Licensing & Activation
One license key controls your edition, features, and limits.
Context Engine, the MaestroHub product these docs describe, is sold in two editions, Foundation and Enterprise. Your license determines which one is active.
- Editions
- Foundation · Enterprise
- Without a key
- 2-hour Evaluation trial
- Trial limits
- 20 pipelines · 20 connections · 5 users · 100 topics with a meaning
- States
- Active · Trial · Expired
What Your License Controls
Edition Features
The Unified Namespace, the Audit Trail, access control, SSO, API Clients, and Custom UNS Infrastructure (the TimescaleDB historian) require Foundation. Multiple workspaces and Advanced Access Control require Enterprise. Add-ons such as App Studio (Beta) and Approvals are licensed on their own, on either edition.
Resource Limits
A license can cap how many pipelines, connections, users, and workspaces you create, how many apps are published, and how many topics have a meaning in the semantic layer. No license limits pipeline executions or how long topic history is kept.
Infrastructure
Foundation runs as a single node. Enterprise unlocks Kubernetes with external databases and brokers.
For a full comparison, see the Editions page.
Free Trial
Try MaestroHub free. No license key needed.
When you start MaestroHub without a license, it runs a 2-hour trial of the Evaluation edition. The trial includes these features: the Unified Namespace, the Audit Trail, access control, Advanced Access Control, SSO, API Clients, Custom UNS Infrastructure (the TimescaleDB historian), and multiple workspaces, up to 3. It also includes the Approvals add-on (human in the loop), so you can try a pipeline that waits for a person, and the Demo Plant, a simulated plant to learn MaestroHub on. It does not include App Studio, a Beta add-on in 3.0: to try App Studio, ask MaestroHub for a licence or a trial licence that includes it. Pipeline executions are not limited.
What are the trial's limits? You can create up to 20 pipelines, 20 connections, and 5 users, and give up to 100 topics a meaning in the semantic layer. Everything else in the semantic layer works in full: libraries, properties and imported standards are not counted, and neither is a proposed meaning that has not been applied. A topic counts once it has a meaning in force, and stops counting when its meanings are retired or the topic is deleted. A deleted topic keeps its meanings: when it is restored, for example by publishing to its path again, its meanings count again, even if that puts the trial over 100. Restoring is never refused; the next topic you give a meaning is refused until enough places are free. The count covers the whole instance, every workspace together. Giving several topics a meaning at once that would go past 100 is refused as a whole, and the message says how many places are left. Foundation and Enterprise have no limit on topics with a meaning.
What happens after 2 hours? Automated and scheduled pipelines pause, and the trial's features switch off. Nothing is lost: your data, pipelines, dashboards, connections, and user accounts all stay where they are, and you can still sign in.
How do I continue? You have three options:
- Click Extend 2 hours in the trial banner at the top of the page. A platform administrator can do this at any time during the trial or after it ends, as many times as needed. It starts a fresh 2-hour trial without a restart, and paused pipelines resume.
- Restart the MaestroHub service. Each start without a license begins a fresh 2-hour trial, and your data carries over.
- Apply a license key to activate permanently.
Extending and restarting work only on an instance that has never had a license. Once a license has been applied, the trial is no longer available: if that license expires or is removed, apply a valid license to continue.
License States
Every MaestroHub instance is always in one of three states:
Active
You have a valid license. Everything works: pipelines run on schedule, all edition features are available, no interruptions.
Trial
You started MaestroHub without a license. The Evaluation edition is available for 2 hours. Extend the trial from the banner, restart for a fresh trial, or apply a license.
Expired
The trial ran out or your license is no longer valid. Scheduled pipelines pause, but your data is safe. Apply a license to continue; an instance that has never had a license can also extend the trial or restart.
You can check the current state on the Admin › License page, via the X-License-Status API header, or through the in-app banner that appears when attention is needed.
Applying a License
Single Instance
Upload a license key while MaestroHub is running. No restart is required.
- Sign in to the MaestroHub UI.
- Open Admin › License.
- Paste the signed license string and submit.
- The status updates instantly. Automation resumes immediately.
Fleet via Fleet Manager
Enterprise customers managing multiple instances use Fleet Manager to distribute licenses centrally:
- Upload your master license to Fleet Manager.
- Fleet Manager automatically splits it into per-instance entitlements.
- Each instance receives its license via the next heartbeat, with no manual activation per factory.
One license for your entire fleet, regardless of how many instances you operate.
FAQ
Can I upgrade from Foundation to Enterprise without downtime?
Yes. Go to the License page, paste your new license key, and submit. The edition changes instantly, with no restart, no data migration and no downtime. Your pipelines, dashboards, and connections stay exactly as they are.
I forgot to apply a license and my trial expired. Did I lose my work?
No. Everything you built during the trial (pipelines, dashboards, connections, user accounts) is still there. Automated pipeline execution stops and the trial's features switch off until you continue. Click Extend 2 hours in the banner or restart MaestroHub for a fresh 2-hour trial, or apply a license key to resume permanently.
How is MaestroHub licensed across several factories?
MaestroHub is licensed per site, and a site is one factory location. One licence covers that factory however many MaestroHub instances run there, for example an instance at each line and a hub for the plant. Apply the site's licence key on each of those instances. Each instance enforces the licence's limits on pipelines, connections, users and workspaces on its own.
A workspace belongs to exactly one instance: two instances that each have a "Quality" workspace have two workspaces. Every instance has at least one, created at first boot.
Need help? Email support@maestrohub.com.