Licensing MyPDFSigner
MyPDFSigner, the graphical application, does not need a license to sign PDF documents, but without one it has some limitations. Namely the "Location" and "Reason" signing attributes cannot be filled and are left empty, and when using time stamping, signing documents with more than twenty pages, or using visible signatures with an image or placed in a position that it is not the default one (upper right corner of first page), the "Reason" attribute will show "Evaluating MyPDFSigner". If that is not a concern to you then you do not need a license.
Licensing through a perpetual or a subscription (i.e., non-perpetual) license, besides enabling the "Location" and "Reason" signing attributes and lifting the above time stamping, twenty pages and visible signature constraint, also unlocks the capability to fill the authoring PDF metadata (author, title, subject, keywords) that is displayed in the PDF document properties.
See a snapshot of a signed and certified PDF document with a "visible" signature obtained using a licensed version of MyPDFSigner. Or download an example of a signed and timestamped PDF document with a visible signature. Note that it was signed with a self signed certificate so the warning one sees when opening in Adobe Reader is expected.
Unlike MyPDFSigner, the graphical application, which can be used (albeit with limitations) without a license, the CLI (the command line interface, mypdfsigner-cli) and the PHP, Ruby and Python modules require a license. The CLI and the PHP, Ruby and Python modules can be used without one but the signed PDF documents will show the message "Evaluating MyPDFSigner" in the "Reason" signing attribute.
Licensing Models
MyPDFSigner can be licensed with a perpetual or a subscription license. A subscription license is a license with a time or "transaction" (i.e., a certain number of signatures) constraint.
A personal license is issued to an individual while a site license is a multi-user license issued to a company or business. Both of these licenses can be used in any number of computers as long as they are used by licensed users. These two license types are valid for the graphical application only.
A server license is needed to use the CLI and the PHP, Ruby and Python modules. This license is valid for one computer only. The license is valid for the graphical application too (in that same computer).
A time license is a monthly (or yearly) license that can be used as an alternative to the server license. It is valid for one computer. Note: at the moment this license is available for the CLI only; it is not supported yet by the PHP, Ruby and Python modules (nor by the Linux mypdfsigner command line).
A transaction license is like a prepaid phone card (just replace minutes by signatures) with no expiration date. It is meant as an alternative to a personal license although it can be used also for the CLI. The tracking of remaining signatures is kept by a central server (the server is contacted before each signing transaction). As such there are no (user or computer) restrictions on the use of this license. Note that this license can be temporarily disabled by adding the line "license=off" to the configuration file; this allows for experimentation with visible signatures without wasting (prepaid) signatures. Like the time license, this license is not supported yet by the PHP, Ruby and Python modules (nor by the mypdfsigner command line).
Obtaining a Perpetual License
The price of a personal license is 10 EUROS plus VAT (if applicable).
A site license is priced based on the number of users that are expected to use it, with the price per user being progressively lower when the number of users increases.
| Users | Price (EUROS) |
|---|---|
| 5 | 45 |
| 10 | 80 |
| 20 | 140 |
| 50 | 300 |
| 100 | 500 |
To these prices is added VAT (if applicable). Prices for other number of users are available at purchase time.
The price of a server license is 150 EUROS plus VAT (if applicable).
Payment processing for perpetual licenses is handled by Avangate, a e-commerce platform provider.
Obtaining a Subscription License
The price of a time license (valid for one month) is 5 EUROS.
A transaction license is sold as a pack of 100 signatures. The price is 2 EUROS.
Payment processing for subscription licenses is handled by PayPal. Note that it may take up to 24 hours to receive your subscription license although the turnaround is usually just a few hours.
After your order is processed you will receive a file named
"license.key" that you should place in the "keys" directory of your installation:
-- Windows: C:\Program Files\MyPDFSigner\keys
-- Mac OS X: /Applications/MyPDFSigner.app/Contents/Resources/Java/keys
-- Linux: /usr/local/mypdfsigner/keys