Skip to content

Licensing Guide

CertifyClouds uses a tiered licensing model with feature gating based on your subscription level.

License Tiers

STARTER Tier

Entry-level license for small teams getting started with Key Vault security.

Features Included:

  • Asset Discovery scanning
  • Compliance scoring
  • Email and webhook alerts
  • Audit logging

Limits:

  • Maximum 4 Azure subscriptions
  • Single user account

Best For: Small teams, initial evaluation, basic monitoring needs

PRO Tier

Full-featured license for enterprise environments requiring automation and multi-cloud capabilities.

Everything in STARTER, plus:

  • Secret Rotation (App Registration credential rotation)
  • Multi-Cloud Sync (Azure to AWS/GCP)
  • Dependency Mapping (resource impact analysis)
  • Full-stack rotation (credential + dependent resources)
  • SSO/OIDC authentication
  • B2C Tenant Registry
  • Multi-user support

Limits:

  • Unlimited Azure subscriptions
  • Unlimited users

Best For: Enterprise teams, multi-cloud environments, automated credential lifecycle

Feature Comparison

Feature STARTER PRO
Asset Management
Key Vault Discovery
Secret/Key/Certificate inventory
Expiration tracking
Dependency mapping
Compliance
Compliance scoring
CIS/SOC2/ISO27001/NIST rules
Custom compliance rules
Alerts
Email notifications
Webhook (Slack/Teams)
Digest scheduling
Automation
Secret rotation
Multi-cloud sync
Full-stack rotation
Enterprise
SSO/OIDC
B2C Tenant Registry
Multiple users
Limits
Subscriptions 4 Unlimited
Users 1 Unlimited

Obtaining a License

Request Evaluation License

For a 30-day PRO evaluation license:

  1. Email sales@certifyclouds.com
  2. Include:
  3. Organization name
  4. Number of Azure subscriptions
  5. Intended use case
  6. Receive your evaluation license key within 1-2 business days

Purchase Production License

Contact sales@certifyclouds.com with:

  • Organization name
  • Desired tier (STARTER or PRO)
  • License duration (annual recommended)
  • Number of subscriptions (for STARTER)

Activating Your License

Environment Variable

Set the CERTIFYCLOUDS_LICENSE_KEY environment variable:

# In .env file
CERTIFYCLOUDS_LICENSE_KEY=CC-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

# Or via Azure Container Apps
az containerapp update \
  --name cc-uks-prd \
  --resource-group rg-cc-uks-prd \
  --set-env-vars CERTIFYCLOUDS_LICENSE_KEY=CC-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

Verify License Status

After starting CertifyClouds, check the license status:

Via API: 

curl http://localhost:8080/system/license/status | jq

Via UI: Navigate to Settings > License to view:

  • Organization name
  • License tier
  • Expiration date
  • Feature availability

License Validation

How Validation Works

  1. On startup, CertifyClouds validates your license against license.certifyclouds.com
  2. Validation confirms tier, expiration, and feature flags
  3. License is cached locally for offline operation

Offline Operation

If the license server is unreachable:

  • Grace period: 7 days (configurable via CERTIFYCLOUDS_LICENSE_GRACE_DAYS)
  • During grace: Full functionality continues using cached license
  • After grace: Application enters degraded mode

Network Requirements

CertifyClouds needs outbound HTTPS access to:

  • license.certifyclouds.com (license validation)
  • management.azure.com (Azure Resource Manager)
  • *.vault.azure.net (Key Vault data plane)

License Expiration

Before Expiration

You'll receive email notifications at:

  • 30 days before expiration
  • 14 days before expiration
  • 7 days before expiration
  • 1 day before expiration

On Expiration

When your license expires:

  • Access to the application is blocked
  • All scheduled operations stop
  • Existing data remains in your database
  • Contact sales@certifyclouds.com to renew

Renewal

To renew your license:

  1. Contact sales@certifyclouds.com
  2. Receive your new license key
  3. Update the CERTIFYCLOUDS_LICENSE_KEY environment variable
  4. Restart the application (or it will auto-validate on next check)

Upgrading Tiers

From STARTER to PRO

To upgrade from STARTER to PRO:

  1. Contact sales@certifyclouds.com
  2. Receive your new PRO license key
  3. Update the environment variable
  4. PRO features become available immediately

No data migration required - your existing scan history, alerts, and settings are preserved.

License Security

What's in the License Key

The license key is an encrypted JWT containing:

  • Organization name
  • License tier (STARTER/PRO)
  • Expiration date
  • Maximum subscriptions
  • Feature flags

What We Validate

During validation, we check:

  • Key signature (prevents tampering)
  • Expiration date
  • Rate limits (abuse prevention)

What We DON'T Access

License validation does NOT send:

  • Your Azure data
  • Secret information
  • Scan results
  • Usage telemetry

Feature Gating

When you attempt to use a PRO feature with a STARTER license:

API Response: 

{
  "error": "Feature requires PRO tier license",
  "feature": "rotation",
  "current_tier": "STARTER",
  "upgrade_url": "https://certifyclouds.com/pricing"
}

UI Behavior: PRO features show a lock icon with upgrade prompt.

FAQ

Can I try PRO features before purchasing?

Yes! Request a 30-day evaluation license with full PRO features from sales@certifyclouds.com.

What happens if I exceed subscription limits?

On STARTER tier (4 subscription limit):

  • Adding a 5th subscription returns an error
  • Existing subscriptions continue to work
  • Upgrade to PRO for unlimited subscriptions

Can multiple installations use the same license?

No. License keys are tied to a single installation. For multiple environments (dev, staging, prod), contact sales for appropriate licensing.

Is the license hardware-locked?

No. You can move CertifyClouds between servers or containers without issues. The license is validated against our server, not tied to specific hardware.

Support

For licensing questions: