Per Core + Flash TiB (AOS)
Per Node (AOS, Prism Pro/Ultimate)
Per Concurrent User (VDI)
Per VM (ROBO)
Per TB (Files)
Per VM (Calm)
Per VM (Xi Leap)
Details
In September 2018 Nutanix introduced a "per core + per Flash TB" (capacity) licensing model next to the existing a "per node" (appliance) licensing model for AOS. This means software license cost is tightly coupled with the number of physical cores (compute), as well as the amount of flash TBs (storage) in the Nutanix nodes acquired.
In May 2019 Nutanix introduced "per concurrent user" licensing for VDI use cases and "per VM" licensing for ROBO use cases. Both VDI and ROBO bundle AOS, AHV and Prism. Both must run on dedicated clusters. ROBO is designed for sites running typically up to 10 VMs.
Capacity-based and VDI-based software licensing are sold in 1 to 7 year terms.
ROBO-based software licensing is sold in 1 to 5 year terms.
Appliance-based software licensing is sold for the lifetime of the hardware and is non-transferable.
AOS Editions: Starter, Pro, Ultimate
Prism Central Editions: Starter, Pro
AOS Editions:
Starter limits functionality, for example: No IBM Power, Cluster size restricted to 12, Replication Factor restricted to 2; lacks post-process deduplication, post-process compression, Availability Domains, Self Service Restore, Cloud Connect, VSS Integration, Intelligent VM Placement, Virtual Network Configuration, Host Profiles.
Ultimate exclusively offers VM Flash Mode, Multiple Site DR (1-to many, many-to 1), Metro Availability, Disaster Recovery with NearSync or Sync Replication, On-premises Leap, Data-at-Rest Encryption and Native KMS. All except VM Flash Mode can be purchased as an add-on license for Pro edition.
Prism Central Editions:
Prism Starter is included with every edition of Acropolis for single and multiple site management. It enables registration and management of multiple Prism Element clusters, upgrade Prism Central with 1-click through Life Cycle Manager (LCM), and monitor and troubleshoot managed clusters. Prism Pro is available as an add-on subscription. Pro adds customizable dashboards, capacity, planning, and analysis tools, advanced search capabilities, low-code/no-code automation, and reporting. Prism Ultimate adds application discovery and monitoring, budgeting/chargeback and cost metering for resources, and a SQL Server monitoring content pack. Every Prism Central deployment includes a 90 day trial version of this license tier.
AOS Add-ons require separate licensing:
Nutanix Files:
Nutanix Files is licensed separately and is sold under two different capacity licenses. Nutanix Files Add-on License for HCI is for Nutanix Files running on mixed mode clusters. Nutanix Files Dedicated License is for Nutanix Files running on dedicated clusters.
Nutanix Calm:
Nutanix Calm is licensed separately and is sold as an annual subscription on a per virtual-machine (VM) basis. Calm licenses are required only for VMs managed by Calm, running in either the Nutanix Enterprise cloud or public clouds. Nutanix Calm is sold in 25 VM subscription license packs. Both Prism Starter and Prism Pro include perpetual entitlement for the first 25 VMs managed by Calm.
Nutanix Microsegmentation:
Nutanix Microsegmentation is licensed seperately and is sold as an annual subscription on a per node basis. Licenses are needed for all nodes in a cluster where microsegmentation functionality will be used. This option requires a Nutanix cluster managed by Prism Central and using the AHV virtualization solution. Licenses are sold in 1 to 5 year subscription terms. Prism Central with Starter license is required to manage microsegmentation policies.
Xi Services:
Nutanix provides several subscription Plans: Pay-As-You-Go, 1 year and 3 year.
Xi Leap:
Xi Leap is licensed separately and is sold as an annual subscription on a per virtual-machine (VM) basis. Each VM protected by Xi Leap falls in one of three pricing levels: Basic Protection (RPO=24+ hours;2 snapshots,1TB/VM), Advanced Protection (RPO=4+ hours; 1 week of snapshots,2TB/VM), Premium Protection (RPO=1+ hours,1 month of snapshots,5TB/VM). Allowed capacity includes space allocated by snapshots.
Xi Frame:
Xi Frame is licensed separately ad is sold as an annual scubscriptuon on a named user or concurrent user basis.