License
An EverNVR recorder installed with the EverNVR installer (.run) is licensed.
Settings → License shows what the license covers, who it is licensed to, and
the key it uses. Administrators can enter, move, or remove a key there.
A recorder run from a source checkout has no license. Its License page says "Licensing applies once the recorder is installed with the EverNVR installer (.run). Nothing is restricted here."
What a license covers
A license covers a number of cameras and a set of features:
- The AI agent: asking about an event, Ask the recorder, briefings, and commissioning proposals.
- Face and plate recognition: switching recognition on, new identities, and enrolling faces and plates.
- Investigation: semantic search, trails, and new incidents and notes.
- The MQTT integration.
The License page lists each feature, with a check mark beside those this recorder's license includes, and shows Cameras as the number added and the number covered.
Nothing that is running stops
The license never stops recording, and it never stops a camera or a feature that is already set up. What it refuses is growth:
- adding a camera beyond the number the license covers
- switching on a feature the license does not include
- new work in such a feature: asking the agent, a semantic search, a new incident or identity
A feature that was switched on before the license changed, during a trial for example, stays on, and its settings can still be edited. Switching a feature off is never refused.
Basic search, reading and exporting incidents, and footage export are never licensed features. Where the license does not include investigation, semantic search is unavailable and basic search still works.
When something is refused, the page says why, for example "The MQTT integration is not included in this recorder's license. An administrator can enter a license key in Settings → License." or "This recorder's license covers 8 cameras, and 8 are added."
License status
The top of the License page shows one of these:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not yet licensed | A new recorder that has not reached the license server yet. It works as a trial until the date shown. |
| Trial | The trial, with the days left and its end date. |
| Licensed | A license key is active. |
| Licensed, cannot reach the license server | The license could not be renewed. Every licensed feature continues until the date shown. |
| License ended | The license term has ended. |
| Unlicensed | No license: the trial has ended, the recorder never reached the license server, or the license could not be renewed. |
| License suspended or License revoked | Contact support. |
For any status other than Licensed or Trial, the page gives the reason and notes that recording and the cameras already added carry on.
When a license key is active, the page also shows Licensed to, Key, Plan, License term (an end date, or perpetual) and Updates (the date releases are included until, or all releases).
Trial
A new recorder starts a 30-day trial the first time it reaches the EverNVR license server, with every feature included. Until it first reaches the server, it works as a trial for up to 14 days. After the trial, enter a license key to keep adding cameras and using licensed features.
Entering a license key
Open Settings → License, enter the key (EVR-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) under
Enter a license key, and choose Activate. Letters may be typed in either
case; a mistyped key is caught before it is sent. To replace a key, use
Change the license key the same way.
The installer can also activate a key when it installs the recorder:
sudo ./evernvr-VERSION-linux-x64.run -- --install --license-key EVR-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
The recorder activates that key the first time it reaches the license server.
A key already in use
A key covers a set number of recorders. If it is already in use, the License page says where, and offers Move the license here, for a recorder that was replaced or reinstalled. Moving takes the license from the recorder that has been out of touch longest. A key can be moved twice in 90 days; after that, contact support.
Remove from this recorder frees its place, so the key can be used on another recorder. The recorder then becomes unlicensed: recording continues, but no cameras or licensed features can be added.
Without an internet connection
The license is renewed with every update check, through the same server as updates. Check now renews it at once. A recorder that cannot reach the license server keeps its license for 30 days, then for 14 more days of grace with every licensed feature, and then works as unlicensed until it reaches the server again.
A recorder that never has internet
- Open Settings → License and, under Without an internet connection, choose Download license request. The file names this recorder and is signed by it, so nothing in it can be mistyped or altered on the way.
- Send the file to your EverNVR supplier. They return a license file for this recorder.
- Load it with Import a license file.
A license file issued for one recorder is refused by any other. It lasts until the license ends, or a year for a perpetual license, and the License page shows when it runs out. Renew it the same way before then.
Updates
A license may include updates until a date. The recorder is then offered the newest release published before that date. Security fixes are offered to every recorder.
The same rules apply to a release uploaded on the Updates page, as an offline site does. A release made after the license's update date is refused, with the reason; a security fix is always accepted. An unlicensed recorder, or one whose license has ended, accepts only security fixes.
Who can see the license
The License page is for administrators. Other accounts cannot open it, but pages they use can still say when something is not included in the license. Only administrators see who the recorder is licensed to, the key, and the installation.