What Is a Perpetual License?

For example, Oracle offers software licenses for perpetual use, as well as licenses that are good for fewer years at a fraction of the perpetual cost. A four-year license is 60 percent of the perpetual rate, as of September 2014, whereas a two-year license is 35 percent of the cost of a perpetual license.

Mestrelab Research offers a perpetual license for chemistry software with an annual fee to receive updates and technical support. As of September 2014, annual updates are 20 percent of the perpetual license price.