The free tier is capped, not crippled.
1VMTool is free for two machines with one running at a time — every guest, both engines, full speed, no watermark and no trial clock. Pro lifts the caps for a single payment covering 1, 3 or 5 Macs, with twelve months of updates you keep for good.
| Capability | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Machines in library | 2 | Unlimited |
| Concurrent runningOur limit, not Apple's. | 1 | Unlimited |
| Snapshots per machineThe automatic clean-install snapshot never counts. | 2 | Unlimited |
| Goldens and fleetscreate --from, linked-clone fleets. | — | Included |
| Archive and reclaimPark a machine as a compressed bundle, get the space back. | — | Included |
| CLI, SSH and MCPNever capped, by count or by rate. | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Guests, engines, speedNothing runs slower and nothing is watermarked on Free. | All | All |
What a Pro licence actually is
- One payment. No subscription and no renewal to forget.
- Twelve months of updates, and every build released inside that window stays Pro for good.
- A licence key, not an account — there is nothing to sign in to.
- A seat can be freed from the Mac that holds it and moved to another.
- If the activation check cannot reach the network, Pro stays on.
Try the caps before you pay for them
Two machines and one running at a time is enough to keep a Linux box and a Windows box on the shelf and use either. The moment that stops being enough, you will know exactly which cap you hit — and that is the right moment to buy Pro, not before.
Where the money does not go
There is no bundled hypervisor to license, no QEMU to redistribute and no server to run: 1VMTool is a Swift 6 app on Apple's own frameworks, and every machine you create lives on your disk. That is why the free tier can run the real app at full speed instead of a demo of it, and why Pro is a price rather than a rent.
If you are weighing it against the commercial desktop hypervisors, the comparison pages put the caps, licensing and guest support side by side.
Frequently asked questions
Is the free tier a trial?
No. There is no clock, no watermark and no nag screen. Free keeps two machines in the library and runs one of them at a time; everything else — every guest, both engines, the CLI, SSH and the MCP endpoint — is uncapped and runs at full speed. If you never buy Pro, nothing stops working.
Is Pro a subscription?
No. It is one payment. It carries twelve months of updates, and every build released inside that window stays Pro for good — a licence that lapses keeps running the last version it was entitled to rather than reverting to Free.
How many Macs does a licence cover?
One, three or five, chosen at checkout. A seat can be released from the Mac holding it and moved to another, so replacing a machine does not cost you a seat.
Do I need an account?
No. Activation is a licence key. There is nothing to sign in to, no profile, and no password to lose.
What happens if the licence check cannot reach the network?
Pro stays on. The check is a courtesy, not a gate — an offline Mac, a flight or a firewalled network never downgrades a paid copy mid-session.
Does Free run slower?
No. Nothing is throttled, watermarked or degraded on Free. The caps are counts — machines in the library, machines running at once, snapshots per machine — not speed.
Is the command line part of Pro?
The 1vm CLI, SSH and the MCP endpoint are free and uncapped on both tiers, by count and by rate. Automation is not something we charge for.
Can I get a refund?
Checkout and refunds are handled by Lemon Squeezy, our merchant of record. Since the free tier runs the real app with no time limit, the honest advice is to use it first and buy Pro once you have hit a cap.