By Buğra Ömer Aydemir · Updated 15 October 2026
LicenseSpring alternative: Carcha Seal compared with LicenseSpring
This page compares LicenseSpring and Carcha Seal for licensing a desktop app. The LicenseSpring column uses only what LicenseSpring publishes on its own site and repository, checked on 15 October 2026; follow the sources for anything that may have changed. Where LicenseSpring does more, the table says so.
LicenseSpring and Carcha Seal side by side
| LicenseSpring | Carcha Seal | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Hosted service; Enterprise lists self-hosted deployment and an on-premise floating license server. | Runs on your own server under a written agreement with Carcha Labs and a server license (a new installation runs a 14-day evaluation). The public server at seal.carchalabs.com is a demo. |
| Price | Free plan (1 product, 100 active licenses, 1,000 API calls/month); Business Starter $199/month; Business Plus $750/month; Enterprise custom. | Not published; ask Carcha Labs. |
| License models | Node-locked licenses; one device per license on the free plan. | Node-locked licenses with seats, expiry, end of updates and features. |
| Floating / concurrent licenses | Cloud and on-premises floating licenses listed from the free plan. | Not in version 1. |
| Offline use | Offline licensing listed from the free plan. | Ed25519-signed leases verified in the app; 72 hours between check-ins plus 7 days of grace on the default policy (both per policy). |
| Computers that never go online | Air-gapped licensing workflows on Enterprise. | Request file, license file and deactivation file; customers upload the request at /offline. |
| SDK for Electron / Node.js | Node.js SDK for JavaScript and Electron, among others. | Electron main process and Node.js 22.13+ (@carchalabs/seal-electron, MIT). A native module verifies leases a second time. |
| Try without signing up | Free plan (account required). | Browser sandbox, npx @carchalabs/seal-quickstart and a desktop demo, no sign-up. |
Which one fits
Choose LicenseSpring if
- you need floating licenses today;
- you want a free hosted plan to start and a vendor-run service;
- you license apps in several languages.
Choose Carcha Seal if
- you want the license server on your own infrastructure without an enterprise plan;
- you want the lease format to be plain standards you can verify yourself (JWS, Ed25519, JWKS);
- you want offline activation by files on any license whose policy allows it.
Add license keys to an Electron app with Carcha Seal · How offline verification works · Try it without signing up