Meraki is one of the vendor choices businesses have when they’re looking for new IT hardware, specifically enterprise-grade wireless access points, cameras, firewalls, and switches.
It is also one of the IT companies The KR Group partners with.
When we recommend Meraki devices to our customers, one of the things we find ourselves frequently explaining is Meraki’s licensing model.
The most common hang-up is that the license is a separate, yet required, purchase for every Meraki device you buy.
When you go to purchase Meraki equipment, you’ll also have to buy accompanying licenses.
Why does Meraki require you to purchase their licensing?
When you purchase any Meraki product, the vendor requires you to purchase licenses for each device along with the equipment.
This additional purchase – the amount varies depending on which device it is accompanying – is intentional on Meraki’s part.
There are four general benefits or reasons Meraki requires separate licensing:
- You’re paying for cloud management.
- You’re entitled to automatic firmware updates.
- You can decouple some licenses from the hardware.
- You can extend expiration with additional license purchases.
By discussing these aspects of licensing, you’ll understand why Meraki structured its licensing this way.
You’re paying for cloud-management
The primary reason Meraki charges separately for licensing is that in addition to the actual equipment, you’re paying for Meraki to host the management component as well as support your gear.
Meraki devices are easy to manage and deploy because they are cloud-hosted. While you don’t need the infrastructure to support the management side of your new devices, Meraki still does.
Part of the licensing fees is to support Meraki having to expand and build data centers around the world to handle the load of its products out in the wild.
You’ll receive automatic firmware updates
Meraki’s licensing allows you to receive automatic firmware updates when they’re available.
In most cases, automatic firmware updates are beneficial because it’s one less thing for you or your IT department to have to do. When firmware updates aren’t automatic, you’re spending time, money, or both to update your devices.
Think of the licensing fee as paying Meraki for their time to update firmware across your devices, and do it so well that it doesn’t affect usability.
(As a note, you’re also entitled to next business day hardware replacement.)
The one word of caution we do need to include is with products that include automatic firmware updates, you don’t have the option to go back to previous versions. If you foresee this being a problem, talk to your IT consulting company about alternative options.
You can decouple some licenses from the hardware
The biggest hang-up for many prospective Meraki customers is the license fee is charged separately from the equipment cost.
While you can’t check out on Meraki’s website or purchase from a partner without adding the appropriate licenses, they are still a separate item on your invoice.
By being separated from your devices, however, your licenses are decoupled from the hardware.
This means that while the licenses are tied to you as a customer, there is some flexibility with how they’re licensed to devices.
All wireless access points require the same licensing regardless of the models, and cameras are all licensed the same as well. However, the licensing for firewalls and switches is specific to each model type.
In the case of cameras and wireless access points, this means you can keep your licenses if you decide to replace your equipment. But with switches and firewalls, this is only possible if you replace it with the same model.
The decoupled aspect also allows for Meraki to replace your devices if something were to break, and you don’t need to purchase a license again (as long as the replacement is the same model.)
You can extend existing licensing without purchasing a renewal
One of the unique aspects of Meraki’s licensing is its co-termination feature.
With your initial license purchase, you’ll select a term of 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 years. When you select co-termination licensing, though, each time you purchase licensing, you can extend your expiration date.
When you opt for co-termination licenses, Meraki uses a formula to combine both of your licenses and create a new expiration date.
The new license purchases are combined with your existing expiration date, and using a weighted average, Meraki calculates your new expiration date.
With this model, it is possible to extend an upcoming expiration date with a new order.
For many businesses who consistently purchase Meraki devices, they may never need to purchase license renewals because they can continue to extend their expiration date by purchasing new devices and licenses.
(You can read more about Meraki’s co-termination licensing on their website.)
Co-termination isn’t required, and you can opt for per-device licensing. However, if you plan on continuing to buy Meraki devices in the future, it’s worth considering.
Understanding Meraki’s licensing
Meraki’s licensing model is a common complaint among customers. However, the license purchases are what give you access to some of the best features of Meraki devices.
Licensing fees are what pay for the cloud-management of your dashboard and automatic firmware updates.
The way Meraki sets up its licensing means your licenses aren’t tied to a specific device, and you can extend existing license expiration dates by purchasing new devices with new licenses.
We hope this overview of Meraki licensing gives you a deeper understanding of the model. For even more information, check out Meraki’s Licensing FAQs.
