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License Selection Guide

Effective Date: 6 July 2026
Version: 3.0

Introduction

This guide explains how to choose the correct QuestPDF license for your use.

It is not a stand-alone license. The legally binding license terms are contained in the applicable Community, Professional, or Enterprise License Agreement.

Definition of "Developer"

For QuestPDF licensing purposes, a "Developer" is an individual who, as part of their regular work duties, writes, modifies, compiles, or reviews source code — including automated test code — that imports, references, or directly calls QuestPDF APIs.

This includes employees, contractors, and consultants.

Code generated by an AI coding tool or agent on behalf of an organisation is treated as written by a Developer of that organisation.

The following are not Developers for QuestPDF licensing purposes unless they also perform the activities described above:

  • end users of the resulting application;
  • QA personnel who do not write or modify code that calls QuestPDF APIs;
  • DevOps or infrastructure personnel who only deploy or operate applications;
  • persons who only configure applications without writing or modifying QuestPDF integration code; and
  • persons who only consume the PDF output.

Build servers and CI/CD pipelines do not require separate licenses.

All QuestPDF paid licenses cover an unlimited number of Developers. This definition describes who must be covered by a license, not how many licenses you need.

Definition of "Production Use"

For QuestPDF licensing purposes, "Production Use" means any use of the Software other than internal evaluation, development, testing, technical review, or learning. It includes, in particular, use of the Software in a live or operational environment, use that processes real business or end-user data, and any distribution of the Software to third parties as part of a Derivative Application.

References to "production use" elsewhere in the QuestPDF documents have this meaning.

License Equality

All QuestPDF license tiers provide the same core product functionality.

In particular, all tiers allow you to:

  • use the same core QuestPDF features;
  • use QuestPDF with an unlimited number of Developers;
  • build commercial applications;
  • deploy an unlimited number of your own applications; and
  • redistribute QuestPDF royalty-free as a compiled component of your own applications.

Support entitlements, eligibility rules, and update rights may differ by license tier.

Community License Eligibility

You may use QuestPDF under the Community License at no charge if any of the following applies:

  1. Individual use — any individual using the Software for personal projects, including commercial projects, provided the individual's annual gross revenue from all sources does not exceed the threshold stated in category (6).

  2. Learning and evaluation — any individual using the Software for learning, evaluation, or training purposes, regardless of revenue.

  3. Charitable organisations. A charitable or public-benefit organisation recognised under applicable law whose primary purpose is charitable, humanitarian, educational, scientific, environmental, or similar public-benefit activity.

    Non-profit legal form or tax status alone is not sufficient: an organisation that primarily serves the commercial, professional, or economic interests of its members, founders, or affiliated businesses — such as a trade association, industry body, business league, or an entity organised as a non-profit primarily for tax or structuring purposes — is not eligible under this category and is treated as an ordinary business under category (6).

  4. Academic institutions. An academic institution, whether public or private, that is publicly funded or operated on a non-profit basis, using QuestPDF for teaching, research, or its own educational administration. A for-profit education provider does not qualify under this category and is treated as an ordinary business under category (6).

  5. Open-source projects. An open-source project distributed under an OSI-approved license.

    This category does not apply where the open-source project is structured primarily to allow a commercial entity to avoid licensing fees for its own underlying commercial use of the Software.

  6. Small businesses. An organisation with annual gross revenue under USD 1,000,000 in its most recently completed fiscal year, measured on a consolidated basis across entities under common control.

    If your financial reporting currency is not USD, use a reasonable annual average exchange rate published by a relevant central bank or similar official source. If your organisation has not yet completed its first fiscal year, measure eligibility using a good-faith estimate of your annualised gross revenue for the current fiscal year.

  7. Transitive dependency users. A person or organisation whose own code does not directly reference or call QuestPDF APIs, but that uses another library or product that depends on QuestPDF internally.

    This category does not apply where the intervening library or product is primarily a wrapper, façade, or thin abstraction over QuestPDF — that is, where its main function is to expose QuestPDF's PDF-generation capability rather than to provide substantial functionality of its own. In that case, the required license is determined as if your code referenced QuestPDF directly.

Public-sector entities and government agencies — other than academic institutions covered by category (4) — and publicly traded companies are not eligible for the Community License, regardless of revenue.

Choosing Between Professional and Enterprise

If your organisation does not qualify for the Community License, you must obtain a paid license before production use.

Both paid licenses provide the same product and cover an unlimited number of Developers. They differ in license scope and in the commercial terms around the product:

  • the Professional License covers a single Licensee: one individual or legal entity. It is the right choice for most organisations, regardless of how many Developers use QuestPDF;
  • the Enterprise License covers the Licensee together with its Affiliates (entities connected by more than 50% ownership or control). It also includes a defined support response target, priority handling for business-critical issues with off-schedule releases, a strengthened product continuity commitment, and enterprise procurement options such as purchase orders, direct invoicing, supplier onboarding, signed Order Forms, and multi-year terms.

The number of Developers never determines your license tier. The Professional License is insufficient only when Developers of more than one individual or legal entity need to be covered. In that case, each requires its own Professional License, or one entity may hold an Enterprise License that covers its Affiliates.

Any organisation may choose the Enterprise License even if the Professional License would be sufficient.

Both paid licenses can be purchased through the QuestPDF website, through software resellers and procurement providers, or under a signed Order Form.

Renewal Pricing

Paid licenses renew at the Licensee's Locked Renewal Price — in short, the price of your preceding term, disregarding discounts identified as one-off. For as long as you renew continuously, QuestPDF will not increase it. Fees or markups added by resellers or other intermediaries are outside QuestPDF's control and are not covered by the Price Lock. The binding terms, including the treatment of short lapses in renewal and prospective packaging changes, are stated in the Professional / Enterprise License Agreement.

Self-Certification and Compliance Verification

QuestPDF relies on good-faith self-certification for license eligibility. QuestPDF does not perform routine audits.

If QuestPDF reasonably believes that a license may be used outside its permitted scope, QuestPDF may request written confirmation of compliance from an authorised representative no more than once in any 12-month period. QuestPDF will give reasonable prior notice for that request.

If the review shows that a different license should have been purchased, you must promptly obtain the correct license and pay any applicable shortfall.

QuestPDF will treat non-public information provided for compliance review as confidential.

A refusal to cooperate in good faith or a knowing material misrepresentation may be treated as a material breach.

Threshold Transition

If you stop qualifying for the Community License, you have a 90-day transition period to do one of the following:

  1. confirm that you remain eligible;
  2. purchase the correct paid license; or
  3. stop using QuestPDF.

The transition period begins: at the end of the fiscal period in which the revenue threshold was exceeded, where that is the reason eligibility was lost; on the date of a merger, acquisition, or other change of control, where eligibility is lost as a result of that event (including through consolidated revenue); and on the date eligibility is lost, in all other cases.

Continued use after the applicable transition period without the correct license is a breach of the applicable license terms.

Paid-License Evaluation

An organisation that does not qualify for the Community License may evaluate QuestPDF for up to 60 days before purchasing a paid license.

Evaluation use is limited to internal testing, technical review, and non-production use. It does not permit production deployment or distribution to third parties.

If you want to use QuestPDF in production and you do not qualify for the Community License, you must first purchase the appropriate paid license.

Agencies, Resellers, and Ultimate Ownership

If QuestPDF is used to develop software for a client, customer, or other third party, the required license is determined by the entity that ultimately owns, controls, commercially uses, or receives the primary business benefit from the resulting Derivative Application or service. If those criteria point to more than one entity, the entity that receives the primary business benefit from the Derivative Application or service determines the required license.

A license may be purchased by a reseller, procurement provider, software development agency, contractor, consultant, or similar third party on behalf of that entity. Unless a signed Order Form states otherwise, the client or end customer identified in the purchase record is the Licensee.

All individuals who write, modify, compile, or review code (including automated test code) that imports, references, or directly calls QuestPDF APIs for that project are covered by the Licensee's license, whether they work for the Licensee, the agency, or another third party.

For clarity: an agency, software house, contractor, or consultant does not need its own QuestPDF license for work on a client's project. It needs its own license only where it is itself the entity described above — for example, for its own products or internal tools — and its own situation then determines the correct license.

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