Organizations are dependent on software resources for the completion of nearly all tasks. Whether it be human resources or factory production scheduling and manufacturing, software programs allow companies to automate processes, organize and allocate resources, save costs, and generate reports to assess aspects of performance in the businesses, besides a myriad collection of uses. Software is either ubiquitous or specialized, addressing needs as they arise among company groups.
With the proliferation of software of all kinds - be it free and open source, freemium or premium models - there comes a need to regulate the usage of these digital tools and their features. A common form of regulation is software licensing. Licenses are strict contracts between a buyer of software and its creator. These agreements specify who will use the software, for what purposes, the tenure of usage, the payment terms, and methods, besides other necessary information. Licenses assure software creators remuneration while limiting the exploitation of their intellectual property. These licenses give a fillip to core software development firms, protecting their rights and ensuring their software cannot cause damage, while also assuring them revenue from the use of the tool.
This blog on free and open source license management software highlights the features, advantages, and considerations of deploying license management software systems. It will highlight the business process improvements organizations can deploy by simply mapping the right software licenses and saving on cost and, simultaneously, increasing ROI. So do not just keep waiting for someone to point you in the right direction. Read on for information on the best license management software.
Types of Software Licences
There are two basic types of software licenses, explained below:
1. Open Source Software: This type of software entails the general availability of software code with the software subscribed or purchased. Users may modify the code, and create more functional modifications that are easily shareable within the developer community.
- Public Domain License - These licenses generally do not entail any restrictions, which means that the software is free for use by anyone. E.g., Freeware.
- Lesser General Public License - This is a particular type of license wherein your program can link open-source libraries or other executable resources. The overall software, however, can be under any form of license.
- Permissive - Also called a BSD-style license, this software license allows the modification, distribution, and trademarking of software with certain restrictions. The restrictions are limited to warranties or disclaimers. E.g., Apple Public Source License (APSL).
- Copyleft / Reciprocal Licenses - One of the stricter licenses, especially in the open source software domain, copyleft licenses allow modifications and redistribution of software. However, any modified software release must agree to the terms of the original license.
2. Proprietary - The sort of license does not permit the replication or reuse of any software without permission or grant. Traditionally, the source code is not shared with buyers or subscribers.
- Subscription-based software: The software is available for use as per a license model that allows access to certain features or the complete software in a time-limited manner.
- Perpetual License - Perpetual licenses entail buyers of software to use a particular version by payment of a single fee, without violating copyright rules or principles. No limit on the time of availability of software is necessary.
- Freeware - Generally, this type of license model enlists a free version of the software available for use, with higher functionality models needing payment.
License Management Best Practices in the Modern Era
As the software revolution continues to churn forward, businesses have become adept at adopting the best software to maximize their service and product potential while lowering operations costs with minimal supporting software development. However, there remain consistent questions on using licensed software unsparingly, which ultimately results in more harm than good for the companies. Some of the license management best practices are as follows:
Role of Big Data in License Management
Big data is quickly becoming the pulse for many organizations looking to prosper in their industry. The analysis from raw data can help businesses improve on multiple parameters, and the impact on license management software is no different. Here are some of how big data impacts free license management software, premium license management systems, and other systems:
Challenges for Companies Who Do Not Follow License Management
The biggest challenges faced by companies without appropriate license management tools are as follows:
What is License Management Software?
Software License Management (SLM) software is a suite of digital tools capable of helping an organization track, record its use, and assure themselves of strict compliance adherence when using licensed software from third-party suppliers, vendors. On the other side, a license management software system helps software producers control their software application and the revenue they are entitled to receive.
Coming under the purview of a software asset management (SAM) system, a free license management software empowers firms to use the software wisely. It helps in enabling cost control of software licenses, alerting organizational users to software license statuses, preventing fraud or misappropriation of software via company assets, documenting necessary information, and maintaining a central repository of all active software licenses within the organization.
Features Essential to License Management
The critical features that the best license management software must have are as follows:
Advantages of License Management Software
The most evident advantages that sound license management systems bring to an organization are as follows:
Top Free and Open Source License Management Software
*Free Trial
#1 SnipeIT
As an asset management tool, Snipe-ITalso doubles up as a free and open source license management software. The free license management software project has a robust REST API, is cloud-hosted, and offers industry-grade security. SnipeIT License Management Software (SLM) integrates QR code access for mobile devices while ensuring email notifications for license events (such as expiry and renewal). This free license compliance software offers low inventory alerts and can generate various reports of software assets. Easy information back-ups and one-click check-ins for asset management are other notable highlights.
Source - SnipeIT
The essential features of SnipeIT are:
- Copy Protection
- License Tracking
- Node Locking
- Point & Click Authoring
- Product Activation
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
#2 FOSSology
FOSSology is a free and open source license management software that helps track specific free and open source software instances. The license management tool offers export, and compliance analytics tools, while a fluid web user interface and connected databases ease the bulk of license management. The free license management software software provides a consolidated copyright detection, display, and clearing section. The license management solution also recognizes, adds, or removes files that are ECC statements and their types - Identified, Irrelevant, and To be discussed. The bulk license recognition feature offered by this free license management software is a massive help as it can scan files at once and add relevant licenses to the database.
Source - FOSSology
The best features of FOSSology are:
- Copy Protection
- License Tracking
- Point & Click Authoring
- Portable License
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
#3 Spiceworks
Spiceworks is a free license management system. It is simple to use and offers users the chance to inventory, audit, and take action on the organization’s various software licenses. Users can add and view software licenses while the licenses management system sends out alerts for necessary software license-related events, including renewal and lapse—an automatic scanner aids the software license management system in recognizing and storing software licenses. The free license management software tracks IT assets and vendors in a single place, alongside generating in-depth reports about software license usage.
Source - Spiceworks
The critical features of Spiceworks are:
- Copy Protection
- License Inventory
- License Tracking
- Node Management
- Point & Click Authoring
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
#4 OpenLM
OpenLM is a free trial-based license management software that specifically stores, tracks, and reports on engineering software licenses, viz. CAD/CAM, PLM, FEA, CAE, etc. The license compliance management system offers the ability to stream a particular license-based software in real-time and derive statistical at-the-moment and historical data reports. The license manager handles five different license models and is easily integrable into other license managers such as Flexra and Sentinel RMS. The license management solution is GDPR compliant and gives users the chance and control to monitor software usage-based costs with its intuitive dashboard. This software license management software also allows users to share accountability by enforcing user authentication for accessing OpenLM’s interface while strictly enforcing BYOD policies. Further to this, the software license management tool has a prediction tool that will allow the organization to execute, renew, or delete software licenses based on productivity. A notification system also helps keep checks on the status of various software licenses archived in the license management system software.
Source - OpenLM
The outstanding features of OpenLM are:
- Copy Protection
- License Inventory
- License Tracking
- Node Locking
- Point & Click Authoring
- Product Activation
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
#5 Intelex
Intelex is a free trial-based asset management software with several features of license management software. As with other software license management systems, its centralized inventory helps assess licensed software usage, and permissions, besides storing important information on the license itself. Data about expiry and renewal is also available on a centralized dashboard, accessible by anyone. It ensures adherence to all employees’ licensing policies, while notifications alert organizational POCs on license management events. The software prepares reports that software auditors find it easy to navigate and ensure the firm’s use of specific software does not cross a compliance red tape. Furthermore, the entire Intelex platform supports convenient features such as document management, root-cause analysis, communications management, and data import tools, all of which are immensely useful for managing licenses.
Source - Intelex
The exciting features offered by Intelex are:
- Copy Protection
- License Inventory
- License Tracking
- Node Locking
- Node Management
- Point & Click Authoring
- Portable License
- Product Activation
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
#6 Track-IT
Track-IT is an IT asset management software, offering a free trial, and one that has several features and capabilities of a license management software. The license management solution helps control software license costs while offering detailed reporting insights into licensed software usage and other necessary metrics. The software license management system can classify software, access rights, and effective license cost tracking and budgeting. Importing data tools help organize data effectively, while remote access capabilities enable the quick and easy analysis of license data on a single dashboard from any location or device. This License Management Software’s (SLM) scanning function detects any license violation of policies and alerts POCs to the same. The license compliance management system also ensures notification on license expiration dates.
Source - Track-IT
Some of Track-IT’s impressive features are:
- Copy Protection
- License Inventory
- License Tracking
- Portable License
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
#7 Asset Sonar
Asset Sonar is free trial-based IT asset management software with features and strengths of a license management software. The license management tool ensures the central listing and tracking of software assets and licenses, allowing companies to stay within budgets for software asset expenditure while at the same time assisting in avoiding penalties. The License management system project reduces the need for manual compliance checks by automating several functions, even adjusting the under and over-utilized incensed software assets. The software ‘reconciles’ licenses every 24 hours, ensuring the company is never caught off-guard by changes in license terms. Automatic alerts and streamlined financial tracking are just other features that Asset Sonar has up its sleeve.
Source - Asset Sonar
Some outstanding features of Asset Sonar are:
- License Inventory
- License Tracking
- Node Locking
- Node Management
- Portable License
- Product Activation
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
#8 Solarwinds License Management
Solarwinds is a free trial-based service desk software with its dedicated software license management system. It allows companies to immediately reconcile licenses - purchase missing licenses in real-time and adjust other licensing resources. The software license management system also automates important licensing alerts - such as renewal and expiry information. Solarwinds license management solution also generates detailed reports on various software licensing aspects. It is an on-premise solution. It can also effectively track and highlight error-prone data within licenses. The software also supports multiple software integrations that can improve your productivity.
Source - Solarwinds
The features that make SolarWinds a must-have are:
- Copy Protection
- License Inventory
- License Tracking
- Node Locking
- Node Management
- Point & Click Authoring
- Product Activation
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
Other than the above-mentioned free and open source license management software solutions, there are few more best software license management tools in the market today that need a mention. They are; Apptivo, SafeGuard LM, and Black Duck Hub. All of them have the necessary features to take your license management process to the next level. However, one of the most sought after choices includes License Dashboard. Let’s take a closer look at the software below.
License Dashboard
License Dashboard is a popular license management software that assures organizations upto a 30 percent bump in savings on software license expenditure and a noticeable bump in business ROI. Besides this, the license management solution records precise license metrics and automates the cleaning of audit-worthy datasets. Further to this, the software license management software provides entitlement validations, over 70 software integrations - including Microsoft’s Licensing Management Statement (LMS) - and verifies all updates and installs of software assets. Additionally, the License management software automatically integrates with SCCM, LANDesk, and Lansweeper to increase the suite’s functionality.
Source - License Dashboard
The noticeable features of License Dashboard are as follows:
- Copy Protection
- License Inventory
- License Tracking
- Node Locking
- Node Management
- Point & Click Authoring
- Portable License
- Product Activation
- Renewal Management
- Trial License
Conclusion
The license management software industry is reportedly going to be worth $14.3 billion in 2023, growing at 8.6 percent CAGR. According to Gartner, an estimated 68 percent of companies face IT audits every year, with severe consequences - financially and legally - using license-expired software. Several of the software listed in this blog help companies cure their software license management (SLM) troubles with excellent cost analysis, usage reports, and compliance mechanisms. However, there remain avenues that license management systems can improve on and ensure that every organization that deploys it may generate improvements on ROI and save on unnecessary expenditure. If you have previously used any of the Free and open source license management mentioned above, let us know on our exclusive feedback portal.
Did you like our article? Let us know your opinion of this blog in the comments section below. Do not be hesitant in turning to our well-crafted Buyer’s Guide to License management software when you eventually decide to dive into a purchase of free and open source license management software or premium software license management solutions. If you are looking for multiple corresponding software to push your business to the next level, GoodFirms’ meticulously curated Software Directory will help you make the correct decision.
