Licensing & Billing
A Broch server needs a license, and you get it in the app, not at deploy time. The first time an admin signs in, setup leads with Buy Broch: set your active-user limit, accept the subscription agreement, and check out through Stripe. Broch activates the license when you return; there’s no key to paste. Already hold a key, for example a renewal? Choose I already have a license key in setup, or replace the key later under Configuration → License.
Free Trial
Section titled “Free Trial”New customers can start a free trial of Broch Share in setup instead of buying. It’s free until the 1st of the month, at least 15 days, for up to 10 active users. A card is required upfront and first charged on that 1st, unless you cancel first. One trial per organization, and it requires a work email address.
Not ready to deploy? The Broch-hosted trial runs on our server for 60 days, with no card.
Active Users
Section titled “Active Users”Broch Share is $10 per active user / month, billed monthly. No per-tunnel metering, no overage.
An active user is anyone who opens a tunnel in a calendar month (UTC), counted once that month. Signing in or managing the deployment doesn’t count. Counts start over on the 1st. Share and Access are counted separately.
You set an active-user limit and pay for each active user in it, whether or not they all open a tunnel. At the limit, the next user can’t open a tunnel until an admin raises the limit (once the trial converts) or the month turns over. The Users page shows who opened a tunnel this month.
Billing
Section titled “Billing”Billing is monthly, on the 1st, through Stripe. Change your active-user limit under Configuration → License:
- During the trial — up to 10 active users. The limit can change once the trial converts.
- Raising the limit — prorated, and takes effect immediately.
- Lowering the limit — takes effect at the next billing date. The current period is not refunded except where required by law.
- Cancelling — anytime, with no notice period, from Manage Billing in the admin UI. The subscription runs to the end of the current paid month and does not renew; that month is not refunded except where required by law. Cancelling during the trial means you are never charged.
- Buying without a trial — the first charge is prorated to the next 1st of the month. If that could come to less than $1, a one-time $1 charge is added to the first invoice.
How License Validation Works
Section titled “How License Validation Works”On activation, the server sends your license key and wildcard hostname to the Broch central server and gets back a signed token. The token is stored in your database and checked locally on every request, so there’s no ongoing network dependency.
The server refreshes the token daily by default (adjustable from 1 hour to 30 days) to pick up limit changes and renewals and to report aggregate usage. If it can’t reach the central server, it keeps running on the cached token until the token expires. You hold the data lists every field each exchange sends.
License Expiry and Grace Period
Section titled “License Expiry and Grace Period”When your license term expires, the server enters a grace period (7 days by default). During the grace period:
- Tunnel operations continue working
- The server logs warnings on startup
- Admin UI shows an expiry banner
After the grace period ends, tunnels stop until the license is renewed. New tunnel connections are rejected, and open tunnels are closed within a few minutes.
Renew before expiry to avoid any disruption. Standard deployments receive the renewed token automatically at the next refresh cycle.