A license is a grant of rights, from Frontline Systems to you, to use our software in specified ways.  We offer several types of software licenses, to best meet your needs.

In Frontline Solvers, your license is associated with you, via your email address and password, and may be used on more than one PC. For example, you can run SolverSetup to install the software on your office PC, your company laptop, and your PC at home. But only you can use the software, and only on one of these computers at a time.  To give you this flexibility, our license agreement specifies that you must use your real email address and password, and you must not 'share' these with anyone else.

 

Using Your License: Login and Logout

When you first use Analytic Solver either in the cloud or on a new computer, you will be prompted to login. Enter the email address and password that you used to register on www.Solver.com.  Once you’ve done this in Analytic Solver Desktop, your identity will be “remembered,” so you won’t have to login every time you start Excel, and go to one of the Analytic Solver tabs.  If you are using Analytic Solver Cloud, you will need to login at the beginning of each session.  

You can login and logout at any time, using Login/Logout on the License menu. If you share use of a single physical or virtual computer with other Analytic Solver users, be careful to login with your own email and password, and log out when you’re done – if you don’t, other users could access private files in your cloud account, or use up your allotted CPU time or storage.

When you move from one computer to another, you should log out on one and login on the other. As a convenience, if you log into Analytic Solver a new computer when you haven't logged out on the old computer, Analytic Solver will let you know, and offer to automatically log you out on the other computer. 

Upgrading From Earlier Versions

A new license will not be required for Analytic Solver if you're upgrading from Frontline Solvers V2024 Q3 through V2018. Old license codes for V2016 and earlier have no negative effect in the current version.  If they exist in the obsolete Solver.com file (located at C:\ProgramData\FrontlineSystems), they will be ignored. 

Using the Cloud Version

Analytic Solver comes in two versions:  Analytic Solver Desktop -- a traditional "COM addin" that works only in Microsoft Excel for Windows PCs (desktops and laptops) and Analytic Solver Cloud - a modern "Office addin" that works in Microsoft Excel for Windows PCs and Excel for Macintosh (desktops and laptops), and also in Excel for the Web using browsers such as Chrome, FireFox and Safari.  Your license gives you access to both versions, and your Excel workbooks and optimization, simulation and data science models work in both versions, no matter where you save them (through OneDrive is most convenient). 

Evaluation License and Test Runs

An Evaluation License is a single user, short term license, normally free of charge, to enable you to evaluate suitability of our software prior to purchase of another license type.  Such a license may allow only limited-size models and/or datasets, or may simply allow you to confirm that a model can be solved, without providing full solution information ("Test Runs"). If you are evaluating our software for a legitimate commercial application where you need to see full solution information, you are welcome to contact us to request a short-term, complimentary Single-User License (see below) -- we simply want to understand and agree on your goals in the evaluation.

Single-User Licenses

A Single-User License is our standard "paid" license granted to a single named individual.  As noted above, this license allows you to install and use the software on more than one computer -- such as a desktop, laptop, home computer, or virtual computer -- but you may use the license only on one computer at a time.  When you move from one computer to another, you should log out on one and log in on the other. As a convenience, if you start using our software on a new computer when you haven’t logged out on the old computer, the software will let you know, and offer to automatically log you out on the other computer.  Note that, if you allow your license to expire, the software will display an error message if you attempt to run it after the expiration date.

Multiple-User Licenses

A Multiple-User License is our standard "paid" multi-user or "concurrent use" license, normally purchased by an organization.  With this license, several different individuals may use the software, but only one of them at any given time.  Frontline must receive a complete list of the email addresses of the individuals who are entitled to share use of the license.  Each of the users may install the software on more than one computer, just as for a Single-User License.  Any of the named users can temporarily "acquire" the license and use the software, but only one at a time, per Multiple-User License.  If another one of the named users seeks to acquire the license, he/she will receive a message indicating that the license is in use -- this will normally include the email address of the user who is "holding" the license.  The second user must wait until the first user logs out and releases the license. A user whose email address is listed on several Multiple-User Licenses will "acquire" a license as soon as one of them becomes free.

How the Licensing System Works

As noted above, license management software embedded in our products administers and controls use of licenses.  Information about licenses is maintained by a "license server" in a central database, and is downloaded to the PC where the software is running and temporarily "persisted" there.  This means that the "client" software -- Analytic Solver -- must periodically communicate with the central license server, over the public Internet.  Once the current license status is "refreshed", the client software can continue to run (without access to the public Internet) for a period of time, called the "License Duration," that is encoded as part of the license.

This license management system provides the flexibility to allow one named individual to use the software on multiple computers.  But in situations where this system cannot be used -- for example, in applications where a computer must be totally isolated from the Internet, or where no risk of a delay in "license acquisition" is acceptable, there is a backup licensing mechanism in our products, that relies on a "license code," stored in a text file named Solver.lic, and tied to a "lock code" -- an encoded "fingerprint" of the hardware on which the software is running.  Please contact us if you feel you will need this backup mechanism.

License Terms and Renewals

All of our licenses have a limited term -- Frontline does not offer "permanent" licenses.  The license term coincides with our Annual Support service term -- Frontline does not offer licenses without Annual Support.  The minimum term is one year; you can choose two years or three years and realize savings.  As specified in our license agreement, software licenses must be prepaid -- they do not become effective until we receive payment, notwithstanding any "grace" period allowed by Frontline.

Since October 1, 2021, our prices for annual software licenses have been the same each year (in the past, we offered "renewal licenses" at lower prices than first-year licenses).  But we offer discounts if you prepay for more than one year at a time.

  • If a one-year license is priced at $1,000, a two-year license will be priced at $930 per year, so the two-year total cost is $1,860 -- a savings of 7%.
  • If a one-year license is priced at $1,000, a three-year license will be priced at $880 per year, so the three-year total cost is $2,640 -- a savings of 12%.

Under our Standard Terms and Conditions, at the end of the license term, you have the option to renew your software license for another term of one, two or three years (unless our invoice to you specifies otherwise). If you elect to terminate a license early, you will remain responsible for payment of all fees owed for the entire license term.

Subscription vs. "Permanent" License

Like other software vendors, Frontline Systems formerly (until 2016) offered "permanent" licenses, where the license had no expiration date.  But computer hardware and software does not last forever -- in fact it changes rather rapidly.  In recognition of this reality, Frontline has moved to subscription licenses.  A look at Frontline Systems company history or our press release archives shows that, over the last 7 years, we've released 14 major new versions of our products, radically re-making our product line.  During the same time, Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11, Excel 2016, 2019, 2022, and Excel for the Web and Teams have been released, multi-core PCs have become common (and Frontline's newer releases have fully exploited them), and cloud computing has emerged.  There's been a lot of change over the last 7 years, and we are quite certain that the rate of change is accelerating.  The lesson is that a "permanent" license does not really have a permanent value.