# Licensing, plainly

Everything MapMap sells sits under one of three legal surfaces. This page
explains which one applies to you, what it costs, and what you get, in
plain language. The binding texts are the [terms of service](/terms), the
[SDK commercial licence](/legal/sdk-licence) and, for self-hosting, a
written agreement. Prices are machine-readable at
[/pricing.json](/pricing.json).

## The three surfaces

| You are… | Your legal surface | Your pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Calling the **hosted API** (routing, tiles, geocoding, territories over HTTP) | [Terms of service](/terms), accepted at key issuance | [API plans and pay-as-you-go](/pricing#plans): free tier of 50,000 calls/month (commercial use allowed), plans to £1,250/month, prepaid overage. No surprise bills: hard limits and prepaid credit only |
| Shipping the **SDKs in your app** (MapMapKit, `ai.mapmap:core`, `@mapmap/maps`, `@mapmap/core`, `@mapmap/react-native`) | [SDK commercial licence](/legal/sdk-licence): embed freely; production use runs on a key or agreement | [Per-vehicle or per-MAU](/pricing#fleet-sdk): from £1.20/vehicle/month at volume; 1,000 MAU free, then 30p per new distinct user |
| Running the **whole platform on your infrastructure** (gateway, routing engine, map factory, geocoder) | **Written self-host agreement**: source access and deployment rights | [Published tiers](/pricing#self-host): Team from £12,000/yr · Business from £36,000/yr · Enterprise from £96,000/yr · Sovereign/OEM from £180,000/yr |

Evaluation is free everywhere: the API free tier is permanent, the SDKs are
freely installable with a published evaluation download allowance for
offline territories, and self-host evaluation is handled through a paid
pilot (below) so it comes with real support.

## What a self-host licence actually contains

Three components, priced together in the tier:

1. **Platform licence**: the right to run the stack on your hardware, per
   deployment, including production SDK rights for your apps.
2. **Territory data subscription**: the signed territory channel: our
   world and regional map+routing builds, restriction-audited, delivered
   over the air with quarterly updates included (monthly cadence +25%).
   Every package is ed25519-signed; your devices verify against a
   [pinned public key](/docs/territories), so the transport is untrusted
   and your deployment stays yours.
3. **Support and SLA**: included in every tier, scaling from 2-day email
   (Team) to a dedicated engineer with programme SLAs and an optional
   verified source-escrow arrangement (Sovereign/OEM).

What the tiers gate: customer-facing apps and truck/ADR costing start at
Business; high availability, multiple deployments and world data at
Enterprise; air-gapped accredited deployment, private/custom territory
builds (your own factory runs) and embedded per-unit royalties at
Sovereign/OEM.

## How buying works

- **Paid pilot, not a free POC**: 60–90 days at 10% of the year-one
  licence, fully credited if you convert. Papered as an annual agreement
  with an opt-out, one measurable success criterion agreed up front.
- **Annual subscription by default**: support and data updates included.
  If your procurement requires **perpetual**, it's 1.67× the annual price
  plus 25%/year maintenance; the two converge around year three.
- **Licence mechanics built for real operations**: the licence is a
  signed file your deployment verifies offline (air-gap friendly, with a
  defined maximum offline duration). An expired licence never bricks your
  fleet: the stack keeps running and you lose channel updates and support
  until renewal. Usage true-up is annual and self-certified.
- **Multi-year buys a price lock**, not a deeper discount.

## Map data and attribution

Map data derives from OpenStreetMap under ODbL. Whatever you licence from
us, anything you render or republish from that data must credit
"© OpenStreetMap contributors". Our package format, build pipeline,
signing infrastructure and SDKs are proprietary; the ODbL-licensed data
inside remains ODbL. The [SDK licence](/legal/sdk-licence) spells out
that boundary, and our ODbL recreation recipe ships in the docs.

## Common questions

**Can I evaluate self-hosting before an agreement?** The hosted API and
SDKs cover most evaluation free. For the stack itself, the paid pilot is
the evaluation; it exists so your trial gets real engineering support.

**What happens if we stop paying?** Your deployment keeps running. You
stop receiving territory updates, platform updates and support. Your
users' devices keep navigating on the data they have.

**Can we escrow the source?** Yes: verified escrow (Escode-style) is a
standard option at Sovereign/OEM; the buyer typically holds the agreement.

**Do you audit?** At most once a year, on 30 days' notice, and we pay for
it unless the audit finds material under-licensing. Annual self-certified
true-up is the norm.

**We're an OEM embedding navigation in devices. How does that price?**
Sovereign/OEM: a platform licence plus a per-unit royalty schedule
(published as "from" anchors; scoped by volume in the agreement). The
[Telenav-style](/pricing#self-host) structure (royalty per unit shipped,
annual data compilation, per-unit updates) is the industry norm and maps
cleanly onto the territory subscription.

**Why publish prices when nobody else does?** Because the buyers we want
(including AI agents doing vendor comparison) can't evaluate "contact
sales". Final quotes still scope coverage, assets and SLA; the anchors are
real.

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Questions, pilots, agreements: [hello@mapmap.ai](mailto:hello@mapmap.ai).