Selecting the Appropriate Adobe Licensing Options for You

What are Adobe’s licensing options?

Adobe’s two main licensing options are Named User Licenses (NULs) and Shared Device Licenses (SDLs). Determining whether to license your users or your devices is dependent on the desired access and flexibility you wish to offer your students and staff. Fortunately, Adobe offers cost-effective options for both scenarios with their significantly discounted license packs for education and non-profits.

Licensing your devices

Adobe’s Shared Device Licenses are designed for specific shared-access, organisation-owned devices, such as those in computer labs, classrooms and hot desking environments where devices are regularly used by different people. With SDLs, you only need to license the devices that require access to Adobe Creative Cloud (CC), irrespective of the number of users accessing them.

For example, if you have 25 computers in a lab, and 300 students need access to those devices at various times throughout the year, you only need to license those 25 devices, not the actual users themselves.

Licensing your users

Alternatively, Adobe’s Named User Licenses cover specific users, including students, teachers, volunteers and other staff. For example, if you have 300 users, you could buy 300 named user licenses and everyone then has access. Users with NULs can access Adobe CC from various locations, whether on school devices or personal devices at home, and they also have access to mobile apps.

NULs remain the most popular choice within education and non-profits, enabling users to work on-site and then to seamlessly continue their work from the comfort of their own homes, even in the evening and on weekends when needed.

A combination of both!

In fact, you don’t even have to choose just the one or the other. Many organisations now opt for a combination of both approaches with SDLs providing access for all users within their shared environments, and NULs being issued to staff and older students who can then also access Adobe CC from home.

Still unsure? Pugh are here to help

As an Adobe Education Elite Partner, Pugh are your trusted Adobe experts. For more information and to discuss your options, please get in touch with our friendly team of Adobe experts:

Eldi Berkshire – Adobe Higher & Further Education (HE/FE) – 01974 200 212 / eldi@pugh.co.uk

Owen Williams – Adobe Schools (K12) & Charities – 01974 200 219 / owen@pugh.co.uk