.. meta::
    :description lang=en:
        xlSlim has free and premium versions. This page describes the differences between the two versions.

Licensing
=========

.. _xlslim.com: https://www.xlslim.com/
.. _licensespring: https://licensespring.com/


xlSlim is available to download and use free of charge. The core functionality of xlSlim will always be free. However premium features require a premium licence. Premium licences can be purchased at `xlslim.com`_. 

14 day trial licences are created automatically when xlSlim is first run on your PC. Thus you will have the opportunity to evaluate premium features.

This table compares the features available in the free and premium versions:

.. list-table:: Feature Comparison
   :widths: 50 10 10
   :header-rows: 1

   * - Feature
     - Free
     - Premium
   * - Register Excel functions from Python module functions
     - Y
     - Y	 
   * - Recognise type hints
     - Y
     - Y	 
   * - Recognise doc string
     - Y
     - Y	 	 
   * - Automatic data type conversions
     - Y
     - Y	 	 
   * - Support returning lists from functions
     - Y
     - Y	 	 	 
   * - Access VBA and add-in functions in Python
     - Y
     - Y	 	 	 	 
   * - Use external Python environments
     - N
     - Y
   * - Support numpy arrays
     - N
     - Y
   * - Support pandas series
     - N
     - Y
   * - Support pandas dataframes
     - N
     - Y	 
   * - Run Python in a background process
     - N
     - Y	 	 
	 
Technical Details
-----------------

Licensing is provided by `licensespring`_ who generously offer free licensing services to startups.

If you are behind a firewall please whitelist `api.licensespring.com` on port 443

Offline licence activation is also possible, see :doc:`/user/licensing` for details.