Which License to use for Personal Projects while having Pro License from Employer

Unity Engine
1

Hi, I am employed and have a Unity Pro license from my employer. How am I supposed to work on personal projects?

  • Can I use the pro license for personal projects as long as I am employed?

  • Or do I have to use a personal license? If so:

  • Can I select the license per project? (Open work project with pro license and others with personal)

  • Do I have to create another user account? If so, how can I avoid constantly relogging into the other account?

Thanks!

3 Likes
2

Hello, as per the Terms of Service the license is non-transferable, meaning that you cannot use the Unity Pro license from your employer for personal projects.

For switching to a personal license on the same machine, you’d have to:

  • return the Unity Pro license
  • sign out from the work account
  • sign in to your personal account
  • activate a Unity Personal license

And the reverse when switching back.
The switch could be scripted through the command line as indicated here: Unity - Manual: Manage your License through the command line (unity3d.com).

3

Hi, thank you for the clarification and the detailed workaround! Would have been nice to be able switch accounts per project, but I read on other thread that that’s already “on the radar” ( Multiple Unity logins ). Will look into the command line interface, thanks!

1 Like
4

Hello!

I checked the command line options and I would like to know if this scenario is right to work @jonas-echterhoff_1 @Kurt-Dekker :

  • Activate the employer Pro license and open employer projects

  • In parallel, open other projects as Unity demos or github projects using force-free parameter to avoid use employer Pro license with them:

  • force-free : Run the Editor as if there is a free Unity license on the machine, even if a Unity Pro license is installed.

Thanks!

1 Like
5

The words return in Step #1, and activate in Step #4 are worrisome!

If I return my employer’s license at the end of every work day, so that I can activate my personal license to work on personal projects, does my employer get notified that I have done so?

Is there any risk that my employer’s software management guru might say “Oh, this guy just returned his Unity license! He clearly doesn’t need it any more. I’ll immediately assign that license to the next person on our list waiting for a Unity license,” or anything like that?

Another problematic scenario: "This guy just activated his corporately owned Unity license at 1:00 PM, and returned it, but it’s only 2:00 PM! He must be slacking on the job and working on his own projects on company time!"

One more question: Where can I formally request a feature developed into Unity / Hub where I could just get a button to easily / efficiently switch between licenses?

6

While not full equivalent, as long as it’s always a “1 pro license from employer and personal license for other projects”, you can pretty much get there just using the “Add command line arguments” (in the “…” menu) for a project in the hub to add -force-free and it’ll always open that project with a personal license. No returning of Pro licenses that way.

Works for me.

7

Are there any tutorials or step-by-step available to walk someone through the setup?

8
  1. Click “…” on project.
    9090514--1259032--upload_2023-6-19_19-52-18.png
    9090514--1259032--upload_2023-6-19_19-52-18.png1629Ă—372 27.7 KB
  2. Choose “Add command line arguments”
    9090514--1259035--upload_2023-6-19_19-52-55.png
    9090514--1259035--upload_2023-6-19_19-52-55.png1629Ă—485 44.6 KB
  3. Type -force-free in box and click “Save”
    9090514--1259038--upload_2023-6-19_19-53-33.png
    9090514--1259038--upload_2023-6-19_19-53-33.png1630Ă—809 43.9 KB

After that, clicking the project opens it with Unity forced onto a Personal license.

4 Likes
9

Is the computer also owned by the employer? I would never try to mix personal work on a machine which represents my other job. Not only do you have to worry about the Unity editor license, but every single asset that is bought or created has a chance of “accidentally” leaking across that gap.

I’ve known people in other software development houses to use virtual machines for each of their clients, but even that gave me misgivings.

1 Like
10

The computer is owned by me personally. The pro license is owned by the corporation I work for, and the development is done on my personal machine.

Eventually I may need a second pro license, owned by me personally, and the ability to flip between the corporate license for the day job, and my personal pro license for semi-pro, nights-and-weekends work.

I would love to see a color-coded dropdown in the hub / unity editor interface / both that allows you to just select which license the project is being worked under, and to facilitate an easy way to keep all of the work straight.

1 Like
11

Thanks for the screen shot job aid, dude!