PermitCore vs Keygen, Cryptolens, and LicenseSpring: A Sourced Comparison
If you're evaluating license management platforms, you've probably already run into Keygen, Cryptolens, and LicenseSpring. Rather than write three separate marketing pages that each quietly favor us, here's one honest rundown — pulled directly from each vendor's own current pricing page, not from memory, with every number checked on September 15, 2026.
PermitCore, briefly
€0 (Free, 50 activations/mo) → €29 (Starter, 1,000/mo) → €59 (Professional, 10,000/mo) → €299 (Enterprise, unlimited + self-hosted). 0% commission on the built-in Stripe storefront. Client-side AES-256-GCM key encryption — the server never sees a plaintext license key. 6 official SDKs: .NET, Node.js, Python, Java, C++, PHP.
vs. Keygen
Keygen's free "Dev" tier allows 100 active licensed users (ALUs) and 10 product releases. Above that, paid Std/Ent tiers price through a live slider calculator rather than fixed published numbers — Keygen states it charges "a fair, flat monthly or yearly fee" with no revenue commission, same commitment PermitCore makes on Store sales.
Where Keygen is genuinely ahead: it offers a free, open self-hosted Community Edition (Keygen CE) alongside its paid Enterprise Edition — a more open self-hosting path than PermitCore's, which reserves self-hosting for the Enterprise plan. Where PermitCore differs: a built-in 0%-commission Stripe storefront and client-side zero-knowledge key encryption, neither of which Keygen's pricing page describes an equivalent to.
Full side-by-side comparison with Keygen →
vs. Cryptolens (now Devolens)
Worth knowing up front: Cryptolens is now operated under the Devolens company brand — Cryptolens remains the name of the licensing platform itself, and cryptolens.io/pricing now 301-redirects to devolens.com/pricing. Devolens' Free tier allows 10 active license keys and 15 end users; Business is €299/mo for 5,000 licenses, Scale is €699/mo for 10,000, and Enterprise is custom.
Devolens' pricing page lists support for subscriptions, usage-based, floating, node-locked, SDK-based, offline, and user-account licensing — a broadly similar model set to PermitCore's own. It doesn't describe a built-in storefront, client-side key encryption, or a self-hosting option at any tier — three places PermitCore differs.
Full side-by-side comparison with Cryptolens/Devolens →
vs. LicenseSpring
LicenseSpring's Free tier is $0 for 100 active licenses and 1,000 API requests/month. Business Starter is $199/mo (1,000 licenses), Business Plus is $750/mo (10,000 licenses, unlimited activations), and Enterprise is custom with an on-premise floating license server and air-gapped deployment support.
Where LicenseSpring is genuinely ahead: it publishes SDKs for 9 languages/platforms — C++, .NET, Java, Python, Go, Node.js, Swift, Android, and Unity — versus PermitCore's 6. If you specifically need Go, Swift, native Android, or Unity today, LicenseSpring covers those and PermitCore doesn't yet. It also runs a startup program offering up to 75% off Business Plus for two years for VC-backed or early-stage companies.
Full side-by-side comparison with LicenseSpring →
The short version
All four platforms cover the same licensing fundamentals — node-locked, floating, offline, and metered licensing. The real differences are in what's bundled versus bolted on: PermitCore bundles a 0%-commission Stripe storefront and zero-knowledge key encryption into every paid plan; Keygen offers the most open self-hosting path; LicenseSpring covers the widest range of SDK languages and has a stronger startup discount. Which one fits depends on which of those you actually need.