# An Update on the Future of Katalon **URL:** \ **Category:** Announcements\ **Tags:** releases\ **Created:** [October 23, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119 "2019-10-23T04:30:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![discover.selenium](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/discover.selenium/32/522_2.png) [@discover.selenium](https://forum.katalon.com/u/discover.selenium)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/21 "2019-10-24T02:49:50Z")
> [@Russ\_Thomas](#): > > The reference “KS” is to Katalon Studio (version 7). That **is** the free offering. Thanks @Russ_Thomas for Clarifying. Appreciate your prompt reply. > [@discover.selenium](#): > > Hope the **Build CMD** , will continue to be available in the free version of Katalon except for the fact that, I have to supply the API key. Russ …😕 Please excuse my ignorance, Any idea if **Build CMD** will be available in KS(free) ---
**Author:** ![Russ\_Thomas](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/russ_thomas/32/11884_2.png) [@Russ\_Thomas](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Russ_Thomas)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/22 "2019-10-24T02:52:14Z")
> [@discover.selenium](#): > > Any idea if **Build CMD** will be available in KS(free) I see no technical reason for it not to be there - but if the code split is unfavorable, then it may not be. I have a few similar questions (how to “mix” between KS and KSE but they can wait a while). ---
**Author:** ![Russ\_Thomas](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/russ_thomas/32/11884_2.png) [@Russ\_Thomas](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Russ_Thomas)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/23 "2019-10-24T03:04:18Z")
> [@gilbert.escobar](#): > > I guess lots of free things don’t last forever. That might be true, but Katalon Studio the _base product_ **is still free**. I think we have to understand, the way Katalon is growing (just look at the growth in terms of plugins, integration options and place that alongside over 100 new signups per week), _something_ had to change. I knew a long time ago, something like this was bound to happen. Either that, or the company would collapse under the weight of success - hey, it happens! I think Katalon management team have proffered a reasonable middle-ground. Any of us could argue over this or that detail (I did, trust me), but really, I think the choices they made are reasonable. The number one thing I take from this event? _They listen_. ---
**Author:** ![devalex88](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/devalex88/32/336_2.png) [@devalex88](https://forum.katalon.com/u/devalex88)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/24 "2019-10-24T03:22:55Z")
> [@corey.stirewalt](#): > > Our current workflow is to use jenkins to spin up (many) katalon containers to run tests concurrently based on cucumber tags. > > Will the Runtime Engine licensing continue to support this workflow? > Will we need (many) Runtime Engine licenses to support high-load concurrent testing? > If I understand correctly, the license will be tied to a machine. How will the licensing work for containers and/or virtual machines? > > Thanks in advance, > > Corey Yes, your use case is still supported. For containers or ephemeral virtual machine, licenses will be counted based on the number of concurrent execution sessions. Please contact [business@katalon.com](mailto:business@katalon.com) if you need more information. ---
**Author:** ![rickleejd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9a140/32.png) [@rickleejd](https://forum.katalon.com/u/rickleejd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/25 "2019-10-24T05:29:19Z")
> [@Ibus](#): > > but take note, it will be deactivated on April 2020. > and once stable 7.x is released, 6.x won’t receive updates anymore. Hi I would like to ask April 2020. After 6.X can continue to test work? Run TestCaes TestSuites? Add Modify String Keyword? Recording Spy Web? Or April 2020. After only upgrading 7.X Pays?😂 ---
**Author:** ![Ibus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9a140/32.png) [@Ibus](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Ibus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 6:51am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/26 "2019-10-24T06:51:05Z")
> [@rickleejd](#): > > After 6.X can continue to test work? no idea. but you can do a simple test. start a local webserver serving a certain page, disconnect your machine from internet and play with katalon on it. if it is working, chances are that, once activated, katalon is no longer checking online the licence … so it may still be usable after the deadline. but good chances are also the activation will expire at a certain time. however, moving it to a new machine (or on the same if you re-install the OS) won’t work anymore , since it has to be re-activated. Anyway, you will have the new free version available. If you don’t need to run the tests from CLI, will be good enough. If you need CLI run too, you only have to pay the runtime engine, but keep using the free version to develop the testcases. ---
**Author:** ![Liam\_B](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/liam_b/32/647_2.png) [@Liam\_B](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Liam_B)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 7:46am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/27 "2019-10-24T07:46:23Z")
Hi @Don_Welsh and @aukse.zirgule, Thank you for raising a good question. We do offer a discount to all who have reached out to us regarding KSE and RE licenses at the moment. There might be a promotion campaign with a special discount in the future but nothing has been confirmed yet. If you need to acquire KSE and RE licenses, please reach out to our sales team at [business@katalon.com](mailto:business@katalon.com). We certainly will have a special discount for you guys. Thanks again for using Katalon Best, Liam ---
**Author:** ![bbonev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de053/32.png) [@bbonev](https://forum.katalon.com/u/bbonev)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/28 "2019-10-24T14:38:54Z")
does that mean I wont be able to use jenkins with the free version anymore doe to the command tab no longer available? ---
**Author:** ![Mohammed1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@Mohammed1](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Mohammed1)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/30 "2019-10-24T16:32:48Z")
Guys do i need to pay to have my docker container with Katalon run? Something with CMD command don’t work and needs a license, so does that mean i need to buy the runtime? ---
**Author:** ![Russ\_Thomas](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/russ_thomas/32/11884_2.png) [@Russ\_Thomas](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Russ_Thomas)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/31 "2019-10-24T16:33:37Z")
> [@An Update on the Future of Katalon](http://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/20): > > The reference “KS” is to Katalon Studio (version 7). That is the free offering. The reference “KSE” (also at version 7) is the pay version. Reference Full Name Current Version Pay? KS Katalon Studio 7 No, it’s FREE KSE Katalon Studio Enterprise 7 Yes KRE Katalon Runtime Engine (CLI) 7 Yes ---
**Author:** ![Russ\_Thomas](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/russ_thomas/32/11884_2.png) [@Russ\_Thomas](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Russ_Thomas)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/33 "2019-10-24T18:10:37Z")
Vijay… Many of the changes in Katalon products are difficult for anyone to get their head around, but the licensing/pricing model is very easy to understand. Katalon products have moved to a _subscription based license_. Right now, they are priced as they are listed. When each license expires, you need to resubscribe. You will be charged at the _then_ current price (which may or may not be the price you paid previously). EDIT: I’ve taken out all the sarcastic stuff and removed the generic “your” and replaced it with a clear “anyone”. Better? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![jason.tolotta](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/jason.tolotta/32/7687_2.png) [@jason.tolotta](https://forum.katalon.com/u/jason.tolotta)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 12:32am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/40 "2019-10-25T00:32:58Z")
Asking for a $69 monthly fee for an initial release product (that feels like it is still in beta) is a pretty big ask. Even at the yearly rate of $759/user/year (a saving of 1 month) vs [TestCafe Studio](https://www.devexpress.com/products/testcafestudio/#pricing) at $249/user/year, this gives a lot of test managers pause to determine the product to invest time and money into. With a team of 5 testers that’s a difference of KS $3,795/year vs TCS $1,245/year. On top of KS Enterprise licenses, I would need to get a Katalon Runtime Engine license to launch on CI environment at a cost of $49/month. TestCafe is built on a Node infrastructure and command-line and CI integration is essentially bundled free. I was actually thinking before the announcement of the price that if it was $29/user/month for Enterprise it would be a bargain, but now I have to convince management (and myself) if this road is worth taking. ---
**Author:** ![devalex88](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/devalex88/32/336_2.png) [@devalex88](https://forum.katalon.com/u/devalex88)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 1:26am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/41 "2019-10-25T01:26:19Z")
Thank you for your feedback. I just want to clarify that you can use KS (not KSE) with RE too. ---
**Author:** ![Andrej\_Podhajsky](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/andrej_podhajsky/32/1055_2.png) [@Andrej\_Podhajsky](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Andrej_Podhajsky)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/42 "2019-10-25T03:56:54Z")
not until april 2020 for all who are using Docker use tags to download 6.X version which does not need license file yet. e.g.: katalonstudio/katalon:6.3.3 of course, for development i suggest to use same version as for run… ---
**Author:** ![Andrej\_Podhajsky](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/andrej_podhajsky/32/1055_2.png) [@Andrej\_Podhajsky](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Andrej_Podhajsky)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 4:18am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/43 "2019-10-25T04:18:09Z")
so basically with Katalon you have 0$/year with standard Studio + RunTime 540,-/year for any number of test suites executed in serial. with 5 testers splitted in 2 teams on 2 projects 1 RT will be probably enough if you are not running tests that needs to run more that 4 hours (nightly builds) i strongly suggest to do feature comparison (it will help to have direct links in feature comparison table) and decide based on that. i did initial comparison between KS and KSE and in our case, for now we will use free version. there are features that are good sell points (also for us) but we don’t need them now (TO refactoring, TA sharing, Console log customization, SSL certificate and Private Plugin) ---
**Author:** ![Ralph\_van\_der\_HOrst](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/katalon/user_avatar/forum.katalon.com/ralph_van_der_horst/32/23870_2.png) [@Ralph\_van\_der\_HOrst](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Ralph_van_der_HOrst)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/44 "2019-10-25T06:02:25Z")
I had the same discussion with my testmanager. I really love the tooling as functional testers (with still some support of technical testers) can even create automation scripts quite easily. Also the integration between api, mobile and ui is spot on and I understand that it is a huge investment which needs to be payed back, My point is that I disagree with the transparency which is announced .Still on every website review it it is sold as a free product as it not is anymore. (by sales and on website I was convinced that the tooling would be free for while in NL when I was introduced to Katalon) I have to convince my testmanager to buy the licences (which is not a big deal I think) but if necessary I will convert everything back to freeware tooling, as I am luckily technical enough to do. For me the biggest issue is the runtime engine which I think is price wise very costly, knowing we are entering the serverless world of testing (cloud run docker, lambda), which will likely reduce the FAAS cost drastically. For me I am also more reluctant to promote because the run time licence cost as I am really an open source techie 🙂 But that said: I still love Katalon! ---
**Author:** ![rajani.gangadhara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3be4f8/32.png) [@rajani.gangadhara](https://forum.katalon.com/u/rajani.gangadhara)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 7:15am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/45 "2019-10-25T07:15:34Z")
Yes bbonev we should have a run time engine paid version one. We cannot run KS and Jenkins together as free anymore as console mode execution is not free anymore. This is the sad ☹ I suggessted katalon to my company as a free tool and yes I loved it,spent a year writing katalon script. Now all of sudden charging for console mode execution. I just dont know what I should tell my company , High potential that I loose my job for giving improper suggestion to use katalon. Katalon team, sincere request.Please keep things which were free as is and charge for your new functions. ---
**Author:** ![bbonev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de053/32.png) [@bbonev](https://forum.katalon.com/u/bbonev)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 8:08am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/46 "2019-10-25T08:08:43Z")
I see, well that be expensive for enterprise studio and runtime two licenses this is stupid over 1k per year, I maybe time to go back with cucumber again. ---
**Author:** ![Ibus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9a140/32.png) [@Ibus](https://forum.katalon.com/u/Ibus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 9:57am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/47 "2019-10-25T09:57:36Z")
@bbonev you can use KS free (if the online activation is not an issue for you) and pay only the runtime. if you have proxy setups and so on (aka need of offline activation) … yeah, i am affraid you have to buy KSE too or migrate to another solution i am also a bit unhapy with the changes, next week i have to demo katalon to my company … and the paid runtime can be a blocker to quickly addopt it since all funds for this quarter are frozen … but i hope my managers can see in the future and analyse the benefits of having one (almost) complete tool,with a friendly learning curve, rather than put efforts in creating own framework with only free/opensourced components (i do have variants also for this) so … will see what they say. wish me luck! as for the 1k per year … let’s be serious. is only some percents of the monthly salary of a skilled devop/aqa engineer (this depends on the company standards, ofcourse) i spend more money on buying cigs (bad habit) in one year. so if i quit smoking i can afford a full kse+kre licence for my personal use. just to have numbers … ---
**Author:** ![aukse.zirgule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@aukse.zirgule](https://forum.katalon.com/u/aukse.zirgule)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 10:55am UTC](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119/48 "2019-10-25T10:55:35Z")
I was informed that KS includes Katalon Studio Enterprise and Runtime Engine 30-day trial. My account is activated and previously everything worked fine, but now CircleCI returns me this: Activating… Start activating offline… Finding valid offline licenses in folder: /root/.katalon/license The number of valid offline licenses: 0 Offline activation failed. Start activating online… Invalid license. Runtime Engine is not supported for standard license. Online activation for console mode failed. Activation failed. Please make sure you are using a valid license. All launchers terminated How could I use the trial version runtime feature? [Previous page](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119.md?page=1) [Next page](https://forum.katalon.com/t/an-update-on-the-future-of-katalon/35119.md?page=3)