> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.baryon.live/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Plans & licensing

> How Baryon Desktop is licensed — free to download, a 10-day Baryon Pro trial, a paid Baryon Pro license for live use, and a separate Commercial/OEM license for embedding.

Baryon Desktop is free to download and explore. A 10-day Baryon Pro trial lets
you evaluate the full performance toolkit, and a paid Baryon Pro license keeps
it for live use. Embedding or redistribution needs a separate Commercial/OEM
license.

## The plans

### Baryon Desktop — Free

Download and run the app with no account. Free covers exploring the instrument and
personal, non-commercial use:

* the full real-time cymatic visualizer and core visual controls
* live audio from a file, a microphone, or system audio
* a starter set of presets

### Baryon Pro trial — 10 days, included

Every install includes one 10-day Baryon Pro trial. Start it from the
**License** panel (in the app menu) or from any Pro gate — no account, no
credit card, no network connection required. While it runs, everything in
Baryon Pro below is unlocked. When it ends, the app returns to Free; nothing
is taken away from Listener Mode.

### Baryon Pro license — paid

Unlocks professional, live-use capability:

* **Performer Mode** with show-safe controls
* **external display / output** into VJ and production tools (Syphon on macOS,
  Spout on Windows)
* **local OSC and MIDI parameter automation** for show-control and hardware
  control-surface workflows
* **commercial performance rights** — use Baryon as your instrument in paid shows,
  festivals, and client gigs

Additional routing and deeper hardware profiles are still being developed.

### Commercial / OEM — separate

A separate license, not the Baryon Pro license, is required to **embed or
redistribute** Baryon — shipping it inside another product, an installation,
hardware, a hosted service, or a redistributed app. Contact
**[licensing@baryon.live](mailto:licensing@baryon.live)**. This is the same boundary that governs the open engine;
see the [engine licensing](https://github.com/BaryonOfficial/Baryon/blob/main/LICENSING.md)
for how the source-available license and commercial use fit together.

## Free versus Pro at a glance

| Capability                                      | Free | Pro (incl. trial) |
| ----------------------------------------------- | :--: | :---------------: |
| Real-time cymatic visualizer and core controls  |   ✓  |         ✓         |
| Audio input: file, microphone, system audio     |   ✓  |         ✓         |
| Starter presets                                 |   ✓  |         ✓         |
| Personal, non-commercial use                    |   ✓  |         ✓         |
| Performer Mode and show-safe controls           |   —  |         ✓         |
| External display / stage output (Syphon, Spout) |   —  |         ✓         |
| Local OSC and MIDI parameter automation         |   —  |         ✓         |
| Commercial performance rights                   |   —  |    license only   |

Commercial performance rights come with the paid license; the trial is for
evaluation.

## How licensing works

The Baryon Pro license is designed to stay out of your way during a show:

* **No account required.** Your purchase creates an entitlement on our side;
  the app holds a signed, locally verifiable proof of it. Activation is a
  link or a token — never a login.
* **Verified locally.** The app checks the signed proof on your own machine,
  so a network outage at a venue never blocks a performance. Offline grace is
  built in.
* **Online only when it helps.** Connectivity is used for activation, moving
  your license between machines, revocation, and updates — never to run a set.
* **Subscriptions refresh, they don't reissue.** While billing is active the
  entitlement stays active and the app quietly refreshes its local proof.
  Your license is not replaced every month, and a short outage never
  interrupts a show.

License terms are presented at the time of purchase.