Ant Media Community license is a free and open-source license provided by Ant Media Server for its Community Edition, a free version of its video streaming server software. The Community Edition is available for non-commercial use and includes many of the same features as the Enterprise Edition but with some limitations.
Under the Community Edition of Ant Media Server, clustering or running a cluster of multiple nodes is not a supported feature. This means that if you want to scale your streaming infrastructure to deliver live streams to as many viewers as possible, you will need to buy the Enterprise Cluster license.
The Difference between the Enterprise license and the Enterprise Cluster license?
The Enterprise license does not support running Ant Media on a cluster, meaning you cannot set up auto-scaling infrastructure with multiple nodes. The Enterprise license only allows you to benefit from premium features such as ultra-low latency (0.5s), adaptive bitrate streaming, GPU hardware acceleration, and more.
On the other hand, the Ant Media Cluster license is designed to allow you to run your server in a cluster mode. For example, you can deploy your Ant Media server on Kubernetes engines like GKE, EKS, and more. You can also use the cluster license to run the server on any auto-scaling platform of your choice.
How much do the Ant Media Enterprise and Ant Media Enterprise Cluster licenses cost?
Ant Media Enterprise licenses are offered on the assumption that you will host your server and it’s offered in three various billing cycles:
- Monthly Subscription: Under this plan, you are charged $99 per month.
- Annual License: You are charged $79 per month and billed yearly. This means that you will pay for a full-year subscription when you choose this plan.
- Perpetual License: This is a one-time subscription to Ant Media Enterprise Edition. You pay $2499 per instance for lifetime access to the software.
On the other hand, the Ant Media Cluster license is offered on the ground that you will deploy your cluster infrastructure on platforms like AWS, Azure, GCP, and many more. Therefore, you will be charged based on the pay-as-you-go model
The pay-as-you-go mechanism works in such a way that when you deploy the server on platforms like AWS, Azure, Alibaba, GCP, Linode, and they will charge you for the amount of time your cluster runs. Assuming you deploy your server on AWS, you will be charged for the infrastructure costs as well as for the software license based on the amount of time the server has run.
Can I upgrade from Ant Media Community License to Ant Media Enterprise edition license?
Yes, it’s possible to upgrade from the community edition to an enterprise edition. If you want to upgrade, you will need to buy and download the enterprise version of the ant media server on your VPS server. And then, you will have to run the following script, while replacing ANT_MEDIA_SERVER_INSTALLATION_FILE
with the actual name of the zip file you downloaded after purchasing.
sudo ./install_ant-media-server.sh -i ANT_MEDIA_SERVER_INSTALLATION_FILE -r true
The -r true
allows you to keep your original settings from the community edition when you’re upgrading to the enterprise edition.
More Ant Media Server articles to explore
- How to Secure HLS & DASH Streams in Ant Media Server?
- Solved: SSL not installing on Ant Media Server
- How to install an SSL Certificate on Ant Media Server
- How can I update Ant Media Server on Ubuntu?
- How to open Ant Media Ports through the Firewall?
- Solved: Protect Ant Media Streams from getting embedded
- What you need to know before deploying Ant Media in AWS Cluster
- Solved: Ant Media stream refusing to play after embedding
- How to embed Ant Media Player in WordPress Website
- How can I enable Adaptive Bitrate streaming in Ant Media Server?
- How much does Ant Media cost to stream to 1000 viewers on AWS
- How much bandwidth does Ant Media Server need?
- How to Optimize the Performance of Ant Media Server
- Why does my Ant Media stream keep buffering?
- How to secure your Ant Media Livestreams?
- How many Streaming channels can you set up on Ant Media?
- Do I necessarily need a GPU to stream Full HD using Ant Media Server?
- How much computing power do you need for Ant Media Server?
- SOLVED: Your live stream will play automatically as soon as it’s available