Skip to main content

Licensing and Billing

How is Axinom DRM licensed?​

It is licensed as a SaaS (cloud-based) or as a software product.

The most common licensing option is using our cloud-based service. The cloud-based license delivery service allows you to build, deploy, and run end-to-end DRM solutions without the need and complexity of entering into, potentially expensive, agreements with DRM technology vendors. You just pay based on the number of licenses issued by your application. We take care of paying the applicable DRM technology license fees.

Alternatively, you may license our software and run it on your own servers.

See also: Axinom DRM Billing Models

Can I test your service free of charge?​

Yes. We offer a free trial of 60 days during which you have access to our test environment, sample code, comprehensive documentation and support.

Can we extend the trial beyond 2 months if necessary?​

Yes, if you start your integration and need more time to finish it, you can request a trial extension through a support ticket.

Why your license count can be higher than your viewer count?​

  1. Multiple Requests per Session: Since a license request can be generated each time a viewer starts or refreshes a video, the actual license count might not directly correspond to unique viewers. A single user may cause multiple license requests per session due to video replays, partial views, network interruptions, or actions like seeking through the video.

  2. Automatic Page Reloads or Session Resets: For example, if a user navigates away and back again or if the page automatically refreshes, it will often trigger another license request.

  3. Player or Browser Caching Settings: If the DRM license isn’t stored or cached persistently by the player or browser, each session restart might result in a fresh license request.

  4. Browser or Device-Specific Behavior: Some devices or browsers are known to trigger multiple license requests for the same session. Testing across various devices or troubleshooting on some browsers can also contribute to the overall license count, even with limited external viewers.

  5. Pre-rolls or Mid-rolls: If the content setup includes previews or multiple segments, this can lead to multiple requests per viewing session, further increasing the license count.

If you use the generated licenses-based billing model, Axinom DRM tracks licenses based on requests rather than unique users. If you’d like a better correlation between user count and billing, consider our active user-based billing model. With this approach, billing reflects unique active users rather than the raw license request volume. You can find the pricing details here: https://portal.axinom.com/mosaic/pricing/eur#drm-user

How does the license generation happen?​

Whether a client makes one or more license requests for the playback of a content depends on several factors. For single‑key content this is usually one license per playback session. For multi‑key content (e.g., multiple tracks, key rotation), these factors become more important:

  1. The DRM used:

    • For FairPlay, one transaction can contain only one key. So, if multiple keys or rotations are needed, there will be more licenses accordingly.

    • For Widevine and PlayReady there can be multiple keys in one license / transaction.

  2. Content packaging:

    • The keys needed to decrypt content are specified in specialized structures inside the manifest/media data, called "PSSHs". Typically, each track's "PSSH" lists only it's own key, but sometimes, as an optimization, all tracks list all the keys. In the former case, players typically request the one key that is required for the particular track that is currently played back. In the latter case, players typically request all the keys in one go (except FairPlay), even if some keys are unused.

  3. Player behaviour:

    • Some players only ask for keys for the tracks they're currently playing back. Some ask for keys also for other tracks that "may be" played back. This is also related to point 2.

  4. License configuration (Widevine-only)

    • We have an EM option to include all the keys listed in the Entitlement Message regardless of which keys a player needs at the moment (is currently requesting). This can allow giving all the keys in one response and skip player from having to make further requests (tho, it's also subject to player behaviour, and needs to be verified).

    • This is for Widevine-only. Because our FairPlay APIs support only one key per transaction and with PlayReady there are different considerations -- due to how the DRM works, the PlayReady client-side module (CDM) sometimes expects that exact keys to be returned that are requested (as determined by the PlayReady PSSH in the media), so we can't modify it using a license-server side configuration flag.

How does the number of licenses impact the billing?​

In general, each successful license acquisition transaction (HTTP request and response pair between a client and the licensing service) is counted as one license in terms of billing, regardless of how many keys are transmitted in the said one transaction.

Is it possible to utilize the same license (non-persistent) multiple times using cashing?​

It's impossible to utilize the same license (non-persistent) multiple times using cashing, as each license request will be based on a different playback session.

A different approach would be to use a persistent license. This article provides more details: https://docs.axinom.com/services/drm/license-service/entitlement-message/license-configuration#allow_persistence

Was this page helpful?