Which license do I need for adding GSAP to a website?

[bernhard]

Hi everyone  

 

I'm quite sure I'll need help with animations in the near future, but before I can come to that I have a question regarding the available licenses.

 

I'm a Web Developer and I develop Websites. Partly self-employed and partly in an agency. I know that the core can be used free of charge, but we need the DrawSVG plugin. So what is the license that I/we need?

 

If I develop a website as single person for a client. As far as I understood I don't need the commercial license as long as the developed website is free to use for everybody. Even if the client paid me for my work. Correct?

 

What about agency work? We are two developers at the moment. Do we need BusinessGreen for 2 Devs then? What if I'm the only one working on that project? Shocking Green as I'm an individual?

 

Also I don't understand what "per year" means. I don't think that this means that we have to pay for using GSAP on that single website as long as the website is online, do we?? I guess that means that I/we get access for one year including all updates within that year and the websites can use the created animations as long as they are online without any further membership requirements, correct?

 

It would be nice to add some simple to understand examples to the licensing pages / faqs. I really did try to understand it and also did quite some research, but I did not find good answers.

 

Thx for your help!

[Rodrigo]

Hi @bernhard and welcome to the GreenSock forums!

 

17 hours ago, bernhard said:

If I develop a website as single person for a client. As far as I understood I don't need the commercial license as long as the developed website is free to use for everybody. Even if the client paid me for my work. Correct?

Correct. But if you need the bonus plugin as a self-employed freelancer you will need a Simply Green or Shockingly Green depending on the bonus plugins you want/need.

 

Regarding agency work if both developers will have access to the bonus plugins, I understand that you would need a commercial license for two developers. Still let me ping @GreenSock so He can clarify this particular point.

 

The per year payment indeed means that you get a full year of updates in every bonus plugin, once the membership ends you won't be able to download the bonus plugins anymore, but you will have access to the latest updates in the core files. Any projects developed during that year that use the bonus plugins can still function without any restrictions. But you won't be able update the bonus plugins in those after the license has expired.

 

Hopefully this makes things clearer. If you need more information on this or any other subject, please don't hesitate to ask.

 

Happy Tweening!

[GreenSock]

Yep, exactly right. 

 

There are two main reasons to get a "Business Green" membership: 

1. To get the special commercial license which is necessary if you're collecting a fee from multiple users for a particular site/app/product that uses GSAP. If you're creating a whole new custom site for each of your clients, that's totally fine and doesn't require the commercial license. A one-time development fee is permitted under the standard license. 👍
2. If you've got multiple developers. "Simply Green" and "Shockingly Green" memberships are for individual users, not for companies to share the bonus plugins among a bunch of developers. The "Business Green" membership allows you to select a specific number of developers and then you'll be able to manage those in the main account. For example, you could get a 3-developer "Business Green" membership and all 3 developers could have their own separate GreenSock accounts that you associate with that membership and they'd get their own private repo tokens. 

If your membership expires, nothing will change on your client websites. We don’t inject “phone home” scripts to verify your license status. Functionality doesn’t suddenly stop upon expiration. Inspect the code for yourself if you’d like to verify (that’s why we provide the raw source code). We treat others the way we’d want to be treated.

 

The only case where you'd need to renew to keep a valid membership is if you're continuing to sell a product that uses GSAP to multiple people (this requires an active "Business Green" membership).

 

More about licensing; 

 

https://greensock.com/licensing 

 

I hope you’ll find that the membership pays for itself literally in one project when you consider all the time it’ll save, the added capabilities and performance you get...and of course that sense of having animation superpowers is priceless 🙂

 

Thanks for asking! And good luck with your projects. Enjoy the tools. 

[bernhard]

4 hours ago, Rodrigo said:

The per year payment indeed means that you get a full year of updates in every bonus plugin, once the membership ends you won't be able to download the bonus plugins anymore, but you will have access to the latest updates in the core files. Any projects developed during that year that use the bonus plugins can still function without any restrictions. But you won't be able update the bonus plugins in those after the license has expired.

Thx! That explains everything and is easy to understand  

 

@GreenSock could that explanation be added to the website's membership site?

 

I just tried to verify again that that information is not on the website. When I did my research I had a look at everything (at least I thought so) and did also google to find the information I was looking for. But without success.

 

-- feedback to @GreenSock --

 

This was my customer journey:

 

Wow, that looks amazing - how much does it cost? No pricing page... strange...

 

Ok "Club Greensock" - that's strange... Sounds like an annual subscription... Let's see...

 

 

"per year"?! What does that mean?? Scrolling down...

 

 

Cacel anytime... What does that mean?? If I built a website with GSAP and I cancel my subscription - would that mean I have to remove GSAP from the website? Scrolling down...

 

 

Ah... there it is - FAQ about annual membership... Reading carefully:

 

 

Ok so maybe I need a permanent license then? What is that?

 

 

Whooo... not an option  

 

I think I'll have to register and ask in their forum - it looks like they have a community of very active and friendly people...

---------------

That's it - now I'm here and I thank you for the clarification!

 

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Would have been a lot easier for me if that page had an explanation link or tooltip "what does that mean" below the "per year":

---------------

 

2 hours ago, GreenSock said:

Thanks for asking! And good luck with your projects. Enjoy the tools. 

 

Thank you  

[Alex Sirenko]

Related to that topic question @GreenSock.
In case there is a web studio company which created many websites for different clients using gsap. They have some bunch of developers (assume 4).
1. So they should buy business license with 4 developers membership, correct?
2. Let's assume 4 devs created accounts and works for several projects a couple of month. After one developer leaves company and new one was hired.
Should company upgrade a license to Business + 5 devs?
3. Developers bunch are increasing for example up to 10 devs, so company should update license to Business + 10 devs?

[Rodrigo]

Hi @Alex Sirenko and welcome to the GreenSock forums!

 

3 hours ago, Alex Sirenko said:

1. So they should buy business license with 4 developers membership, correct?

If all four developers use GSAP in their projects, yes the Business License should consider 4 developers. If only three developers use GSAP, then a Business License for three and so on.

 

3 hours ago, Alex Sirenko said:

2. Let's assume 4 devs created accounts and works for several projects a couple of month. After one developer leaves company and new one was hired.
Should company upgrade a license to Business + 5 devs?

Nope, as I mentioned above this is not about the amount of developers that worked in the Company/Studio/Agency throughout it's history but the current amount of developers actively using GSAP in their projects. If four devs are using GSAP in their projects and one is replaced by another the license for four developers still complies to that scenario. In such case also the Project Manager or CEO should update that information in order to remove the access to the bonus files to the developer that leaves de Company and grant access to the new one.

 

3 hours ago, Alex Sirenko said:

3. Developers bunch are increasing for example up to 10 devs, so company should update license to Business + 10 devs?

Pretty much the same as Nº 1, it should account for the amount of devs using GSAP in their projects.

 

Hopefully this is clear and answer your questions. Still I'll ping @GreenSock so He can have a look and perhaps add something I'm missing.

 

Let us know if you have any other question.

 

Happy Tweening!

[GreenSock]

Yes, what @Rodrigo said is correct. 👍

 

You should get a license that covers the number of developers that may use GSAP. So, for example, if you have 2 full time developers and then you use 1 or 2 freelancers at any given time, it would be appropriate to get a 4-developer license. It’s not intended to be passed around from person-to-person, like “Hey Sally, can you stop using GSAP for 5 minutes so I can update something?”  But of course if a developer leaves the team and you hire someone new into that spot, it's fine to just remove that previous employee as a developer and add the new one (all of this can be done from the main account's dashboard), so the total number of developers doesn't change. You can upgrade anytime.  

 

Again, our entire business model relies on the honor system. We aim to extend respect to our users, trusting that it'll be reciprocated. We're super grateful to our Club GreenSock members because they make everything we do possible around here. 💚