SunLicense vs Keygen
Keygen is a mature licensing API for teams that build their own stack. SunLicense is a flat-priced service with stores, Discord and a portal built in.
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Coding with an AI agent? Paste one promptKeygen suits you if
- You need floating, metered or feature licenses and entitlements.
- You want to self-host: Keygen CE is free, EE is paid.
- You ship through npm, PyPI, Docker or Tauri and want licensed distribution.
- You need SOC 2 Type II, SAML/SSO or an uptime SLA.
SunLicense suits you if
- You want a paid plan from $5 a month instead of $99.
- You sell on stores like BuiltByBit, Tebex, Gumroad or Stripe and want keys issued without writing webhooks.
- You want a Discord bot and a customer portal for your buyers.
- You set things up with an AI agent: one prompt, and MCP on every plan.
Feature by feature.
| Feature |  SunLicense | Keygen |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price | Free · Lite $5/month · Standard $20/month (a year costs 10 months) | Dev free · Std 1 $99/month or $990/year · higher tiers by volume (Std 2 $299/month)[1] |
| Free tier | ||
| Free tier | 3 products, 100 licenses | Dev: 1 product, 100 active licensed users, 10 releases, hard limits[1] |
| First paid tier | ||
| First paid tier | Lite: 5 products, 2,500 licenses, 3 seats | Std 1: 5 products, 1,000 active licensed users, 5 teammates[1] |
| Offline signed licenses | ||
| Offline signed licenses | Yes: Ed25519-signed license files, every plan | Yes: license files and signed keys (Ed25519, ECDSA P-256, RSA 2048)[2] |
| License models | ||
| License models | Perpetual, subscription and trial; machine and IP limits | Also floating, metered and feature licenses, entitlements[1] |
| Store integrations | ||
| Store integrations | 12 stores: BuiltByBit and Voxel Shop (key written into the download), Tebex, Gumroad, Payhip, Lemon Squeezy, Stripe, Ko-fi, WooCommerce, itch.io, Envato, SpigotMC | A Stripe guide, Zapier and webhooks[3] |
| Discord bot | ||
| Discord bot | Every plan: staff commands, buyers claim keys, buyer roles, machine resets | — |
| Customer portal | ||
| Customer portal | Lite and Standard; on your own domain with Standard | Portal in open beta[4] |
| SDKs | ||
| SDKs | Java, JavaScript, Python, .NET, PHP, Lua, Rust, plus the sunlicense CLI | Go reference SDK, a CLI and the REST API[5][6] |
| Shipping your code | ||
| Shipping your code | Downloads with the buyer's license written in (Standard, 1 GB) | Distribution API: npm, PyPI, RubyGems, Docker, Tauri and binaries (paid tiers)[1] |
| AI agent setup (MCP) | ||
| AI agent setup (MCP) | One prompt at sunlicense.com/prompt; MCP on every plan (Free: 50 calls a day) | — |
| Revenue share | ||
| Revenue share | None | None[1] |
| Hosting | ||
| Hosting | Hosted by us | Keygen Cloud, or self-host: CE free, EE paid (Fair Core License)[1][4] |
| Compliance and SLA | ||
| Compliance and SLA | No SOC 2 report or SLA yet | SOC 2 Type II on paid tiers; SAML/SSO and a 99.99% SLA on Ent tiers[1] |
Keygen's prices and features were checked on their own site on . "—" means their site doesn't say. Prices change: their pages below are the reference.
Where each one is better.
Where Keygen is better
- Maturity: Keygen says over 6,000 software businesses use it, and its site goes back to 2016.
- You can run it yourself: Keygen CE is free to self-host, EE is paid. SunLicense is hosted only.
- More licensing models: floating, metered and feature licenses, and entitlements.
- A distribution API for npm, PyPI, RubyGems, Docker and Tauri releases.
- SOC 2 Type II, and SAML/SSO with a 99.99% uptime SLA on its Ent tiers.
Where SunLicense is better
- Price: Lite is $5 a month and Standard $20, against $99 for Keygen's Std 1.
- Stores are built in: buyers get keys from BuiltByBit, Voxel Shop, Tebex, Gumroad, Stripe and seven more, without webhooks to write.
- A Discord bot for your staff and buyers, and a customer portal on Lite and Standard.
- Three products on the free tier, against one on Keygen's Dev tier.
- Official SDKs in 7 languages, and MCP plus one setup prompt for AI agents on every plan.
Moving from Keygen.
- 1Run the short script in our import guide. It saves your Keygen products, policies, users, licenses and machines from Keygen's API into a zip; your token stays on your computer.
- 2In SunLicense, open Tasks → Start a task → Import from Keygen and upload the zip.
- 3Minutes later your products, policies, licenses and machines are in SunLicense with the same license keys. Nobody is emailed, and running it again only adds what's new.
- 4Swap Keygen's check for a SunLicense SDK in your next release. Signed or encrypted Keygen keys can't come over and are listed for you.
Questions, answered.
Is SunLicense a replacement for Keygen?
For indie developers and small teams selling through stores, often yes: keys, machine limits, offline files, store integrations, Discord and a portal for $0 to $20 a month. If you need floating or metered licenses, entitlements, self-hosting, SOC 2 or SSO, Keygen fits better today.
How do Keygen's limits compare with SunLicense's?
Keygen counts active licensed users: licenses or users with activity in the last 90 days. SunLicense counts the licenses you have. Keygen's Dev tier allows 100 active licensed users and 1 product, and Std 1 ($99 a month) allows 1,000; SunLicense Free allows 100 licenses and 3 products, and Lite ($5 a month) allows 2,500 licenses.
Can I keep my license keys when I move from Keygen?
Yes. The Keygen import brings your keys over unchanged, with their expiry, status and machines. Keys SunLicense can't check (Keygen's signed or encrypted keys, or anything other than 6 to 64 letters, digits, dashes and underscores) are skipped and listed.
Can I self-host SunLicense?
No. SunLicense is a hosted service. If you must run licensing on your own servers, Keygen CE or EE is the better choice.
Try SunLicense on your next release.
- Free plan
- No credit card
- No cut of your sales