How is Foxit Quick PDF Library licensed?

Foxit Quick PDF Library is licensed in two forms, 1) internal use within an organization, and 2) external use to those outside the company (other businesses, general public, etc…).

For internal use, you simply pay the initial license fee and then you are free to include our PDF SDK with your company’s applications for as long as you like.

The initial license fee is for an individual entity (individual or company) on a per developer, per platform basis (known as Platform Developer Licenses) for developing desktop and mobile applications.

If you are developing for use on internal use Servers, then a small one-off fee is required, in addition to the Platform Developer License, if you want to use Foxit Quick PDF Library on one or more Servers (for server-side applications or websites/web applications). This Server License covers you for use of Foxit Quick PDF Library on an unlimited number of internal-use Servers.

For external use, you can request a quote from the Foxit Software website. Its use is still royalty-free.

The full end user license agreement can be read online here, but to give you a rough idea of how you can and can’t use Foxit Quick PDF Library, internal or external, here are a few key points on licensing for desktop applications / mobile apps and server applications / websites:

Platform Developer Licenses

Licenses are sold on a per developer, per platform basis and are called Platform Developer Licenses. This means that a license will required for each developer on each platform. E.g. if a company has one developer who is creating software for Windows and Mac then that company will need to purchase a Windows Developer License and a Mac Developer License in order to ensure that the one developer is properly licensed for both platforms.

If the company has five programmers developing on two different platforms then they’d need to purchase five Windows Developer Licenses and five Mac Developer Licenses.

Same rules apply if you are developing for iOS and Android. Each developer needs a license for every platform which they will be developing software for.

Desktop Applications and Mobile Apps

• Desktop applications and mobile apps. A Platform Developer License includes the right to develop software for desktop and mobile environments at no extra cost. An additional Server License is required if you wish to develop software for use in a server environment (see Server Applications and Websites section below).
• Royalty free. You can use Foxit Quick PDF Library in your desktop applications or mobile apps without needing to pay any royalty fees for distribution to end-users of the applications you build. This means no additional fees to you other than the cost of the Platform Developer License.
• No limits on number of applications. We sell licenses based on the number of your developers who will be using the library on each platform, not the number of applications your company intends to build.
• No reselling. You are not allowed to resell Foxit Quick PDF Library or your license key unless explicitly permitted in writing by Foxit Software.
• Compiled applications only. You are not permitted to create your own PDF libraries, developer components, SDKs or toolkits using Foxit Quick PDF Library. It is licensed for use in end-user applications only.

Server Applications and Websites

• Server applications and websites. Server applications and websites require a special one-time Unlimited Server License in addition to a Platform Developer License. Currently only Windows Servers are supported.
• Royalty free. You can use Foxit Quick PDF Library in your server applications, websites or web apps without needing to pay any royalty fees for distribution to clients of your server-side applications or the number of visitors/users of your websites/web apps. This means no additional fees to you other than the cost of the Platform Developer License and the unlimited Server License.
• No limits on number of server applications or websites. We do not put a limit on the number of different projects that you are permitted to use Foxit Quick PDF Library in so long as your company has the required number of Platform Developer Licenses and the Server License and is of course the owner of these projects.
• Unlimited file/page processing and website visitors. There is no limit to the number of files or pages that can be processed using Foxit Quick PDF Library and there is no limit to the number of website visitors you can have to a website or web app that uses Foxit Quick PDF Library.
• No APIs. You are not permitted to expose, either directly or indirectly, any functionality of Foxit Quick PDF Library through an API to developers who are not properly accounted for by a Platform Developer License.
• No reselling. You are not allowed to resell Foxit Quick PDF Library or your license key unless explicitly permitted in writing by Foxit Software.

External Server Applications and Websites

• Using Foxit Quick PDF Library externally. Please request a quote if using the library to build applications for distribution to another business or the general public.

This article refers to a deprecated product. If you are looking for support for Foxit PDF SDK, please click here.