---
layout: docs
page_title: Vault Enterprise licensing
description: >-
  Find documentation related to Vault Enterprise licensing
---

> [!IMPORTANT]  
> **Documentation Update:** Product documentation, which were located in this repository under `/website`, are now located in [`hashicorp/web-unified-docs`](https://github.com/hashicorp/web-unified-docs), colocated with all other product documentation. Contributions to this content should be done in the `web-unified-docs` repo, and not this one. Changes made to `/website` content in this repo will not be reflected on the developer.hashicorp.com website.

# Vault Enterprise licensing

@include 'alerts/enterprise-only.mdx'

Vault 1.8 introduced licenses and EULA enhancements that gate enterprise
features in Vault. You must have a Vault Enterprise binary (evaluation or
non-evaluation) downloaded from
[releases.hashicorp.com](https://releases.hashicorp.com/vault/) to use an
enterprise key. Vault Enterprise licenses do not apply to
[HCP Vault Dedicated](/hcp/docs/vault/what-is-hcp-vault) deployments.


## Evaluation licenses

Evaluation licenses have a 1-day grace period until the license expires. Once
the evaluation license expires, Vault seals and cannot unseal until you apply
a valid license.


## How licensing works

To receive a Vault Enterprise license, you must agree to an end-user license
agreement (EULA). Once you apply the license, the Vault Enterprise binary
verifies your license with a EULA check during upgrades and any time a node
starts, restarts, unseals with the following results:

License type | License state | Vault build date   | Vault startup
------------ | ------------- | ------------------ | -------------
Any          | Valid         | N/A                | Succeeds
Any          | Expired       | Before expiry data | Succeeds
Any          | Expired       | After expiry data  | Fails
Evaluation   | Terminated    | N/A                | Fails
Standard     | Terminated    | Before expiry data | Succeeds
Standard     | Terminated    | After expiry data  | Fails


<Tip title="Applying security upgrades with an expired license">

You cannot properly upgrade Vault with a terminated or expired license. If you
have an emergency and need to perform an immediate upgrade to apply critical
security patches, reach out to your Vault support contact for a **temporary**
evaluation license. The temporary license allows you to complete the upgrade and
apply security patches even if your license has expired.

</Tip>


## Additional resources

<Tabs>

<Tab heading="Guides">

- [Automatically load a Vault enterprise license](/vault/docs/enterprise/license/autoloading) -
  Configure Vault to automatically load your enterprise license.

- [Automated license utilization reporting](/vault/docs/enterprise/license/autoloading) -
  Learn about the data HashiCorp collects automatically to meter Enterprise
  license utilization and how to enable or disable automated reporting

- [Manual license utilization reporting](/vault/docs/enterprise/license/manual-reporting) -
  Learn how to manually export, review, and send license utilization data to
  HashiCorp through the Vault CLI or HCP web portal.

- [Anonymous product usage reporting](/vault/docs/enterprise/license/product-usage-reporting) -
  Learn about the anonymized data HashiCorp collects automatically for product
  usage reporting and how to enable or disable data collection.

</Tab>

<Tab heading="Tutorials">

- [Install a HashiCorp Enterprise License](/vault/tutorials/enterprise/hashicorp-enterprise-license) -
  guided walkthrough for loading a Vault license.

</Tab>

</Tabs>