MESCIUS .NET Licensing & FAQ

License your developers to build and ship full-featured .NET applications, and accelerate delivery with Pipeline Licenses for automated CI/CD builds. Add Platinum or Enterprise Support for priority access, faster SLAs, and expert guidance when you need it most.

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Developer License

A Developer License is required for each individual developer who will be using a MESCIUS .NET product (ActiveReports.NET, ComponentOne, or Spread.NET) to design, develop, and maintain applications. This license gives the developer access to all features and functionality of the licensed product so they can create, modify, and test within their development environment.

Subscriptions Include

  • A license for one individual developer
  • Ability to build and distribute unlimited, royalty-free applications during your subscription period
  • All major and minor versions released during your active subscription period
  • Direct notification of all new releases and enhancements
  • Standard support
    • Online ticket technical support
    • Phone support for licensing and installation issues
    • Community forum support with access to both engineering and technical teams
  • MESCIUS account membership

If you use build servers or CI/CD pipelines for automated builds or deployment, we recommend adding a Pipeline License in addition to the necessary Developer Licenses. Pipeline License details are outlined below.

How Subscriptions Work

  • One required per each developer using a MESCIUS .NET product
  • Grants access to all development features for that product
  • No additional licenses required for building and deployment to end users
  • Valid for one year from the purchase date
  • After expiration, compilation of projects that include the product’s components will no longer be possible until the product is renewed
  • Runtime licensing never expires, so previously compiled applications will continue to run
  • You may renew at any time to restore development and compilation capability

Pipeline License

A Pipeline License is designed for automated build and deployment environments such as CI/CD pipelines. It makes it easy to integrate a MESCIUS .NET product (ActiveReports.NET, ComponentOne, or Spread.NET) into your automated build and deployment processes so your application can be built and deployed as part of your normal pipeline without manual intervention.

Key Points

  • Intended for build-time use only. A Pipeline License does not provide design-time capabilities.
  • Designed for DevOps pipelines like Azure DevOps, Bitbucket Pipelines, GitHub Actions, AWS CodeBuild, and similar services.
  • Supports Docker containers and other ephemeral or cloud-hosted build agents.
  • Has reduced restrictions on machine limits and activation frequency to support frequent, dynamic builds and virtual machines that appear as new machines on every run.
  • Licensing is not tied to a machine name, making it a good fit for dynamic build agents.
  • Needs to be activated in the pipeline/build environment (see product documentation for the exact activation step).
  • Activates unlimited builds while the pipeline license is in effect.

Purchase and EULA Requirements

  • You must purchase or already own at least one Developer License to buy a Pipeline License.
  • In order to comply with the EULA, a valid Developer License is required for each individual developer working on any project that incorporates a MESCIUS .NET product, regardless of whether the same build pipeline and Pipeline License are used to compile the project.

Read more about Licensing Build Agents/Pipelines:

Platinum Support

Adding Platinum Support to your Developer License subscription gives you access to our industry-leading support program for any MESCIUS .NET product (ActiveReports.NET, ComponentOne, or Spread.NET ). It can be paired with any currently available MESCIUS .NET product license and delivers priority handling, faster SLAs, and direct access to senior support engineers for the duration of the subscription.

This is a good fit if you need guaranteed, rapid support and prioritized treatment of bugs and feature requests for your MESCIUS .NET product.

To learn more, see our Supports Plans page.

Enterprise Support

Enterprise Support is a per-company plan that’s custom tailored to your business needs. By default it includes everything in Platinum Support but at an even higher priority level, and you can add optional services to match the level of engagement your team requires.

Enterprise Support is billed per company rather than as a license add-on. It’s a good fit if you need a dedicated relationship, faster response and resolution SLAs, and a direct line into our product teams.

To learn more, see our Supports Plans page.

How to Activate Your License

  1. Download the latest release: ActiveReports - ComponentOne - Spread.NET

  2. Activate your Serial Key in the MESCIUS License Manager

That’s it! You may also register the key to your account for future reference.

Check out our getting started pages for a jump start on using the products: ActiveReports - ComponentOne - Spread.NET

General FAQ

The trial version lets you try a MESCIUS .NET product (ActiveReports.NET, ComponentOne, or Spread.NET) and evaluate all features for 30 days without a product key. This is the full version of the product, the only difference being a few licensing screens and watermarks.

If you need more time, you can contact us.sales@mescius.com and we may extend your trial upon request.

The MESCIUS .NET products are licensed per developer on a yearly subscription basis. To unlock a product for production you must purchase a product key for each developer who will be using that product. Each Developer License entitles the developer to create, compile, and distribute unlimited, royalty-free reports and applications that include the licensed product for the duration of the subscription.

See the Developer License section on this page for details.

Applications that were already compiled will continue to run indefinitely, and end users will not be disrupted. However, you will not be able to build projects that include the MESCIUS .NET product’s components until the subscription is renewed or the components are removed from the project.

To make renewals easier, we also provide a grace period after expiration, during which you can continue compiling (with a reminder/nag screen) while you complete the renewal process.

You must have a separate Developer License for each developer working on the project. For build machines you can use an activation from one of your developers’ licenses to license a build machine, but if your build infrastructure is dynamic (ephemeral VMs, cloud agents, frequent builds) you may prefer a Pipeline License to avoid the restrictions of a normal Developer License. See our documentation for details.

No. MESCIUS .NET products include royalty-free redistribution. As long as the product’s assemblies are bundled with the application you sell to your customers, those customers do not need separate licenses.

If your subscription is active you generally will not need a new key to use the latest version. If a major version blocks activation, open the MESCIUS License Manager and click “Refresh” next to your subscription license. If you are still using a legacy perpetual license, new keys (when applicable) are available in the My Account section of our website.

No. The default activation method uses the internet, but alternate activation methods are available (phone, email, or activation on another machine). See the online user manual for step-by-step instructions.

Activation is used to verify the authenticity of the product key used to license the software. No personal information is required to submit during activation. The activation process collects the following information from the users machine: IP address, city, country, machine name and operating system.

After purchasing a license, activate the key using the MESCIUS License Manager. Detailed steps are available in the online user manual.

If you have a subscription license, the same key will work for product versions released in 2026 and later while your subscription remains active. Legacy perpetual keys are valid only for the specific version they were purchased for; to use a newer major version you must obtain a license key for that version. Contact sales at us.sales@mescius.com if you need assistance.

There are a few ways to get help: product forums (where our engineering and support teams participate), and the support portal where you can submit tickets. For urgent issues submit a ticket through the support portal and our team will respond.

Yes. Phone and virtual meeting support are available as part of Platinum Support. See the Support Plans page for details on Platinum and Enterprise plans.

Volume discounts and promotions vary. Contact sales at us.sales@mescius.com for the latest information.

If you’ve exhausted your activations and the new machine qualifies under your license terms, our sales team can help. Contact us at us.sales@mescius.com.

Yes. Installation on virtual machines is supported. Remember that licensing is per developer seat, so if developers are sharing virtual machines, you must still purchase one license per each developer working on the project in order to be compliant with the EULA. Contact us at us.sales@mescius.com if you need help planning deployments or licensing for virtual environments.

Licenses may be transferred from one developer to another or from one server to another. In this case, the original license must be deactivated from the original developer's machine or from the original server. Each license key can be activated on a maximum of two (2) machines at one time. If you cannot deactivate any of your current computers, you will need to purchase additional licenses. Note that a single license may not be used by more than one developer.

The limit is two (2) machines per developer license. Typical usage may include a primary development machine and a secondary laptop or build machine. A license can be deactivated on one machine so that it can be activated on a third machine. This is known as reactivation and is limited up to 9 times within 24 hours. If you need a build server license that can be reactivated more frequently, you may be interested a pipeline license.

For technical questions, open a ticket in the support portal and our technical support team will help. For licensing or sales questions, contact the sales team at us.sales@mescius.com or call 1-800-858-2739.

ActiveReports.NET FAQ

ActiveReports is available in two editions to suit your needs: Professional and Standard. The Professional Edition includes all the bells and whistles you used in the trial version, while the Standard Edition, a cost-conscious option, is recommended if you do not require the JSViewer control, HTTP Handlers, End User Designer control, Maps, Table of Contents, and some of the more advanced PDF Export features. To determine which version will best serve your needs, refer to the Compare Products page for more detailed information.

No. The End User Designer is included with the ActiveReports Professional Edition. This control can be embedded in your applications and can be redistributed royalty-free.

You may find all earlier versions of ActiveReports.NET on our Download Version History page.

If you have purchased a new key for ActiveReports.NET but plan to use an old version, please contact our sales team at us.sales@mescius.com and they can provide you with a downgrade license to use the older version.

You can find troubleshooting tips for some common ActiveReports.NET licensing gotchas here in our documentation, as well as the rest of the licensing documentation here. If you need additional assistance, you can create a ticket at in our support portal where our technical support team will be happy to help you out.

ComponentOne FAQ

A developer license includes a one-year subscription that entitles you to develop with the latest version for one year, including all product updates, bug fixes and new features. A ComponentOne subscription also entitles you to use any previous version for maintaining applications.

To download the latest updates, click Download to install the C1ControlPanel, which allows you to install updates throughout your entire subscription. From the C1ControlPanel you can also download and install old version, access samples, tools and activate your key. Learn more about C1ControlPanel.

ComponentOne Studio Enterprise subscribers receive one Wijmo Distribution License with 1 host name/domain. This license includes all Wijmo updates and releases for one year and renewing extends the license for an additional year of updates. You can purchase additional hostnames if needed. See here for details about licensing your apps using Wijmo.

Contact us for more information.

The source code is not included with a standard developer license. You can additionally purchase the full source code for any ComponentOne product for reference or with rights to modify and redistribute, subject to our EULA. A source code license is purchased in addition to a standard developer license.

Source Code Licenses Include:

  • Full source code for one product and one .NET version
  • Enterprise controls for supported platforms
  • Build and access support
    Note: Support is not guaranteed after source code modification.

License Types:

  • Education & Reference - Provides source code for learning and debugging only. Modification and redistribution are not permitted. This license is lower cost.
  • Modification - Allows you to modify the source code and redistribute it within your application. Third-party redistribution and white-label resale are not allowed. MESCIUS copyright must remain intact. This license is higher cost.

Contact us for pricing information.

Spread.NET FAQ

No. The Spread Designer component for run-time deployment of the Spread Designer tool is included with the Spread for WinForms. You can deploy applications created with this component to your end users and they can use it to create or edit spreadsheets.

Note that the Spread Designer applications (.exe) are not redistributable.

Once you have purchased a license, you can activate the key using the License Manager.

If you have purchased a license for a new version of Spread, but you require an earlier version of the product in your application, please submit a support ticket. We will be glad to provide you with the version of the product that you need.