Avid Pro Tools Licensing

Overview of Avid Pro Tools Licenses

Learn about the intricacies of the Avid Pro Tools licensing structure, including teams, multiuser, and educational options.

If you have questions about the terminology used in this document, please see Licensing Terminology.

Pro Tools Licenses for Individuals and Businesses

Pro Tools for Education

Pro Tools Studio and Ultimate are available for individual students/teachers and Institutions.

For students and teachers

For special pricing, you must have verified academic eligibility.

Pro Tools Ultimate Education is for Students/Teachers only. Institutions must purchase a multi-seat license.

Note: Volume and Multi-Year discounts are available for Pro tools. Please contact our sales team for a quote.

Licencing Terminology

It’s important to have licenses for different user needs, but it can be complex. Below, we’ll break down each license and who the license is designed for.

Annual Subscription

With an annual subscription, users can use the software for one year. If there’s a significant update during that time, you can download and use it during that year. If your subscription expires, you can no longer use the software, unless you renew the license.

Individual License

For a single user, or if it’s an educational license, for a single student or teacher.

Studio License

Enables small to medium-sized businesses to purchase multiple seats under one license that can be assigned and unassigned to team members. Using the Admin Console’s assign and un-assign feature, you can now easily reallocate licenses from team members who are not using a seat or are no longer on your team, to those who need one. For education, team licenses can refer to a group of students or a classroom.

Perpetual Licenses

This means that you have that license for the software and you can run it for as long as you can run the software. This license can be upgraded to the next major version for a price but you can also keep running the software as long as you like. Normally small point updates are included, just not major version updates. A perpetual license can be used on one computer, but possibly two, depending on the software developer. New perpetual licenses are only available through resellers.

Academic Licenses

Academic licenses are for students and faculty. They are generally the same software as the full version, however, they often can’t be upgraded.

Lab License

Licenses for multiple computers, as in a classroom or computer lab.

iLok Licenses

Pro Tools uses iLok, a license management system for audio plug-ins. It allows you to carry your license between computers, not to mention iLok protects your audio software from piracy. iLok uses a USB device, aka dongle, or the iLok cloud.

For individual Pro Tools licenses, you need one USB dongle per license. For Educational multi-seat licenses, one iLok dongle is required for the entire network.