Best 9 Software License Management Tools

One of the best ways for an organization to avoid the cost of unused software and unnecessary legal fines is to adopt strong software license management capabilities.

Software license management (SLM) is part of overall software asset management (SAM). It involves the process of optimizing, documenting, and controlling total IT costs. An SLM tool helps to monitor and maintain all the software licenses of the organization.

A major advantage for an IT organization to have all software licenses under control is to save money. As the average cost of unused software is $259 per desktop, this means such unused apps drain the IT budget and waste precious resources. 

By tracking and monitoring all purchases, IT admins can ensure that each license is accounted for and is being used. SLM also ensures that all software products are following compliance with software licenses.

Top 9 software license management tools 

There are many SLM tools that can help IT admins ensure that the organization does not take unnecessary risks when it comes to managing all their software licenses. Here are some software license management tools.

1. Zluri 

Zluri provides Renewal monitoring, applications cost optimization, and application utilization tools that help IT admins discover, optimize and secure SaaS applications. It helps users to keep track of all the SaaS applications and their licenses. 

The license module in Zluri provides detailed information about licenses, Subscriptions, contracts, and perpetual. Insights like the quantity and cost of each application are provided, which helps to make improved decisions by comparing different applications and their licenses.

The license module also provides the total number of licenses each user owns, the next renewal, license type, cost, and also the payment method. In short, Zluri gives IT teams greater control and visibility over their SaaS applications and licenses.

Features

• SaaS applications Subscription discovery

• Find underused or unused applications

• A smart calendar to manage renewals

• Application cost optimization

• Helps improve license ROI

Pros

• Best for monitoring unwanted apps used within the organization

• The customer support team is very helpful

• Set up process is easy

• The product integrates seamlessly and was able to discover activity and inactive SaaS subscriptions. 

• It is flexible and easy to use

Customer Ratings 

• G2- 4.9/5 

• Capterra- 4.9/5

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2. Software Asset Optimization by Altair 

Software Asset Optimization (SAO) is an advanced tool by Altair for software asset optimization. It is built to rightsize an IT organization's software portfolio using real data to make informed business decisions. 

With software asset optimization from SAO, IT admins get an easy-to-use data collection, analysis, and visualization solution with 70+ reports. SAO also predicts to tune the company's current configuration and guide future capacity planning.

Features

• 70+ configurable usage and analytics reports with extensive drill-down capabilities.

• License expiration, vendor management, agent configuration, and more.

• SAO helps organizations control license costs and plan for future capacity.

• Optimize software purchases and control spending with the Altair SAO costing module.

• Customize SAO solutions.

• Support for over two dozen third-party license managers.

Pros 

• Can report over 15 different license management technologies out of the box

• Usage tracking tool also helps to identify users and the workstations that use the software the most.  

• Helps to find the best format to analyze and report on the license usage

Cons

• Some licenses are split across multiple serves for disaster recovery purposes.

• It is difficult to combine a large amount of license usage in a single report easily.

• Does not have a node lock tracker 

Customer Ratings 

• Capterra- 5/5

3. AssetSonar

AssetSonar helps in comprehensive software license tracking. It ensures license compliance, optimizes software spending, and helps the organization to become audit-ready.

AssetSonar helps to manage all license data of an organization from one platform. Companies can avoid penalties and true-up costs by maintaining compliance, reducing software spending by tracking license utilization, and mitigating adult risks with up-to-date license information.

Features

• Analyze and detect any gaps in the company's licensing framework with the help of detailed reports.

• Avoid penalties and license true-up costs by detecting all instances of unlicensed software on the company's network.

• Receive automated alerts for all upcoming expiries, renewals, and payments.

• With real-time data at hand, Assetsobar reconciles licenses every 24 hours.

• Optimize software spending by identifying and adjusting under or over-utilized licenses.

Pros

• Very effective in creating audit data along with details of the product 

• Makes it easy to put IT asset details into the system and be organized

• Provides timely updates and easy to access reports

Cons

• Can have bug issues

• There is no feature to build a map with all the CI's in order to build the CMDB.

Customer Ratings  

• G2- 5/5

• Capterra- 5/5

4. Quick License Manager by Soraco

Quick License Manager by Soraco technologies protects organizations' applications with secure symmetric license keys. These license keys are bound to a specific computer or mobile device.

With Quick license manager, IT admins can create time-limited trial license keys or a fully automated workflow for subscription-based products. This tool helps activate licenses online or offline.

Features 

• Collect analytics about each application.

• Checks for updates.

• Helps schedule and send customized emails to alter upcoming renewals.

• Provides online or offline license activation.

Pros

• Integration of the application with any type of product is good

• Flexible for various software license key distribution

• Combines license manager and software protection

Cons

• Does not support some open-source language

• Documentation can be improved

•  QLM web portal is difficult to use and slow in performance sometimes

Customer Ratings

• G2- 4.5/5

• Capterra- 4.7/5

5. Reprise License Manager by Reprise Software 

Reprise License Manager by Reprise software provides all features that an organization needs and expects from an enterprise-class license manager and is easy to administer on-premise or in the cloud.

Hundreds of software publishers and tens of thousands of end-user companies depend on RLM to manage their software licenses every day. RLM helps IT companies to capture new customers and increase their revenues with existing customers.

Features

• RLM' simple API handles complex licensing models.

• Diagnostics from all licensed clients and license servers are also provided.

• Can adopt on-premise or in the cloud.

• Provides multi-platform support.

Pros

• Very flexible licensing model and easy to use API

• Wide range of features with well-priced offerings

• They provide a great support team 

Cons

• It is difficult to read and understand the documentation

• Node lock protection on Linux is weaker than on Windows

• Two separate databases for Activation Pro and RLM Cloud

Customer Ratings

• Capterra- 4.9/5

• Software Advice- 4.8/5

6. Ivanti License Optimizer 

Ivanti license optimizer helps to optimize software licenses by reclaiming unused licenses, helping to stay compliant, anticipating true-ups, and curbing IT overspending.

This tool discovers what software exists in an organization's environment, tracks usage, and identifies areas where the IT assets can work better for the company.

Features

• Powerful license engine.

• Software license monitoring.

• Software insights in Ivanti cloud.

• Offers recommendations.

• Automated asset discovery and tracking.

Pros

• Easy of navigation and self serve for reportings

• Software detection and optimization are good

• Provides good customer service

Cons

• The system can be difficult to use 

• Requires additional configuration for key vendors like SAP and Oracle 

Customer Ratings

• Gartner- 3.9/5

• Pcmag - 4/5

7. ManageEngine AssetExplorer

ManageEngine AssetExplorer helps to track software licenses from the planning to the disposal phase. This tool enables the management of all software license contracts and ensures that all licenses are compliant with the regulatory standards. 

AssetExplorer guides to an understanding of software license compliance and the use of unauthorized software in the IT company and helps to act proactively to curb illegal usage and problems associated with it. 

Features

• Provides Purchase order management.

• Handles the complete life cycle of an asset.

• It also scans and audits all workstations across enterprises connected over LAN, WAN, and VPN.

Pros

• Provide remote control capabilities

• Easy to use and good reports in real-time

• Added through the deployment of new images or via control plane easily

Cons

• Have to install the app on every device

• Can lose support once moving to the cloud version of the software

• Few bugs are found here and there 

Customer Ratings

• Capterra - 5/5

• G2 - 4/5

8. FlexNet Manager by Flexera

FlexNet Manager by Flexera helps to manage and rightsize an organization's software assets. Their IT asset management which is scaled for enterprises, enables better license management to save time and money through software license optimization. 

By efficiently managing vendor relationships and contracts with Adobe, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and more, IT teams can achieve remarkably better results. 

Features

• Insights into current licenses.

• Engineering to SAP usage is the core.

• Provides transparency that lets IT admins track usage and optimize.

• Reporting and analytics guide.

Pros

• Easily to get every detail of each system. 

• The customizable inventory provides details of purchases and helps with maintenance. 

Cons

• The interface can be improved 

• Customer service is not up to the mark

Customer Ratings

• G2- 4/5

• Capterra- 4.4/5

9. License Dashboard 

License Manager by License Dashboard allows organizations to manage software licenses. This tool offers advanced licensing automation, speeds up day-to-day tasks for software asset managers, and ensures that complicated license metrics are properly calculated. 

The license manager makes sure that the organization is receiving the maximum ROI on their software purchases, often saving businesses up to 30% of their software spend.

License managers integrated with the existing IT infrastructure of organizations, and importing inventory and entitlement data into license managers is also quick and easy.

Features

• Automatically managers software licenses.

• Collation and comprehension of licensing entitlement automatically.

• Virtual environment visualization.

• At the touch of a button, create and export reports.

• Intelligent dashboard and notifications.

Pros

• Good visibility of details

• Direct manufacturer communication and excellent support team 

• The dictionary is valuable, tracks compliance, and offers upgrade and downgrade rights

Cons

• Templates can be more user friendly 

• Manuals and expected training do not always keep up with the fast development of the license manager app.

• The tool can sometimes be slow and unresponsive 

Customer Ratings

• Gartner - 3.9/5