The 14-day free trial
Every subscription starts with a 14-day free trial with full access from day one. Checkout is through Stripe and a card is required up front; if you cancel before the trial ends you pay nothing, otherwise the subscription converts automatically and renews yearly. Stripe emails you a reminder before the trial ends, and you can cancel anytime in the billing portal.
Your license key is emailed to you after checkout. During the trial the app shows a countdown banner with the days remaining; when the trial converts, the same key simply keeps working — there's nothing to re-enter.
Activating your license
Enter your key on the desktop app's activation screen. The app validates it once online, registers the machine, and stores a signed license certificate locally — a machine file cryptographically signed and bound to this device. Every subsequent launch verifies that file locally, so day-to-day use requires no network connection. When the app happens to be online, it silently refreshes the certificate in the background so it never approaches expiry.
For machines that can never go online, see Offline & Air-Gapped Use.
What the license check sends (and doesn't)
Activation and certificate refreshes talk to the licensing service about exactly one thing: your license key and a machine fingerprint (a one-way hash derived from the machine's OS identifier). Your assessment data is never part of any request — it stays in local storage on your device, full stop. On an air-gapped machine using certificate-file activation, the app makes no external calls at all.
Moving to a new machine
Licenses are node-locked to the machines you activate. To move:
- On the old machine, open License from the upper-right menu and Deactivate — this frees the seat immediately.
- On the new machine, activate with the same key.
If the old machine is gone (died, wiped, or offline), email support@getcmmc.consulting and we'll free the seat for you.
The billing portal
Subscription management is self-serve through the Stripe billing portal: cancel your trial or subscription, update your card, and download invoices. Sign in with the email you used at checkout. Cancelling stops future charges; a cancelled trial simply expires at day 14.
Updates
When a new version is available, the app lets you know: on macOS and Windows it can install the update in place (with your permission), and on Linux it shows a notice linking to the new .deb/.rpm — package installs can't self-update. You can check manually anytime via License → Check for updates, and release notes are on the releases page. Update checks require an active license.
The free browser version
The browser version needs no license at all — it's the free Level 1 tier, covering full editing and complete reports for the 17 CMMC Level 1 practices. No key unlocks anything in the browser; the Level 2 assessment (all 110 requirements and SPRS scoring) lives exclusively in the licensed desktop app.