Licensing

License Tiers

The plans build on each other: Basic lets you connect (attach to a running TIA Portal and open a project), browse, use AI Chat (including Canvas), compare projects in the Compare Editor and run small import/export operations (up to 50 files); Pro unlocks the engineering toolset — opening a project offline, creating a new TIA project, PLC Online over OPC UA and S7 Native, Find Unused, hardware editing, Block Protection, Safety, Library operations, Password Vault, PLCSim Advanced, Codebase Index, TIA Multiuser and SCADA — with no limit on import/export size; Pro+ adds online commissioning (going online/offline, online compare, download and upload to device), the Commissioning Report, Unit Testing, Hardware Simulation, Forge and EPLAN on top of Pro; and Enterprise adds team and organization management (RBAC, dedicated support) and is available on request.

PLC Online (over OPC UA and S7 Native) is included from the Pro plan; online commissioning, the Commissioning Report, Unit Testing and Hardware Simulation come with Pro+. The free trial unlocks all of them.

Signing In

AnyAutomation Studio requires you to sign in with your AnyAutomation account. When the app starts and you are not signed in, a Sign in to AnyAutomation Studio window opens automatically. Choose Sign in via Browser to complete authentication in your default web browser; once you approve, the workbench opens. On a brand-new installation the welcome walkthrough runs first, and the sign-in window opens once you finish it.

Signing in is required to use the app: if you cancel or close the sign-in window, the application closes. If the sign-in service cannot be reached, the window offers Retry, Continue Offline, and Close App — choose Continue Offline to keep working until your connection returns.

You stay signed in across restarts — your session is restored automatically on the next launch. To sign out, use Sign Out in the Manage License window.

Trial Period

The 30-day free trial unlocks the full Pro+ feature set — including PLC Online over OPC UA and S7 Native, online commissioning, the Commissioning Report, Unit Testing, Hardware Simulation, Forge and EPLAN — for 30 days. Once you are signed in and do not yet hold a license, the trial starts automatically; you can also begin it with the Start Free Trial action.

To start a trial:

1. Open Manage License — from the Accounts menu (the accounts icon in the Activity Bar) → Manage AnyAutomation License, by clicking the license badge in the status bar, or by running Licensing: Manage License from the Command Palette (F1)
2. Click Start Free Trial
3. The full Pro+ feature set is available for 30 days

When the trial expires, the app asks you to activate a license to keep using the paid features; an expired trial unlocks nothing further.

Activate License (Online)

1. Purchase a subscription (Basic, Pro, Pro+, or Enterprise) at https://www.anyautomation.ch
   • Tip: Inside the License Activation dialog a View Plans & Subscribe button opens the same comparison page in your browser, where you can review all plans and prices.
2. You will receive an activation code via email
3. Open Manage License (Accounts menu → Manage AnyAutomation License, the license badge in the status bar, or Licensing: Manage License from the Command Palette)
   • If you are not signed in yet, the dialog asks you to sign in first: click Sign In, complete the sign-in in your browser, and the activation field appears
4. Enter the activation code
5. Click Activate
6. The license will be bound to your hardware

Billing: Choose monthly or yearly billing on the website during checkout. Yearly plans save approximately 8% (1 month free). Alternatively, a purchase on invoice without auto-renewal is available (see the next section).

Important: The software requires an online license validation at least every 14 days. If no internet connection is available, a paid license keeps working offline for up to 14 days; a free trial keeps working offline for up to 7 days. After that, a new online validation is required.

Purchase on Invoice (no auto-renewal)

Every plan can also be bought on invoice instead of through the subscription:

1. Send an email to support@anyautomation.ch with the plan and term you need
2. You receive a quote and then an invoice payable by bank transfer
3. Once payment arrives, we send the activation code by email
4. Activation in the app works exactly like the subscription license (see above)

A license bought on invoice is valid for the paid term and simply expires afterwards: there is no auto-renewal, no stored payment method, and nothing to cancel. For a follow-up term, we issue a new invoice on request.

Hardware Binding

Each license is bound to a unique hardware ID generated from:

• Windows Machine GUID
• CPU ID (Processor Serial Number)
• BIOS Serial Number
• Motherboard (Baseboard) Serial Number

Machine Switch Limit

Your license is bound to your account, not to a single machine — you can move it between computers without contacting support. The application enforces a rolling limit of up to 3 different machines per 30-day window: each new sign-in on a previously-unseen hardware ID counts as one switch. The fourth distinct machine within the same 30-day window is rejected at sign-in time. The window slides — switches that fall out of the past 30 days no longer count against the limit. Sign in on a new machine and the license moves there: the previous machine loses it and says so the next time it checks, at the latest when you restart it or open the License window; bringing the license back means signing in on that machine again, which uses another switch. Releasing a machine yourself with Release this machine on your account page also uses one of the three switches; the next sign-in on any machine then binds the license there.

The current usage is visible in the License window (see below): the row reads N of M machine switches used, and once the limit is reached it appends — limit reached.

License Window

Open the window via the Manage License command — from the Accounts menu (the accounts icon in the Activity Bar) → Manage AnyAutomation License, by clicking the license badge in the status bar, or by running Licensing: Manage License from the Command Palette (F1). The Manage License window now combines two sections in one place:

• Account & License (top, visible while signed in) — the same set of rows previously hosted in a separate Settings tab. Use it to review the active subscription and sign out of this machine.
• Plans & Activation (bottom, always visible) — the Hardware ID display, activation-code field, a subscription banner with a View Plans & Subscribe button that opens the website, and the current-plan indicator.

Manage Subscription

• Click Manage Subscription in the License dialog
• Opens the Stripe portal for:
  • Changing payment method
  • Downloading invoices
  • Canceling subscription

View License Information

In the License dialog, you can see:

• Current license type (Basic / Pro / Pro+ / Enterprise)
• Current period expiry date
• Hardware ID
• Activation code

Security Alerts

When the app detects an unusual security event, a yellow banner appears at the top of the main window. These alerts stay visible until you dismiss them (click the × button) so they are never overwritten by other status messages.

Three event types surface here:

• Storage integrity warning. The app could not securely read or write its license data — stored as an encrypted, signed file (License.bin) in the application's user-data folder. This is usually a permissions issue on a managed laptop. The app keeps running with your cached license — if the warning appears immediately after activation, try running the app once as Administrator, or contact your IT department.
• Tampering / debugger downgrade. A debugging or tampering environment was detected and license features have been restricted for this session. Restart the app in a standard session to restore full functionality.
• Account-link warning. Your account could not be securely linked to this device — some license protections may not be active. Restart the app or contact support if the warning persists.

These alerts are informational. Your license stays active while they are visible. The banner disappears once you dismiss it.

Account page (browser)

Click Open Website in the License window (or visit https://account.anyautomation.ch/profile after signing in) to open your browser-based account page. The page covers four operations beyond what the desktop License panel exposes:

• Profile — your email, account-creation date, and last sign-in timestamp.
• Manage subscription — opens the Stripe customer portal in a new tab to change payment method, download invoices, or cancel.
• Release this machine — frees the current machine binding so you can reactivate on a different computer without waiting for the 30-day window. A confirmation prompt appears before the release. The next sign-in on a new machine becomes the new active binding.
• Delete account (Danger zone) — permanently deletes your account record, revokes all signed-in sessions, and releases the license. The dialog asks you to type DELETE in capitals to confirm. This cannot be undone.

The page is HTTPS-only and requires you to be signed in. After sign-out (from either the desktop app or the page itself), the page redirects you to the sign-in form on the next visit.

Untrusted Environment (Basic mode)

If the app detects a debugger attached to its process, or if the main executable is not signed with the expected Certum certificate, the app silently downgrades to Basic tier. This is a defense-in-depth measure against tampering. Release builds always have the correct signature; if you see this behaviour in a normal install, the binary has been modified — reinstall from https://www.anyautomation.ch.

Manage Organization License

Pro and Pro+ are also available as multi-seat subscriptions for teams: you buy several seats at once and manage them as an organization. The owner (the person who purchased the subscription) manages seats from a web dashboard; team members sign in with their own email and each occupies one seat. Enterprise organizations are set up by us (purchase on invoice); contact support@anyautomation.ch.

Owner — Set up the subscription. On https://www.anyautomation.ch, pick the number of seats on Pro or Pro+ (your own seat counts, 1 to 200) and complete the purchase; every seat costs the plan price shown. After checkout you receive an email confirming your organization. Your own seat is active as soon as you sign in to the desktop app with the purchase email; the email also contains an activation code as a fallback.

Owner — Invite team members. After signing in, open the license dialog (the Manage License command — Accounts menu → Manage AnyAutomation License, the license badge in the status bar, or the Command Palette) and click Open Website. The web dashboard shows occupied and available seats. Enter a team member's email address and click Invite — the team member receives an email with a magic link, valid for 24 hours.

Member — Accept the invitation. Clicking the magic link opens the web page with the org name and an Accept button. After accepting, the account is bound to the organization. In the desktop app, sign in with the same email — the license dialog shows membership with role "Member" and a note that management is handled by the owner. If the desktop app is already running, it picks up the seat automatically as soon as you return to its window and confirms this with a short message; no restart is needed.

Owner — Release a seat. In the web dashboard, click Release seat next to the member row. The seat becomes free immediately and can be reassigned. The former member account is no longer licensed afterwards (unless they have their own solo subscription).

Change seat count. Manage subscription on the web dashboard opens the customer portal, where you can increase the seat count at any time — the additional seats are immediately available for invitation and bill on the same invoice. If you already hold a single seat, raising the count above one turns it into an organization the same way. Reductions require enough free seats first; release the right number of seats before lowering the count. A plan change (for example from Pro to Pro+) applies to every seat of the organization.

EPLAN under the volume model. EPLAN is included for organization members whose seat is on Pro+ or Enterprise — every qualifying member has access automatically at next sign-in, with no separate add-on.

EPLAN Access

EPLAN Electric P8 integration is part of the Pro+ and Enterprise plans — there is no separate purchase or activation.

On Pro+ and Enterprise. The EPLAN tab appears automatically in the left activity bar. After upgrading, sign out and back in (or run Licensing: Refresh License from the Command Palette) so the new entitlement is loaded.

Volume. Organization members on a Pro+ or Enterprise seat receive EPLAN through their tier — there is no separate EPLAN subscription to buy or manage.

Trial. The 30-day trial unlocks all features, including EPLAN. After it expires, EPLAN requires a Pro+ or Enterprise license.