Why Licensing + Payments Matter

When you’re ready to sell and distribute your Autodesk add-in (Revit, AutoCAD, Inventor, Navisworks, Maya, Fusion 360), you need two things:

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1. a way to process payments, and
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2. a licensing system that ensures only paying customers can use your add-in under the terms you set (duration, features, seats, etc.).
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Options: Autodesk App Store vs. Devolens

Autodesk App Store

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• Built-in purchase verification; however, it doesn’t natively enforce per-seat, per-device, or feature-gated access without additional work.
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• Payment processor choice is limited (platform-defined).
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• Distribution is tied to the store channel.

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Devolens (third-party licensing)

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• Use any payment processor (or your internal billing for B2B).
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• Monetize in more ways: subscriptions, usage-based, per-seat/device, feature flags, trials.
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• Offline and constrained environments supported (incl. air-gapped workflows).
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• You can still publish on the Autodesk App Store for discovery while running licensing/payments independently.
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Tip: Many teams list a free/trial build on the App Store for reach, then activate paid features via Devolens after purchase.

Implementation: license verification

Autodesk add-ins are commonly built in C#, Python, or C++. .NET is standard for Revit, AutoCAD, Inventor, Navisworks; Python is common for Maya and Fusion 360 - all supported by Devolens SDKs.

Start with the Key Verification tutorial (lets you verify a license and read its properties). Teams report first integration in ~1 hour depending on codebase familiarity.

Python example (simplified):

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RSAPubKey = "your RSA public key"
auth = "access token with Activate permission"

result = Key.activate(
    token=auth,
    rsa_pub_key=RSAPubKey,
    product_id=3349,
    key="ICVLD-VVSZR-ZTICT-YKGXL",
    machine_code=Helpers.GetMachineCode(v=2)
)

if result[0] is None:
    print(f"License invalid or cannot be activated: {result[1]}")
else:
    print("License is valid.")

Benefits You Get With Devolens

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1. More models out of the box: per-seat/device, feature-gated, usage-based, subscriptions, floating/concurrent.
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2. Offline-capable flows for enterprise.
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3. Analytics & control: see activations, versions, seats, geography, and automate compliance.
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4. Payment-agnostic: plug in your processor or your ERP.
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