Best way to handle software licensing system? Which is the best and most affordable?

Premium licensing systems all have the same flaw, they are widely used and already broken. The best solution would be to take the concepts that the large systems use, but localize them for your program and usage.

Heck, if you don't mind the extra cost of a server, I would just have 50% of the program run on your server, and require the application to connect with authentication in order to run. That way, even if your app is decompiled and rebuilt without your licensing, end-users will still only have 50% functionality.

You couldn't ask for a better advertising campaign then letting a half-functional program get out on the blackhat websites. Everyone will try it for a week, get pissed off, and just buy the program because they want the parts that work.

It might depend on your license requirements. Do you want it to expire in X months or days, do you want it as a one time use forever product unlock, etc? The key generation can be done with OpenSSL, the mechanics of your requirements become the hard part.

Wow thanks for the awesome information guys.

I'm not making any kind of enterprise level software that will be sold to big companies. I'm sure most of my customers will be using the software for personal use on their home PC and maybe a dedicated server.

I'm just looking for something where a user pays and after payment a license key is generated and sent to their email. I will allow a 2 pc license, etc.

I'm really looking for the most affordable solution out there. I like the idea of having part of the software run on my server so the software loses some functionality once it's cracked.

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll try to see what kind of licensing systems are out there. If anyone has anymore suggestions, please share.

Thanks

i actually have a brand new system in development at the moment and will be sold for 150.00 on beta release.

All the features you could think of as well as a sales system included.

Good topic, licensing products is not something for tomorrow, it is something that everyone needs today, It is accurate to say that there is no magic bullet, no perfect method to protect your product, however, you can slow them down, make it difficult, even discourage them from "bothering with trying to break your product" sure some may break it anyway, but what is really important here is that if you care about your customers, you will do what you can to protect them from the theft of your product.

I see so many people, selling product, here and else where, that do not care about their customers, they say things like, "I cant stop them so I dont bother with protecting my products," But what they are really saying is that "They do not care about protecting their customers, rights to use their product because when anyone can download and use your product, two things happen.

1. your product looses value.

2. Your customer gets ripped off.

Why should your customers feel safe making a purchase of your product when they can get it for free, from sharing websites, Why would a customer want to buy from you when they know that other people can get the same value, and not have to pay a dime, when I see that kind of behavior from a seller, I know right away, that what ever that product is, (in less than 24 hours, it will be worthless) both to me as a customer and to the market place, )

The unvarnished truth is not pretty, but it is easy to figure out, licensing has become an imperative...

Tim,

I spent countless hours researching and trying out many software protection "systems" for Windows applications...... I actually own a few....

I ended up picking a system because it has immediate (automatic) activation via e-mail, remote deactivation AND it is a "pay as you go system"..... No big $$$$ up front..... It is $49.97 a month plus they give you rebrandable software and other "goodies"..... There is a link to it in my sig....

God Bless,

Rich