How licensing works
Your Q-Feeds licence is built from three factors:
- The number of beneficial users
- The number of devices (for example firewalls)
- The licence duration: 1, 2 or 3 years
Our TAXII service is priced differently. Contact us for TAXII pricing.
1. What are "beneficial users"?
Beneficial users are the people who actually benefit from Q-Feeds protection. This is not automatically the total number of employees in a company — it depends on where Q-Feeds is deployed.
Example
A company has 5 locations and 100 employees per location (500 in total), but Q-Feeds is only deployed at the HQ, protecting 100 people:
- Beneficial users = 100 (not 500)
- If they later roll it out to all locations, beneficial users = 500
2. Licensing per device
Each device where Q-Feeds is actively used requires a licence. This typically means firewalls, gateways, SIEM connectors or other security platforms.
| Setup | Licences needed |
|---|---|
| 1 single firewall | 1 licence |
| 2 separate firewalls | 2 licences |
| Active‑active cluster | 2 licences |
| Active‑passive cluster | 1 licence |
Why active-passive counts as one
In an active-passive setup only one device actively processes traffic; the second device is on standby only. So you need just one device licence. In an active-active cluster both devices process traffic, so each needs its own licence.
3. Licence duration
You can choose a term of 1, 2 or 3 years. Longer terms typically come with better pricing and less administrative overhead.
4. Plus and Premium options
Both Plus and Premium licences follow the same core model (beneficial users × active devices × duration). The difference is mainly in feature depth — the sizing works the same way.
Beneficial user tiers
| Tier | Users covered |
|---|---|
| Small | < 50 users |
| Medium | 50 – 250 users |
| Large | 250 – 1,000 users |
| Enterprise | 1,000+ users |
Available terms
| Term | Duration |
|---|---|
| 1 year | 12 months |
| 2 years | 24 months |
| 3 years | 36 months |
You simply pick your user tier (based on beneficial users), the number of active devices, and the contract length. The same structure applies to both Plus and Premium.
5. Worked examples
Example 1 – Small office
- 40 employees, 1 firewall, 1 year licence
- Licence: < 50 beneficial users × 1 device × 1 year
Example 2 – HQ-only deployment
- 300 employees across 4 locations, but Q-Feeds only used at HQ with 120 people
- 1 firewall in an active-passive cluster, 3 year licence
- Licence: 50 – 250 beneficial users × 1 device (active-passive) × 3 years
Example 3 – Full rollout with redundancy
- 500 employees, Q-Feeds deployed company-wide
- 2 firewalls in an active-active cluster, 2 year licence
- Licence: 250 – 1,000 beneficial users × 2 licences × 2 years
6. Why this model is fair
- You only pay for users that actually benefit.
- You only licence devices that actively use Q-Feeds.
- It is easy to scale as your environment grows.
- It works for homelabs, small businesses and large enterprises alike.
Quick summary
Your Q-Feeds licence is based on beneficial users × active devices × licence duration — not total company size, and not standby hardware. Just real usage.
If you are unsure how many beneficial users or devices apply to your setup, contact the Q-Feeds team and we are happy to help you size it correctly.