Camunda Licensing: What You Need to Know

As previously discussed in our Licensing Update for Camunda 8 Self-Managed blog and the forum post, Camunda is proceeding with the requirement of a production license for Camunda to be used in production environments. We’re excited to announce the final release of this licensing with Camunda 8.6. This marks a significant milestone in the evolution of Camunda 8 Self-Managed.

Camunda 8.6 introduces a new unified licensing model that applies to all Camunda 8 Self-Managed components, ensuring greater clarity, simplicity, and consistency for all users.

New licensing model

As part of the new approach, Camunda 8.6 Self-Managed now requires a production license for use in production environments. This unified license covers the entire Camunda 8 Self-Managed distribution, making it easier for users to manage licenses and stay compliant across environments. The goal is to enhance the user experience by streamlining the process while ensuring licensing consistency across all deployment scenarios.

The table below shows the licensing requirements with Camunda 8.6 Self-Managed. Please refer to the Licensing Update for Camunda 8 Self-Managed blog to see what has changed from version 8.0 through 8.5.

How the new licensing works

To comply with our new licensing terms, users must provide a valid license key during deployment. The license key is required for running Camunda 8.6 Self-Managed in production environments. Our documentation provides detailed instructions on setting up a license key.

When deploying Camunda 8 using Helm, the license key must be specified in the Helm values file under the global.licenseKey configuration parameter. Below is an example of how to configure the license key in your Helm deployment:

global:
  license:
    ## Provide an existing secret name for the Camunda license secret.
    existingSecret: camunda-license-key-secret
    ## Specify the key within the existing secret object for the Camunda license key.
    existingSecretKey: license-key

Ensuring long-term success

This change to our distribution, APIs, and licensing model is designed to secure long-term success for our company, customers, and partners. It simplifies and speeds up the installation process for Camunda Self-Managed, improves the developer experience with consistent APIs across all components, and introduces a straightforward, transparent licensing model. Additionally, these changes enable increased engineering investments, allowing us to deliver greater value through enhanced process orchestration.

We encourage users to upgrade to Camunda 8.6 as soon as possible. If you encounter any issues or need assistance, please refer to our documentation or contact our support team for further guidance.