What Counts as a "Commercial Use"?

david_sammond

I found out about Onshape when I wanted to design a puzzle for a school project and my highschool did not offer a good Solidworks like CAD software which is almost imperative for designing twisty puzzles. I immediately signed up for an educational liscence as I could not afford the full version and I was using it for a school project. As I got further into designing puzzles I realized I could upload and sell my designs on website like I.Materialise and Shapeways and make some money along with my newfound hobby. I would purchase the full version of Onshape but I don't have enough money as I am just getting into college next year and selling puzzles probably wont provide enough money for me to be able to pay for it. I was wondering, since I don't plan on patenting many designs or producing them at a large scale, if it still counts as a "Commercial Use" of Onshape and if I am allowed to sell my puzzles this way.

noa

@david_sammond commercial use is any use that results in you making money off of the designs. The scenario you described above would be considered commercial use.

michael3424

Are those of us on the Free Plan also prohibited from commercial use?

noa

@michael3424 these terms are specific to the Education plan and are accepted by Education Plan users upon signup and annual renewal. For Onshape's generic terms, which all plans must follow, please see here: https://www.onshape.com/terms-of-use

michael3424

Thanks @noa - near as I can tell free plan users can use Onshape commercially, though all of their designs are automatically public domain.

john_mcclary

Right, you pay for privacy.

EDU pays less for the same privacy as PRO, so they are restricted from commercial use to prevent everyone from just buying the cheaper EDU licence.

At least they don't to what Solidworks does, and put a big watermark over every drawing... (or maybe they do, not sure, i'm not EDU )

MBartlett21

john_mcclary said:

At least they don't to what Solidworks does, and put a big watermark over every drawing... (or maybe they do, not sure, i'm not EDU )

@john_mcclary
No, they don't do any watermarks on created drawings

paweł_kucmus

@noa I tried reaching out 3 times (through the chat and contact form) and I seem to be unable to have my question answered.

I'm working on (another) open source project. There's a company willing to pay me a royalty fee for every sold piece they produce. Can I use Onshape Free in that case or do I need at least the Standard plan. Again the design will be free and open source for all - I am to get a cut from the production of it.

Please, I hope you can help - I'm struggling with Fusion360 - it does not hold a candle to Onshape. I have 8 days before I'll be forced to buy it (as I can afford it but not Onshape ). Already spent money on a Windows license and a hard drive to even try it out (where I can use Onshape on my Linux).

I am a software developer and making those open source designs is just a hobby (that consumes money, which I would gladly take back in those royalty fees - it wont even be much (probably wont even cover a Fusion360 license but would at least cover a part of the expenses).

I hope to hear from you. Thank you!