Epistemic Kernel - Licensing Model

Epistemic Kernel Licensing Model

Product: Epistemic Kernel - Trust-Aware Multi-Agent System Foundation
Version: 1.0
Last Updated: August 3, 2026
Status: ACTIVE - NOW AVAILABLE

Overview

The Epistemic Kernel is available through a dual-licensing model that balances open-source community adoption with sustainable commercial development. This model ensures that:

1. Developers can experiment freely with the core functionality
2. Enterprises get production-grade support and features
3. The project remains sustainable through commercial adoption
4. All claims are verifiable through transparent, documented code

Licensing Tiers

Tier 0: Open Source (Apache 2.0)

Cost: FREE (Open Source)
License: Apache 2.0
Target: Developers, researchers, hobbyists

Features Included:

• Complete ek-provenance crate (Rust type system)
• Basic ek-broker daemon (single-process)
• Core ek-sdk client library
• Filesystem attestor implementation
• In-memory belief store
• Demo agents and acceptance tests
• Full documentation and specification
• Community support via GitHub Discussions

Limitations:

• No TTL persistence across restarts
• No multi-process agent isolation
• No enterprise attestors (database, API, etc.)
• No guaranteed response time for support
• No SLA or warranty

Use Cases:

• Research and experimentation
• Academic projects
• Personal learning
• Non-production evaluation

Tier 1: Developer (Monthly Subscription)

Cost: $49/month (billed monthly)
Discount: $490/year (2 months free)
Target: Startups, individual developers, small teams

Everything in Open Source, PLUS:

Enhanced Features:

• Persistent belief store with crash-safe writes
• TTL persistence across broker restarts
• Multi-process agent support (UID isolation)
• HTTP API attestor (verify web content)
• Basic rate limiting configuration
• Enhanced logging and metrics

Support:

• Email support (48-hour response SLA)
• Access to private Discord community
• Monthly office hours (group Q&A)

Commercial Terms:

• Use in commercial applications permitted
• Redistribution of binaries to your customers
• Up to 5 developer seats

Tier 2: Professional (Monthly Subscription)

Cost: $499/month (billed monthly)
Discount: $4,990/year (2 months free)
Target: Growing startups, development teams, research labs

Everything in Developer, PLUS:

Enterprise Features:

• Distributed broker deployment (multi-machine)
• Database attestor (PostgreSQL, MySQL)
• API attestor (REST, GraphQL endpoints)
• Advanced rate limiting (per-agent, per-tenant)
• Belief audit trail (full provenance history)
• Custom attestor development SDK
• Priority feature requests

Support:

• Email + Slack support (12-hour response SLA)
• Bi-weekly office hours (dedicated sessions)
• 1 incident response per month (2-hour SLA)
• Access to beta features

Commercial Terms:

• Use in SaaS products permitted
• Redistribution rights for embedded systems
• Up to 25 developer seats
• White-labeling options available

Tier 3: Enterprise (Custom Pricing)

Cost: Custom quote (starting at $5,000/month)
Target: Large enterprises, AI labs, government organizations

Everything in Professional, PLUS:

Premium Features:

• High-availability broker cluster
• Multi-tenant isolation with RBAC
• Custom attestor implementations
• On-premise deployment support
• SOC 2 Type II compliance assistance
• Custom integration development
• 24/7 monitoring and alerting
• Dedicated infrastructure consulting

Support:

• 24/7 phone + Slack support (1-hour response SLA)
• Weekly check-in calls
• 4 incident responses per month (1-hour SLA)
• Dedicated technical account manager
• Custom training and workshops

Commercial Terms:

• Unlimited developer seats
• Full redistribution rights
• Custom SLA negotiation
• Co-development partnership options
• Priority roadmap influence

Feature Comparison Matrix

Pricing Summary

Note: All paid tiers include a 30-day free trial. No credit card required for trial.

Commercial Use Rights

Open Source (Apache 2.0)

• ✅ Free for any use (commercial or non-commercial)
• ✅ Modify and redistribute source code
• ✅ Use in proprietary products
• ❌ No liability or warranty
• ❌ No official support

Paid Tiers

All paid tiers grant additional patent licenses and commercial support beyond the Apache 2.0 license:

• ✅ Indemnification: Protection against third-party IP claims
• ✅ Warranty: Functional correctness guarantee
• ✅ Priority support: SLA-backed response times
• ✅ Enhanced features: Closed-source addons and integrations

Ordering Process

Self-Service (Developer & Professional)

1. Sign up at our purchase page
2. Select tier and enter payment information
3. Receive license key via email (instant delivery)
4. Download the licensed software package
5. Activate with your license key

Time to activation: < 5 minutes

Enterprise

1. Contact us via sales email
2. Schedule discovery call (typically within 48 hours)
3. Custom proposal based on your requirements
4. Contract negotiation and signing
5. Deployment and onboarding (typically 2-4 weeks)

Time to activation: 2-6 weeks (depending on custom requirements)

License Key Management

Activation

License keys are delivered via email and can be activated through:

• Environment variable: EK_LICENSE_KEY=your-key-here
• Configuration file: license_key = "your-key-here" in ek-broker.toml
• Command line: --license-key your-key-here

Offline Activation

For air-gapped environments:

1. Request offline activation file
2. Transfer to offline system
3. Run ek-broker --offline-activate path/to/file.ekl
4. Receive offline license certificate

License Validation

• Online: Validates against license server on startup
• Offline: Uses cryptographic signature verification (no internet required after activation)
• Grace period: 30 days offline operation before re-validation required

Compliance & Auditing

For Open Source Users

• No compliance requirements
• No auditing obligations
• Community-driven security updates

For Paid Tier Users

• Audit rights: We may request usage metrics for capacity planning
• Security updates: Priority access to patches (24-48 hours before public)
• Compliance assistance: Available for SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA

For Enterprise Users

• Detailed audit logs: Full provenance of all broker operations
• Compliance reporting: Quarterly compliance status reports
• Third-party audits: Support for external security audits

Migration Path

We make it easy to upgrade between tiers:

Open Source → Developer:    Instant (credit card)
Developer → Professional:  Instant (prorated)
Professional → Enterprise: Custom quote

Downgrade at any time (data migration assistance provided)

Data Portability

• All data stored in open formats
• No vendor lock-in
• Export tools provided for all tiers
• Migration assistance included in Enterprise tier

Revenue Allocation

As a transparent, partnership-driven organization, we allocate Epistemic Kernel revenue as follows:

Total: 100% - All revenue reinvested in the project or shared with creators

Next Steps

Ready to get started? Choose your path:

🔹 Try Open Source - Free download, full source 🔹 Start Free Trial - Developer Tier - 30 days, no credit card 🔹 Start Free Trial - Professional Tier - 30 days, no credit card 🔹 Contact Sales - Enterprise - Custom solution

Questions?

Check our FAQ or contact us for more information.

All prices in USD. Taxes may apply based on your jurisdiction. Prices subject to change with 30 days notice.