Each CrashPlan subscription is the billing record for a product or service you buy, and a license is the unit it counts. Depending on the plan, CrashPlan uses device-based licensing, counting one license for each active device, or user-based licensing, counting one license for each user with backup data:
- Device-based: CrashPlan for Small Business and CrashPlan for MSPs.
- User-based: CrashPlan Endpoint and CrashPlan Enterprise.
Licenses are counted the same way whether the subscription was purchased online or through the CrashPlan sales team. Each plan's licensing is also listed in CrashPlan Products and Subscription Plans.
A CrashPlan subscription purchased online is billed for at least one license until it is canceled. To stop billing entirely, cancel the subscription.
Device-based licensing
On a device-based CrashPlan plan, each device that appears as an active device in the CrashPlan console uses one license, whether or not it has backed up any data. The number of licenses updates automatically as devices are added and removed.
To stop a device using a license, deactivate it. When the license is released depends on the plan:
- CrashPlan for Small Business: The license is released when the device is deactivated.
- CrashPlan for MSPs: The device continues to use a license while its archive is in cold storage, and the license is released when the archive leaves cold storage.
Deactivating every device does not stop billing. A device-based CrashPlan subscription is billed for one license even when no devices remain active.
Monthly terms
On a monthly device-based CrashPlan subscription, the payment method is charged at the start of each billing cycle for each active device. Active devices are counted 48 hours before the billing date.
Yearly and two-year terms
On a yearly or two-year device-based CrashPlan subscription, the payment at the start of the term sets a baseline number of licenses. Each month, CrashPlan compares the baseline with the number of active devices:
- More active devices than the baseline: The additional licenses are charged at a prorated rate for the rest of the term.
- Fewer active devices than the baseline: The unused licenses remain available for the rest of the term and are not refunded.
The baseline for the next term is counted from the active devices 48 hours before the renewal date.
User-based licensing
On a user-based CrashPlan plan, a user uses one license when they have backup data in CrashPlan:
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Uses a license:
- An active user with at least one active device, whether or not the device has backed up.
- Any user with an archive in cold storage, whether the user is active or deactivated.
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Does not use a license:
- An active user with no active devices and no archives in cold storage.
- A deactivated user whose archives have expired or been purged.
Where the CrashPlan app is installed separately for each user of one computer, each of those users uses a license.
To match the number of licenses to your users on a subscription purchased online, add or reduce licenses. If the subscription was purchased through the CrashPlan sales team, a managed service provider (MSP), or a reseller, contact that party to change the number of licenses.
Licenses used by cold storage
On user-based CrashPlan plans and CrashPlan for MSPs, when a user or device is deactivated, its archives move to cold storage for the retention period set for the organization. Archives in cold storage continue to use a license until they expire at the end of that period.
CrashPlan for Small Business does not have cold storage. A deactivated device stops using a license as soon as it is deactivated.
To release the license sooner, purge the archives from cold storage. The license becomes available within 24 hours. Purging permanently deletes the archives, and their files cannot be restored afterward.
When a license or the subscription expires
When a CrashPlan user no longer has a license:
- The user's devices stop backing up.
- The user can sign in to the CrashPlan app, and cannot restore files.
- Administrators can manage the user and devices in the CrashPlan console, and cannot restore the user's files.
When the whole subscription ends, backup and restore stop for every user, and the account follows the data retention schedule.