Free mode and the license
What a license changes, how long an unlicensed station runs, what stops when the window ends and what stays up, and how signing in widens it.
Every feature is always available; what a license changes is how long the runtime runs without a restart. An unlicensed station counts down a window and then stops the runtime: the embedded server, device communication, the Logic sweep and any recording (a running procedure is ended cleanly and its run sealed as aborted). The app itself and the agent endpoint stay up; every page except Account gives way to a paused notice, and every command that would change the station is refused with "Runtime stopped".
| Station | Window |
|---|---|
| Not signed in to a Ganter account | 1 hour |
| Signed in, without a license seat for this station | 2 hours |
| Signed in to an account whose subscription is Active or Past due, with a seat for this station | No limit |
| Holding a perpetual license that covers the version it runs, signed in or not | No limit |
- The status bar shows the countdown ("Free · 12:34") while the window runs. Five minutes before the stop a notification says so ("The runtime will stop in about 5 minutes. Sign in or add a license to remove the limit."), and a Windows notification repeats it if the window is hidden or minimized.
- After the stop, the band under the title bar offers Restart runtime: immediate, unlimited, and only on the station's own window, never from a browser, so the window cannot be reset from the network. A restart opens a fresh window; it never resumes or restarts a procedure.
- Becoming licensed restarts a stopped runtime on its own. Signing in mid-countdown widens the window without resetting it; signing out shrinks it, and the countdown starts over from that moment.
- Offline keeps the license for 90 days: at every contact the server issues this station's license for the next 90 days, and the station stays licensed without reaching the server until that date. Past it, the station runs in the signed-in window until it reaches the server again. A past-due subscription keeps working; only a canceled one falls back to the signed-in window. A perpetual license needs no contact at all once the station has activated it.
Sign in and manage the subscription on the Account page; seats and their stations are under Subscription. Free mode is permanent, not a trial; see pricing for the license.