Skip to content

Licenses

When you buy a TEC app, what you actually get is a license: permission to use that app, on some number of computers, for some length of time. Your TEC ID dashboard shows every license you own.

This page explains how to read what's on screen.

Where to find your licenses

Sign in at id.tec.design and your licenses sit right on the main dashboard. Each app you've purchased has its own card.

[Screenshot: Licenses section of dashboard with three product cards]

What's on a license

The license key

Every license has a unique key — a short string you copy into the app to activate it. The first part of the key tells you which product it's for:

Prefix Product
MOON-... Moonshine
STAR-... Starlight
OWLT-... Owlette

A key looks something like MOON-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. It's safe to copy and paste — there are no special characters that get mangled by email or chat apps.

Keep your key private

Treat your license key like a password. Anyone with the key could try to activate the app on their computer. If you think your key has leaked, email support@tec.design and we'll rotate it for you.

Seats

A seat is one activation — one computer running the app. Most of our perpetual licenses ship with one seat, meaning you can have the app running on one computer at a time. If you need more, see below.

When you activate the app on a computer, that uses up one seat. When you release it (or activate a different computer), the seat frees up. See Devices & activations for the details.

Status

A license is in one of these states:

  • Active — paid up, all seats available, app will work.
  • Trial — 14-day free trial, app works fully until expiry.
  • Past due (subscriptions only) — we couldn't charge your card. There's a short grace period to update your payment method. See Billing.
  • Expired — the subscription ended or wasn't renewed. The app stops working until you renew.
  • Refunded — the purchase was refunded. The license is no longer valid.

Perpetual vs subscription

We sell two kinds of license, and they behave differently.

Perpetual licenses

You pay once and you own that version of the app forever. Includes a year of updates from the date of purchase.

  • Moonshine — perpetual. $549, or $399 for early supporters (capped at the first 200 waitlist seats).
  • Starlight — perpetual. $799, or $599 for early supporters (capped at the first 200 waitlist seats).

After the first year, the app keeps working. New updates are available for a small renewal fee — we'll never break your existing install.

There's a 14-day money-back guarantee on perpetual licenses. See Billing.

Subscription licenses

You pay every month (or year, if you choose annual) and you have access for as long as you're subscribed. If you stop paying, the app stops working.

  • Owlette Core — $10/month per computer.
  • Owlette Pro — $50/month, with a minimum of 3 computers ($150/month total).

You can cancel any time. When you cancel, the app keeps working until the end of the period you've already paid for, then stops. We don't refund the current period.

More on Owlette's pricing in the Owlette app guide.

Multiple seats

Some customers buy multiple seats for a team, a studio, or just to use the same app on a laptop and a desktop. Each seat is one active computer.

To buy additional seats:

  • Moonshine and Starlight — contact support@tec.design. We sell additional seats at a small discount to the per-unit price.
  • Owlette — add seats yourself from your dashboard. Each seat is billed monthly on the same cycle.

If you have multiple seats, they all share the same license key. Each computer activates against the same key and reserves one seat. See Devices & activations.

Free trials

Most of our apps offer a 14-day free trial. You give us your email, you get a trial license, the app works fully for two weeks. No credit card up front.

When the trial ends, the app stops working. You can convert to a paid license any time, even after the trial has expired — your license key just becomes active again, and your existing settings stay put.

You only get one trial per email address per app.

License vs subscription, in one line

  • License (perpetual) — pay once, use forever (this version), 14-day refund.
  • License (subscription) — pay every month, use while paid, cancel any time.

Both are just "licenses" in your dashboard. The difference is how you're billed, and what happens if you stop paying.