Licensing
Scales Without Punishing You for Consolidating
Licensing is scoped to how you deploy, not how many cores or hosts you run. Consolidate onto fewer, more powerful machines without triggering a licensing penalty for the efficiency gain.
Everything Included
Every Basalt license includes the whole platform. Role-based access control, exhaustive audit logging, and encrypted communications are core to the platform, not licensed add-ons — and there is no community edition with the parts you actually need held back.
Compute
Virtual machine lifecycle management, live migration between hosts with no interruption to the workload, and automatic host evacuation ahead of maintenance.
Networking
Software-defined networking with per-workload security policy enforced beneath the workload — policy that travels with a virtual machine and stays in force without reaching the management plane.
Storage
Multiple storage backends, from two-node replication at a constrained site to distributed storage pooled across a large cluster, without changing platforms in between.
Security
Role-based access control, row-level tenant isolation enforced at the database, FIPS-enabled cryptography, and signed credentials for agent identity.
Operations
Failure detection, fencing, and restart-class high availability, plus a permanent audit record of who did what, to which resource, from where, and when.
Global scale
A Global Controller for enterprise-wide visibility across regions, with each region retaining full local execution and continuing to operate when the link goes down.
For the full technical picture, read the platform overview.
How Licensing Works
Scoped to the deployment
Entitlement follows how you deploy Basalt — not how many hosts, processors, cores, or sockets sit underneath it, and not how many virtual machines your teams create.
The whole platform, once
Networking, storage, security, high availability, audit, and automation are part of the platform license rather than add-ons discovered later in a procurement cycle.
Consolidation stays a gain
Replacing aging hardware with denser systems or expanding a storage cluster doesn't automatically trigger a licensing increase for doing the efficient thing.
Why the Model Matters
Per-socket model
Consolidating costs you more
When licensing is metered by processor, core, or socket, the project that reduces your server count can quietly increase your software bill — penalizing exactly the efficiency that justified the work.
The hypervisor price is often only the start. Networking, security, storage, and operational visibility arrive as separate products or tiers, each with its own renewal.
Basalt model
The efficiency gain stays a gain
Licensing is scoped to the deployment itself, so growing capacity, refreshing hardware, or adding a region is an operational decision rather than a licensing event.
And because Basalt runs alongside your existing virtualization environment, you can adopt it where it makes sense today and expand on your own timeline — without ripping anything out on day one.
Deployment Formats
The same licensed platform ships in formats that match evaluation, production, and custom operating models. There is no separate community edition with the infrastructure features you need withheld.
VM appliance
A downloadable image for evaluations, labs, and small deployments that need a fast path to a first site.
Bare-metal installer
Installable media for production hosts, where Basalt runs directly on the hardware rather than on top of another operating system.
Standard packages
Packages for custom installations that need to fit Basalt into an existing operating system lifecycle.
Atomic OS images
Host operating system updates that apply as a single unit and roll back cleanly, so patching is a repeatable workflow rather than a risk.
Licensing FAQ
How is licensing calculated?
Licensing is scoped to the deployment. It is deliberately not tied to sockets, processors, core counts, or how many virtual machines you happen to run, so a decision about hardware never turns into a second conversation about cost.
Are networking, storage, security, or automation separate add-ons?
No. Every license includes the whole platform — compute, networking, storage, security controls, audit, and automation. Role-based access control, audit logging, and encrypted communications are core to the platform, not licensed extras, and there is no community-versus-enterprise split.
What deployment formats are available?
Basalt ships as a downloadable VM appliance for evaluations and small deployments, a bare-metal installer for production hosts, standard packages for custom installations, and atomic OS images that update as a single unit and roll back cleanly.
Can I start small and scale?
Yes. Start with a single site or a two-node field kit, then expand as the footprint grows. Basalt can also run alongside your existing virtualization environment, so adoption happens in controlled waves rather than one high-risk cutover.
What about support?
Licenses include platform updates and documentation. Production support options are matched to your operational requirements, response expectations, and the deployment format you choose.
See What One Platform Can Replace
Whether you're modernizing a single site or planning an enterprise-wide rollout, we'll show you how Basalt fits your environment — no pressure, no jargon, just a straight conversation about what's possible.