Veeam Annual Maintenance Renewal vs Subscription Renewal: Which one is right for your business?

If you are like 94% of other enterprises, you are already using a cloud storage service and Veeam is among the best for backing up your data using the cloud. Ensuring that you have up-to-date software and support can reduce costs considerably over the long-term.

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Veeam is increasing in popularity, and as with many vendors, maintenance is a key part of the data backup package. Maintenance is required with any purchase of a software license, and is usually renewed on an annual basis. However, when it comes to renewals, the annual maintenance renewal which is the industry-norm is not always the cost-effective option. In this article, we will compare annual maintenance renewals to subscription renewals, so you can identify which is best for your business.

What is part of the Veeam Maintenance Renewal?

When you purchase a license, you have one year of maintenance included with any new Perpetual License that you are buying. Subscription licenses (with the exception of the Veeam Backup Starter) include Production support and care for the full term of the license. That means that if you are within your first year of use of a Veeam product, you will have maintenance included. Maintenance renewals are limited to a maximum of five years. Maintenance is only permitted on those products that have current licenses at the same level as the maintenance package that you use. In general, maintenance is paired with a perpetual renewal so that you have regular access to support with your ongoing Veeam license. Keeping up to date with your maintenance renewal is essential to ensure your business has access to the support it needs whilst using Veeam software, as well as any patches or updates. If you do not renew your maintenance within one month of your service expiration, then there is a 25% reinstatement fee. The fee can occasionally be waived, but Veeam will need to approve the waiver. It is better to act before your subscription expires so you can avoid this fee and the hassle of any lapse in service.

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What the benefits?

Renewing your maintenance package in advance offers several benefits:

• Access to the latest releases, updates, and patches.
• Worldwide 24/7 support with a team of multi-language experts.
• Savings on three-year or five-year maintenance packages.
• Maintenance to ensure optimal performance.
• Ability to leverage full product capabilities.
• Access your account hub, which helps you manage support requests, download new products, and have access to Veeam resources and product information.

Read our Veeam Maintenance FAQ if you’re looking for more information on why, how and where you should renew.  

New universal licensing

In February 2020, Veeam announced that its new software, Veeam Availability Suite v10, was available. Under this new system, the Veeam Universal License (VUL) became portable. It transformed into a consumption-based license that was metered per workload and sold in bundles of 10 licenses. It allows for protection on a wide variety of systems, not just those on-premises. Cloud and hybrid setups, enterprise apps, and physical servers and workstations could now all be protected at the same level as a per-socket model. Each of Veeam’s services now offers access to VUL, which has actually made Veeam easier to use generally and lowered the price on maintenance through a subscription model.  

What are the main differences between annual maintenance and subscription renewals?

The main difference between a subscription renewal and an annual maintenance renewal is ultimately the pricing model. Annual maintenance renewals are calculated on a per-socket basis, so you pay a set price depending on the Veeam license you have and the number of sockets (CPUs) your business has. Subscription models are priced differently — this price is dictated by the number of VMs (Virtual Machines) your business is running.

Which is best for your business?

Every company is different, and the answer to this question ultimately depends on the number of VMs your business has. Typically, if your business has less than 20 VMs, a subscription model is usually cheaper. However, this will also depend on your license, as for some licenses this figure will be closer to 10. Using online pricing tools that compare maintenance renewal and subscription renewal prices are the easiest way to establish your most cost-effective option, and will help you avoid paying unnecessary costs.