Software End User Licence Agreement
The licence your users accept when they install your software: what they may do with it, and what they may not.
A EULA licenses your software rather than selling it. That distinction is the entire point: the user gets a right to use it on your terms, and you keep ownership.
At 27 clauses this is the longest document on the site. It covers licence grant and scope, third-party materials, use restrictions, warranties and limitation of liability.
Use it when
- Distributing desktop, mobile or downloadable software
- Shipping a plugin, SDK or library under a commercial licence
- Selling software with a perpetual licence rather than a subscription
- Submitting to an app store that requires a licence agreement
Use something else when
- You run a hosted SaaS product with no download, where terms of service fit better
- You are releasing under an open source licence, where MIT, Apache 2.0 or GPL already do this job and are widely understood
What is in the document
Every section of the software end user licence agreement, as it appears in the file you download.
Questions
What is the difference between a EULA and terms of service?
A EULA licenses software the user installs and runs. Terms of service govern access to a hosted service. If your users download something, you want a EULA. If they log into something, you want terms.
Do I need a EULA for a mobile app?
Apple provides a standard licence agreement that applies by default, and Google requires you to supply your own terms. A custom EULA makes sense when you need restrictions the default does not cover.
Can a EULA stop reverse engineering?
You can prohibit it contractually and this template does. Enforceability varies, and some jurisdictions preserve a right to reverse engineer for interoperability regardless of what the contract says.
How does a user accept a EULA?
Through an affirmative act: clicking accept during install, or checking a box before download. Burying it in a folder shipped alongside the installer is weak.