What Construct 2 License do I need?
You can use our "What License Do I Need" tool to quickly discover which license you are required to use. A full description of the licenses we offer exists below.
License Overview
There are three ways to use Construct 2: the Free Edition, with a Personal license, or with a Business license. Here's how each one works.
Construct 2 Free Edition
The free edition has all the features of the full software, but with a couple of limits. These are:
- A maximum of 100 events in a project
- A maximum of 4 layers on any layout
- A maximum of 2 effects in a project
- No organising the project with subfolders
- No event search
- No Configurations bar
- No Families
- No access to Preview on LAN
- Not allowed to be used for commercial purposes (however, it can be used in education and other non-profit organisations).
- Several exporters, e.g. for mobile or desktop publishing, are unavailable
The free edition is still a powerful tool even with these limits. For example, the Space Blaster demo uses only 70 events - comfortably under the limit for quite a complex game! The rest of the limits generally shouldn't affect small projects either. Things like subfolder organisation and event search generally are most useful for larger projects, which tend to be over 100 events anyway.
Personal license
Once you get a Personal license, all the limits are removed. You can use all Construct 2's features and make games as large as you like. You also get extra sound effects, music and sprite packs to help you get started making games!
Licenses are not time-limited - you can use them forever with your copy of Construct 2. All updates to the Construct 2 editor are free as well. It is not a subscription, only a one-off payment. You do not need to pay any extra for additional features or exporters either - everything is included with one price.
The rules for a Personal license are slightly different for individuals and organisations.
Individuals
You can also use a Personal license for commercial purposes, up to a limit of $5000. That means if you're an indie dev, you can make up to $5000 revenue from using Construct 2 (for example, by selling games or supporting them with adverts) before you need to get a Business license. Hopefully once you've made $5000 the Business license is easily affordable!
Individuals can use their license on as many computers as they like, as long as they are the only one who uses it (see Using your license below).
Organisations
Only not-for-profit organisations (like schools, libraries and universities) can use Personal licenses. Businesses and other profit-making businesses must purchase Business licenses.
Licenses for organisations must have the name of an organisation rather than the name of a person. They are for specific computers, but any number of people can use the license so long as the license is only ever used on that computer.
Business license
The Business license does not add any features. You get all the features with the Personal license. All you need a Business license for is if:
- you are an individual and have made over $5000 from using Construct 2, or
- Construct 2 will be used in a for-profit organisation like a business.
The majority of you will get by just fine with a Personal license. Some people will compare the Construct 2 Business license to the most expensive versions of other software. Don't be fooled! You don't need a Business license unless the answer to one of these questions is YES:
- Have you already made $5000 from using Construct 2?
- Are you at a for-profit organisation like a business?
If the answer to both is NO, you don't need a Business license! You can save your money and get a Personal license. Don't forget the Personal license has all the features as well.
Bulk licenses
If you're buying a lot of licenses for an organisation, we can issue a site-wide license which is heavily discounted compared to buying individual licenses. If you're interested, contact us at licensehelpyla@scirra.com and we'll see what we can do for you.
Steam purchases
If you are buying on Steam, the license system is a little different. Steam handles licensing for you. If you want to install your copy of Construct 2 on another computer, just install Steam, log in and download Construct 2 again. The rest of this article applies to buying directly from our site, which involves a license file instead of using Steam.
Using your licence
If you've made a purchase directly from our site (rather than Steam), you will be sent a redeem key by email. This is a special code you can enter to the Scirra Store and get your license. If you want to buy a license for someone else, you can give them the redeem key and they can then get a license from the store with their own name and email address on it.
Once you have entered the redeem key in to the Scirra Store, you can download your Construct 2 license which is a file called c2license.txt. To start using it, simply copy it to My Documents, or copy it to the install directory (where Construct2.exe is also located). Restart Construct 2 and it should find your license. You will know it has worked if 'Free edition' no longer appears in the title bar, and the About dialog will show your license information.
Remember a license with a person's name is for the individual: you can use it on as many computers as you like, so long as you are the only person using it. On the other hand, a license with an organisation's name is for the computer(s): any number of people can use it, so long as it is only used on the intended machine(s).
Don't forget Construct 2 is portable. If you have an individual license, you can install it to a USB stick, copy your license file to the install directory, and take your licensed Construct 2 with you wherever you go. Don't forget it's only for your use, and this is not allowed with organisation licenses. You must not let anyone else use the license!
Keep your licenses private!
Obviously, you must never share your license. Keep it to yourself like serial numbers for other software! Your license also contains some of your personal information, so I'm sure you don't want that to fall in to the hands of anyone untrustworthy.
Rewards
Everyone who purchases a license also gets a medal on their avatar, and a badge for their profile. If you have purchased a license and still have not received your badge, send an email to licensehelpyla@scirra.com with your transaction ID and username and we can issue your badges.
Re-downloading your license
If you format your computer or otherwise lose your license, you can download it again from here:
http://www.scirra.com/store/purchases
Get started with the free edition!
Why not download the free edition now and try it out? It's not a trial - it lasts for ever - and it's free!