Licensing the Viewer

realvirtual is dual-licensed. The core is open source under AGPL-3.0-only, and the same software is available under a commercial licence. The commercial modules, such as the Editor and CAD import, are not open source. Which features belong to which part is listed on Editions.

Using realvirtual yourself is free under AGPL, also commercially. The obligations below apply when you deliver realvirtual to other people. Check them before handing a prepared twin to a customer.

The attribution notice

Every AGPL build shows the “Powered by realvirtual WEB · AGPL-3.0” notice with a link to the source. Keeping it is an additional term under AGPL §7(b), stated in the NOTICE.md file of the source repository and in section 13.6 of the realvirtual terms.

The notice stays reasonably visible and legible in the user interface of every version you use, modify or deliver under AGPL.
You may adapt its position, size and style to your interface. You may not remove it, cover it or make it illegible, also not through your own plugins, overlays or themes.
If you do, your rights under AGPL end as set out in AGPL §8.

You may show your own brand next to the notice. Only a commercial licence allows you to remove the notice or replace it with your own brand.

What AGPL asks when you deliver

If you deliver realvirtual to other people, everyone who receives it must be able to get the complete source of the delivered software under AGPL. A browser app counts as delivered to everyone who opens it: for a public link, that is every visitor; for a protected delivery, only its users.

The delivered software includes:

realvirtual itself, with your own changes,
plugins and HMI components that are tightly coupled to it,
scripts embedded in a model, if they take over code from the core or are tightly interwoven with it.

Your model data is not part of it. Geometry, layout and parameters are your own data. AGPL does not require you to disclose them, also not when you deliver them together with realvirtual. The file type does not decide: if a file contains program code, that code is considered on its own.

If you change realvirtual and let others use the changed version over a network, also colleagues inside your company, offer them its source as well (AGPL §13).

You do not have to publish the source to the world. But the recipients may pass the AGPL parts on, and you may not forbid that, for example through a non-disclosure agreement. Where exactly a plugin or script counts as tightly coupled is a borderline question; this page states our reading, not legal advice.

Handing over a model or a study

What you hand over	Under AGPL	With a commercial licence
Only the GLB file, which the customer opens in the public demo or in their own installation	Usually no obligation: you do not deliver the software, and model data stays yours	Not needed
realvirtual together with your model: your own hosted link, a delivery package, an offline installation or a CONNECT bundle	The recipients must be able to get the source of the delivered software under AGPL, including your changes and tightly coupled plugins. Your model data may stay confidential. The attribution notice stays	Your extensions stay confidential and the notice may go. One deployment licence per handed-over machine or project; see prices

This applies equally to simulation and planning studies, discrete event simulation models and machine twins.

When you need a commercial licence

You want to remove the attribution notice or replace it with your own brand.
You need the commercial modules — Editor, CAD import, inverse kinematics, virtual PLC and the others marked Commercial on Editions — in your own deployment rather than only in the public demo. The Layout Planner and the discrete event simulation core are not among them: they are part of the AGPL core and ship with every delivery. The DES experiment manager is a commercial module.
Your own plugins, extensions or changes to realvirtual, whose source you would have to provide under AGPL, must stay confidential when you deliver.

A commercial licence also includes updates and support during its term. Special validation or long-term delivery commitments, for example for a machine that has to be operable for many years, are agreed separately (see deployment options).

Offline delivery, your own TypeScript plugins and your own brand next to the notice are possible under AGPL as well, as long as you meet its obligations.

The two parts of realvirtual follow different rules when you pass source code on:

The Community core may be passed on under AGPL-3.0. A commercial licence frees your own licensed deployments from the AGPL disclosure obligations, but it does not give you the right to pass the core’s source on to others under proprietary terms. Your rights under AGPL stay unaffected.
The commercial modules — the Editor, CAD import and every other feature marked Commercial on Editions — are not open source. Their source code, which commercial customers receive, stays inside your company and may be used only by licensed developers. You may not pass it on, publish it, for example in a public repository, or put it into an AGPL deployment. It reaches other people only in compiled form, as part of a licensed deployment.
The public demo contains the commercial modules in compiled form. You may use it free of charge, also commercially, without contractual support and without a commitment to availability. Not allowed: automated or bulk use (AI assistants through the MCP interface of realvirtual CONNECT within its limits remain allowed), selling access to it, embedding it, for example in an iframe, in your own commercial offering, and extracting, decompiling or reusing the commercial modules outside the demo, unless mandatory law expressly allows it. Storage space and share links may be limited. On first use, the demo asks you to accept these terms once; when the terms change, it asks again.

The binding wording is section 13.8 of Part B of the realvirtual terms.

Localhost and web servers

Under a commercial licence, running realvirtual on localhost, including virtual commissioning on localhost, is covered by the developer licence. Serving it to others from a web server, internal or external, needs one deployment licence. Showroom and demo deployments are exempt as long as they show the attribution notice, are not connected to real machines and nobody pays for them. In practice this means a build of the AGPL core; a showroom without the notice or with your own brand in its place needs a deployment licence. The binding terms are in Part B of the realvirtual terms.

Prices

Prices for realvirtual and for the deployment licences are published in the pricing section of the product page. Licensing for the gateway is described under CONNECT licensing.