter the license key sent to you by email from PayProGlobal after purchase and click Activate.

Use this method when activating a standalone installation without a DbSchema account, or when the email-based activation is not available.

3. Connect to a Floating License Server

If your company hosts a Floating License Server on your internal network (common in environments with restricted internet access), select this option and enter the server host and port.

DbSchema will contact the internal server to acquire a license seat for the current session.

See Floating License Server below for instructions on how to set one up.

Technical Support

If you need help with licensing, invoices, or your subscription, visit the Support Page or open the support dialog from Help → Technical Support inside DbSchema.

From there you can submit a support request, manage your subscription, or extend your evaluation period.

Floating License Server

The Floating License Server (FLS) allows a team to share floating licenses without each client machine requiring direct internet access. The server handles all license validation internally and reports back to the DbSchema licensing service.

Option 1 — Run FLS from Docker

Use the official Docker image from Docker Hub.

When running in Kubernetes, configure liveness and readiness probes:

healthChecks:
  livenessProbe:
    exec:
      command:
        - true
    initialDelaySeconds: 30
    failureThreshold: 10
    periodSeconds: 60
    successThreshold: 1
    timeoutSeconds: 60
  readinessProbe:
    exec:
      command:
        - true
    initialDelaySeconds: 30
    failureThreshold: 10
    periodSeconds: 60
    successThreshold: 1
    timeoutSeconds: 60

Option 2 — Start FLS Manually via DbSchemaCLI

DbSchemaCLI is included in the standard DbSchema installation and can host the license server.

Open a terminal and start DbSchemaCLI.
Load the floating license from a file:
```
register -f "path/to/license-file"
```
Start the license server:
```
license server -s
```
On each client machine, open DbSchema → Help → Registration → Floating License Server and enter the server host and port.
Monitor the server:
- license server -l — list currently active users
- license server -i — show server status

To start the FLS automatically on Windows, save the following to a .bat file and add it to Windows Task Scheduler:

DbSchemaCLI > license server -s
DbSchemaCLI > sleep

Auto-Discovery with Environment Variables

Set the following environment variables on each client machine so DbSchema locates the license server automatically without manual configuration in the Registration Dialog:

DBSCHEMA_FLS_HOST=<server-host>
DBSCHEMA_FLS_PORT=<server-port>