# Minimum license **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2024, 9:48am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737 "2024-07-03T09:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steven12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Steven12](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Steven12)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 9:48am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/1 "2024-07-03T09:48:46Z")
Hello, I'm tinkering and learning with the Maker Edition at home at the moment. At the same time, I'm using the time-limited pro version at work. I understand the licensing a bit for a big company-wide development and deployment, but one thing I can't find is the license for developing and running 1 HMI for 1 PLC, 1 developer. Basic functionality, 1 OPCUA connection to the PLC, 1 UDP/TCP connection, some pages with graphs, login and error page. No database or historian. Does that exist or do I have to pay the full blown license ? Do I have to keep on paying for the whole lifetime of the PLC ? ---
**Author:** ![bschroeder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bschroeder/32/13260_2.png) [@bschroeder](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/bschroeder)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 12:06pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/2 "2024-07-03T12:06:56Z")
Do you have an IA sales rep yet? If so, they are the best person to discuss this with and can give you options for what you are looking for. If you don't have one, then contacting sales would be your first step. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/3 "2024-07-03T12:13:50Z")
> [@Steven12](#): > > No database You could use Edge Panel. (It does hold history for 35 days.) > [@Steven12](#): > > full blown license ? Standard Ignition has many options, some reachable in the pricing tool, but others only available via IA sales. > [@Steven12](#): > > keep on paying Ignition licenses (Edge and Standard) do not ever expire. But they don't work with future major upgrades (like the upcoming v8.3). Buy the annual support if you want upgrade protection (BasicCare is ~16% of retail per year). ---
**Author:** ![Steven12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Steven12](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Steven12)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 12:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/4 "2024-07-03T12:23:00Z")
So the cheapest license to build and run an Ignition HMI is this: ![240703_142158](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/d/f/dfccad96b9dd09ae8fe149584337ea622cef3ac6.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 12:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/5 "2024-07-03T12:24:11Z")
Yes. (If you think that's excessive, you should survey the market for pricing of competitive products with similar features. Also compare to the price for matching features in standard Ignition.) ---
**Author:** ![Steven12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Steven12](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Steven12)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/6 "2024-07-03T12:26:08Z")
Thank you. Ignition is very competitive on the high company-wide end, but very expensive on the low end. I work on both. So I will never use it for the small machines, and without multiple decent demos our corporate wont switch over very soon. I did a few test scenarions with the time-linited pro version, some corp guys found it cute, others stayed ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/7 "2024-07-03T12:32:01Z")
If you find you **do** need a database, standard Ignition with 1-client Vision license, no historian or other modules beyond the platform, can be an attractive option. (The platform includes unlimited OPC clients and native driver instances, and includes the most popular native drivers.) You have to script all of your history storage, but really price-conscious buyers may like it. (I have a client that does exactly this.) ---
**Author:** ![Steven12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Steven12](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Steven12)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/8 "2024-07-03T12:38:45Z")
The solution where I need a database is company-wide. 5 developers are full time on it. If ever, that decision will come top-down on me. ---
**Author:** ![amarks](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/amarks/32/45610_2.png) [@amarks](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/amarks)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/9 "2024-07-03T14:12:01Z")
We've done exactly that ---
**Author:** ![michael.flagler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/michael.flagler/32/26272_2.png) [@michael.flagler](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/michael.flagler)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:46am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/minimum-license/92737/10 "2024-07-18T04:46:18Z")
If you're just doing small demos, I would just use the trial edition, but if you need it to run perpetually, Edge will work for a single project and up to 2 clients. I've got a client that I just did a demo for today that was about to install a large Wonderware/Aveva System Platform project in the next couple weeks and they're considering ditching it and going Ignition because of how much better it performs. (Yes they realize it won't happen in a couple weeks) I haven't even shown them how much more it can do, they just were curious how it performed. Anyone skeptical hasn't truly experienced the #IgnitionEffect yet.