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Citrix Overhauls Licensing with Cloud-Based Model Starting in 2026

Citrix

Business Honor
16 September, 2025

Citrix transitions to cloud-based licensing with License Activation Service for streamlined license management.

Citrix is discontinuing its traditional license model in a major overhaul of its licensing model that is taking effect beginning next year. The change will affect prominent products like Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, NetScaler, XenServer, and Citrix Provisioning (PVS), among others. The new License Activation Service (LAS) will take the place of its file-based traditional licensing model and become the lone supported mechanism for activating on-premises Citrix products. This transition is to take place on April 15, 2026, and file-based licenses will no longer be valid, subjecting customers utilizing this model to potential loss of functionality. Customers using Citrix Cloud environments were assured by Citrix that they would not experience any impact from this change. Excluded from the transition are certain licenses, such as NetScaler Pooled vCPU and NetScaler CICO, which LAS will not support.

Citrix's License Activation Service has been operational since 2024 for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and is meant to simplify license management. Through the change, Citrix hopes to automate license updates and make license management easier through a cloud-based platform, with more efficiency and flexibility offered to users. For recurring customers, administrators will not have to do anything for renewals. All license renewals will be automatically made available via LAS, and once activated, they will be propagated to the license server or NetScaler console. This step puts Citrix in step with large players like Microsoft and VMware, which have also shifted to cloud-based licensing. Citrix's move mirrors the broad trend in the technology sector toward cloud-based solutions and subscription-based models that make management easier and scalability better. For users, ensure connectivity to the LAS endpoint is not broken, because when connectivity breaks, the 30-day activation is rendered useless.