Questions and answers
Short answers to single questions, with the plans and prices that apply: Answers.
Who needs a commercial license?
Anyone whose use is Commercial Use under the LICENSE: any use that is not one of its permitted purposes. Investment management, meaning managing, advising on or trading investment capital, is Commercial Use for every individual and every organization except as personal trading, an endowment, a pension or public fund or a foundation's treasury included. Commercial Use also includes use by, for, or on behalf of a company or other organization, including your own company or your work for one; embedding the software or its output in a product or service for others, or distributing either bundled with such a product or service; and operating a hosted or public-facing service through which others run it or receive its output. The decision guide on the home page walks through it. The LICENSE is the controlling text.
Is personal trading still free?
Yes. A natural person may research, develop, or backtest strategies and execute trades for their own account with their own capital, free of charge. Your own account includes accounts you hold alone or jointly with your household (spouse or domestic partner, dependants), their accounts, and retirement or other tax-advantaged accounts or a revocable trust for your benefit. Your own capital includes margin and other ordinary borrowing from a broker or lender. Trading through a company, even one you wholly own, is not Personal Trading: that is the Solo plan.
Do schools, universities, charities and government bodies pay?
Not for teaching, research and their other operations: the LICENSE makes those uses by a charitable organization, educational institution, public research organization, public safety or health organization, environmental protection organization or government institution a permitted purpose. Investment management is different: using the software to manage, advise on or trade an endowment, a pension or retirement fund, a sovereign or other public fund, or a foundation's treasury or reserves, or to research strategies for that capital, is Commercial Use for every organization, and it needs the Fund plan.
I trade my own money through my own company. Is that free?
No. An account of a company, partnership, fund or trust, other than a revocable trust for your own benefit, is not your own account, even if you wholly own it. The Solo plan covers one person using the software for a company they wholly own, alone or with their household, that holds only their household's capital, where no one else uses the software and no one outside the household works on its trading or research; it covers up to $10M of own trading capital, and above that the Team band for the amount applies. Trading in your own name, for your own account, stays free even when trading is your living.
I trade funded-trader or challenge accounts. Which plan?
Solo. A funded-trader program's accounts, whether challenge, evaluation, simulated or funded, are capital that is not yours, real or simulated, counted at their nominal size. Solo covers one person with up to $1M of capital that is not theirs (funded-trader accounts and the money of relatives outside the household, friends or first clients held in their own accounts, combined) on top of up to $10M of their own. Capital pooled in a fund or other vehicle is not Solo. Above $1M of others' capital, or for a firm, it is Fund, priced by the AUM: the others' capital plus your own trading capital.
What counts as own trading capital?
The licensee's own capital traded with the software (the sleeve): the net liquidation value of the accounts holding its own capital where a strategy researched, developed, backtested or run with the software or its Output trades. Net liquidation value is the assets less what is owed, so borrowing adds nothing to it. Own capital is what the licensee and its wholly owned subsidiaries beneficially own with no outside investor, client, member, partner or beneficiary: a fund, pooled vehicle, managed account or other entity or account with an outside holder holds others' capital, counted as assets under management (the Fund plan), even when the licensee controls it. Owners of capital state only that sleeve, not all of their capital, as the average of its last 3 month-end values, each in US dollars at that month end's exchange rate; exchange-rate moves count as market movement. Own trading capital sets the Team band: up to $10M, or over $10M up to $50M; above $50M, the Fund band for that amount. A company that does not trade (research, CI or internal tools) is in the first band. Solo goes up to $10M, and above that a Solo licensee takes the Team band for the amount; the OEM plan's internal use goes up to $10M, and more needs a Team plan as well. You state it at checkout, with how it was measured and as of which date, and again in each yearly statement. Others' capital counts separately: up to $1M within Solo, otherwise as assets under management (the Fund plan).
How are assets under management measured?
Fund plans are priced by the band your assets under management (AUM) fall in. AUM is the others' capital you manage, advise on or trade across the whole firm, whether or not with the software, plus your own trading capital. For the others' capital, state regulatory AUM where a filing states it (for a US adviser, Form ADV; it changes when a new filing states a new amount), else the average of its last 3 month-end values. A fund, pooled vehicle or managed account with outside holders counts here even when you control it. An owner of capital that takes Fund (own trading capital above $50M, or an endowment, a public pension or public fund or a foundation treasury managing its own investment capital) states only the capital traded with the software (the sleeve), on the same 3-month-end average. Exchange-rate moves count as market movement. A band covers AUM over its lower limit up to and including its upper limit. You state it at checkout, with how it was measured and as of which date, and again in each yearly statement. The $100M to $500M band is sold by invoice or purchase order: write to [email protected].
How is my use checked?
Once a year, and with each renewal, you send one signed statement of what your plan is priced on: own trading capital, assets under management or monthly active end users, others' capital for Solo, and group revenue for OEM Startup and Growth, measured as at checkout. An officer signs it, or for Solo you do. If it went above your band, you pay the difference to the band that covers it, at list price, for that period, with no penalty. Self-serve plans carry no audit.
Can I upgrade or change my plan?
Write to [email protected] with your license id. An upgrade during a term costs the difference between the two plans' annual prices, pro-rated to the days left, and ends on the same date; a plan added beside yours (for example a Team plan for internal use beyond what OEM / Embedded includes) costs its full price, pro-rated the same way. If new capital, new accounts or new users take you past your plan, you have 30 days to upgrade; a rise from market movement alone, exchange-rate moves included, and a rise in group revenue count from your next renewal.
How do renewals work?
Self-serve plans renew automatically each year through our merchant-of-record partner, unless you cancel. We email you 30 and 7 days before each renewal, with the price and a link to confirm the amounts your plan is priced on; if they moved to another band, the renewal is for that band. While you renew, your price never rises: if your option's list price falls, you pay the lower price, and a move to another band takes that band's list price. A renewal can be held for a quote, when your amounts move into a band sold by invoice, or for a sanctions review; it stops if the order is refunded, lost in a payment dispute, refused, or left unpaid for 30 days. Each renewal issues a new license whose term starts when the previous one ends. Plans bought by quote, invoice or purchase order renew by a new order: give the current license id at checkout.
How do I cancel?
Use the subscription page of our merchant-of-record partner, linked from its receipt, or write to [email protected], any time before the renewal date. Your current term runs to its end and no fee is refunded; the license stays valid until then. If we did not send you the reminder 30 days before a renewal, you may also cancel that renewal within 30 days after it is charged and get its fee back.
What happens to code I generated when my license ends?
When the term ends, Output generated before or during a paid term and used under your plan stays licensed for your plan's uses and within its limits, unless the license was revoked or ended for breach. Only generating new Output needs a live license. Copies of a product already delivered to your users may keep running and be supported.
Who sells me the license?
Online orders are sold through our merchant-of-record partner, named at checkout: it sells you the license and handles the payment, the tax, the receipt and the invoice. pineforge, LLC is the licensor: it grants the license under the Commercial License Agreement, issues it and keeps its record on the verify page. An order by signed quote, invoice or purchase order is a direct sale by pineforge, LLC. Questions about the payment, the receipt or the invoice go to the partner's support; questions about the license go to [email protected]. How buying works names the partner.
Do I get an invoice? What about tax?
Yes, for a live purchase. Online orders are sold through our merchant-of-record partner, named at checkout: it charges the payment, adds and remits the sales tax or VAT where it applies, and emails you the receipt and the invoice. pineforge, LLC grants the license under the Commercial License Agreement. Prices are in US dollars; the payment page asks for a billing address, shows the amount due with any tax before you pay, and may offer to charge it in your own currency. Any order from $5,000 can also be bought by invoice or purchase order, at list price, as a direct sale by pineforge, LLC: see How buying works. Test-mode orders, including every order while the site is in preview, get no real invoice.
Is there a trial?
There is no free trial. The source code is public, so you can read it before you buy. Running the software for a company to evaluate it is Commercial Use, so it needs a license: a paid 60-day pilot, $1,500, covers internal evaluation (no live trading, no product launch), and its fee is credited, up to that plan's first-year price, against your first annual plan. Write to [email protected] with any question before you buy.
Can I get a refund?
Not from pineforge, LLC: fees are not refunded after purchase, except where the law requires it, for a duplicate or mistaken charge, and in the cases the agreement lists, such as a renewal charged without the reminder 30 days before it, which you may cancel within 30 days after its charge to get its fee back. Our merchant-of-record partner, which sells online orders, has its own refund policy, which may be more generous than ours: see How buying works. When a payment is refunded in full, its license is revoked and the verify page reports it as revoked; a renewal refunded because its 30-day reminder was not sent ends early instead, and the verify page reports it as expired.
What is the license id, and how is a license verified?
Each license has an id like PFL-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX and a signed license file (JSON) carrying an Ed25519 signature. Anyone can check the id or the file on the verify page, which also reports revocation. The certificate page shows the same details in a printable form.
What information does the license contain?
The license names the licensee and country, the plan and scope, the term, and the agreement version. It never contains the buyer's email, nor the buyer's name except for Solo, where the licensee is the buyer; those stay with the order, with the amounts you state. The privacy page lists what the site collects and how long it is kept.
Is this site legal advice?
No. The LICENSE and the Commercial License Agreement are the controlling texts. If you are unsure whether your use needs a license, write to [email protected].
Who grants the license, and which law applies?
pineforge, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, grants it; online orders are sold through our merchant-of-record partner, named at checkout. The agreement, a draft under review by counsel, chooses Delaware law and the state and federal courts in New York County, New York; if they decline jurisdiction, the courts in Delaware. pineforge, LLC may also sue to collect fees where the licensee is established.
Are the prices final?
Yes. Live sales start once counsel has approved the Commercial License Agreement; until then no real payment is taken, and test licenses are not commercial licenses.
The same commercial license covers PineForge codegen and PineForge HPO (pineforge-hpo, from version 0.11.0). PineForge HPO 0.11.0 and later use PineForge Source License 1.2. PineForge HPO 0.10.0 and earlier remain Apache-2.0. One purchase covers both, with the same plans and prices.