License and trial#
MQTT.fx is a commercial product that requires a license. You can try the full feature set without a license through free Demo Sessions, and you can request a free 30-day trial license.
Trying without a license: Demo Sessions#
Without a license you can run MQTT.fx in a Demo Session — the full feature set, time-limited:
- Up to 5 Demo Sessions in total.
- Each session lasts 2 hours (120 minutes) with all features.
- Fair play: a session is only armed when the app starts; its countdown begins with your first broker connection. Just opening the app and looking around does not consume a session.
- About 30 minutes before a session ends, MQTT.fx shows a non-blocking reminder.
- When all 5 sessions are used up, a license or the free trial license is required to keep working.
The Demo Session count is stored persistently and survives restarts and reinstallation; it cannot simply be reset by deleting a file.
At startup without a license, the dialog lets you Continue Without License (start a Demo Session), Request Free Trial, or Enter License.
Free 30-day trial license#
For a longer evaluation, choose Request Free Trial, which opens https://www.softblade.de/freetrial/. A trial license unlocks all features for 30 days. Enter it the same way as a purchased license (below).
Entering a license#
Open the license dialog from the menu (Enter License Key). You can:
- Drag & drop your license file onto the dialog, or Paste From Clipboard / paste the certificate text directly.
- Validate the license; the dialog then shows the Name, Company, License Type, Valid Until, and Status.
- Apply to activate it, or Clear to remove the entered text.
- Get a license opens https://www.softblade.de.
How licenses are verified#
MQTT.fx licenses are X.509 certificates issued by the Softblade certificate authority. Before accepting a license, MQTT.fx checks that the certificate was signed by the Softblade CA and is within its validity window, and it pins the CA's public key (a swapped CA is rejected). This happens locally — activating a license does not require MQTT.fx to contact a server.