A perpetual license means that the version of the software you purchase will never stop working. NI software licenses provide access to an NI software service program. These benefits are included in the first year of perpetual licenses. After the first year, software service is renewable on an annual basis. Even if you do not subscribe to software service, your software will continue to operate with the version you currently have installed. 

A subscription license gives you access to software on an annual basis. Once the term of the subscription license is up, you must renew your subscription to keep using the software. When you renew your subscription, you will also maintain access to your NI software service agreement benefits. 

Learn about the benefits of software services or read this article to help you decide which license option will best meet your needs.

There are no functional or feature-level differences when purchasing NI software through a subscription or perpetual license. Both licenses include the same features.

Review the table on this page for a detailed comparison of the features included in each edition of LabVIEW. LabVIEW Full includes more functions and signal processing. LabVIEW Professional includes Nigel AI which can help with onboarding and development, the Application Builder for creating deployable applications, tools for software engineering, and additional toolkits.

A development license is used for creating new applications and programs. Development licenses are available in subscription or perpetual terms.

A deployment license is required for distributing applications developed using LabVIEW. You must purchase one deployment license for each target computer on which the application will run. All deployment licenses are perpetual licenses.

Read this article to help you decide which license option will best meet your needs.

Purchasing a single-seat license to LabVIEW provides access to an NI software service agreement which includes benefits like new and previous version downloads, technical support, and LabVIEW Core 1 on-demand. These benefits are included in subscription licenses and for the first year of perpetual licenses. After the first year, software service is renewable on an annual basis.

Learn more about the benefits of software services.

The LabVIEW Community Edition may only be used for your personal, non-commercial, non-industrial purposes. It cannot be used for teaching or research at a degree-granting educational institution.