Licensing & tiers
ALbuild follows a simple, transparent model: the complete build toolchain is free of license, and you pay only when you need the premium deployment features.
Free of license
The entire build, compile, test, sign and packaging toolchain is free: no license key, no trial clock, no per-run charge.
Included:
- All build tasks / cmdlets: Get BC Artifact, Create BC Container / Container User, Remove BC Container, Resolve Dependencies (NuGet, Universal Packages and local
.appfiles), Get Universal Package, Import Configuration Package, Install 365 business development app(s), Install Test Toolkit, Compile App, Sign App, Publish & Install App, Run Tests, Publish Testiny Results, Stamp Build Version, and Check Translations. - Publish NuGet Package to Azure Artifacts or any NuGet v3 feed.
- All ALbuild V1 legacy tasks, for backward compatibility.
- The local pipeline runner (
Invoke-ALbuildPipeline). - The pipeline templates.
- Standard support through the 365 business development Service Desk.
Licensed features
The following deployment features require a subscription. A free trial is available so you can evaluate them before subscribing.
Enforcement is grouped into five licensed feature areas. Every cmdlet below calls
Assert-ALbuildLicensed on entry with the feature named in the first column.
| Feature area | Task | Cmdlets |
|---|---|---|
| OnPrem — deployment to on-premise and per-tenant targets | PublishPerTenantExtension@0, PublishOnPremApp@0, PublishDevExtension@0 | Publish-BcPerTenantExtension, Publish-BcOnPremApp, Publish-BcOnPremContainerApp, Publish-BcDevExtension, Install-BcOnPremApp, Sync-BcOnPremApp, Start-BcOnPremUpgrade |
| Marketplace — AppSource submission | SubmitMarketplace@0 | Submit-BcMarketplaceApp |
| RuntimePackages — building and publishing runtime packages | BuildRuntimePackages@0 | Build-BcRuntimePackages, Invoke-BcRuntimeFactory, Publish-BcRuntimePackage |
| Environments — demo/dev environment provisioning | New-BcEnvironment, Remove-BcEnvironment, Remove-BcExpiredEnvironment | |
| Validation — AppSource validation | Invoke-BcValidation |
Compiling and testing stay free
Note where the line falls: building, compiling, signing and running tests are free, including for an
AppSource app. Only the AppSource validation run (Invoke-BcValidation)
and the submission are licensed.
How enforcement works
The license check runs only on entry to a licensed cmdlet/task, via Assert-ALbuildLicensed. If no valid license is found, the operation fails with clear remediation guidance. Free-of-license operations never perform a license check. For the Azure DevOps extension, licensing is verified automatically per Azure DevOps organization: there is nothing to configure in your pipelines.
You can check the current state programmatically with Test-ALbuildLicense and assert it with Assert-ALbuildLicensed.
The trial starts itself
You do not request a trial. The first time a licensed feature runs in an Azure DevOps organization that has no registration yet, ALbuild registers a 30-day trial automatically and then re-verifies, so the run proceeds. Licenses are keyed to the Azure DevOps collection, so the trial belongs to the organization, not to a user or a pipeline.
When the trial expires the service still answers "ok", with a past end date, and
Assert-ALbuildLicensed is what turns that into a clear failure.
When the licensing service is unreachable
Two mechanisms keep a build from failing because of a network problem:
- Grace window. A previously verified license keeps working for
LicenseGraceDaysdays (default 14) while the service cannot be reached. This applies only to network failures. An explicit invalid or expired answer from the service is never graced. Set the window withSet-ALbuildConfig;0disables the grace cache. - Offline key. For a trusted agent that can never reach the service, for example a self-hosted
agent inside a locked-down customer network, set
ALBUILD_LICENSE_KEYas a secret variable on that agent. Its presence authorises the licensed features without contacting the service at all.
Plans (Azure DevOps extension)
All plans include every free-of-license task plus the full set of licensed deployment tasks, the pipeline templates, and standard support.
| Plan | Price | Best for | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per Pipeline Run | 1.00 € / run | Individuals or small teams needing occasional access | Pay-as-you-go; charged per pipeline run |
| Per 5 Repositories | 30.00 € / month | Teams managing a handful of repositories | Up to 5 Azure DevOps repositories; unlimited runs |
| Per DevOps Project | 200.00 € / month | Larger projects spanning many repositories | All repositories in one project; unlimited runs |
| Per DevOps Organization | 400.00 € / month | Organizations running multiple projects | All repositories and projects in one organization; unlimited runs |
Need more than 5 repositories? Combine multiple Per 5 Repositories subscriptions, or move up to the Per DevOps Project or Per DevOps Organization plan for unlimited repositories.
To get started, visit 365businessdev.com.