What happens when the support perod for a licence key ends?

We have a GemBox Spreadsheet license that starts with "SN-2019Dec09-...". We use this with the latest version of the GemBox.Spreadsheet we get the exception

The serial key is not valid. The support period for your license key has ended. Please purchase an updated license or use an older version.

This is to be expected. We update our license key to the new one that starts with "SN-2021Jul26-..." and everything works. Good!

We would like to know if this license ikey s time-limited. If we stayed on the same version of the GemBox Spreadsheet, would this license key continue to work in perpetuity or would it stop working after a certain point in the future?

Obviously, we intend to renew our license key in the future. What I’m trying to figure out is if we need to update the license key in the production environment if we haven’t changed the version of GemBox that we are running.

Hi Steve,

It will continue to work perpetually.

You see, the GemBox licenses that were purchased until December 31st, 2022 include 18 months of technical support and free upgrades.
And GemBox licenses that were purchased from January 1st, 2023 include 12 months of technical support and free upgrades.
In other words, within your support period, you can feel free to always use the latest version (both minor and major) that was released.

After your support period expires, you can continue to use the last version that you’re entitled to. The serial keys are perpetual, they can be used forever.

If you want to use a newer version that was released after the support period expired then you’ll need to purchase an upgrade license and renew the technical support and free upgrades for another 12 months.

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,
Mario