Binions comes in exactly one edition: the complete platform. There is no “Lite” or “Pro” build, and nothing is hidden behind a paywall. An enterprise licence exists, but it is a negotiated contract — not a different edition of the software. Every install you ever run is the same full-featured set of daemons. What changes between a free user and a paying customer is the licensing status of how you use it — never the software you get.
The big idea. One product, one download, full features for everyone. Free or paid is about how you use Binions, not which version you get.
When you install Binions, you install the whole set — every native daemon, working together as one coordinated platform. You do not pick and choose components, and you do not unlock features by paying more. The mail daemon, the AI daemon, the webhook caller, the scheduler, the database and file daemons, the industrial MODBUS daemon — they are all there from the first install.
What “set” means. A set is one complete installation of Binions on one host. You always licence the whole set — never an individual daemon. See The set licensing model for the full explanation.
Because there is only one edition, the free and paid offerings are identical software. The difference is purely how you are allowed to use it. One non-commercial installation on a single host is free; commercial use, or running more than one host, is paid.
| Free | Paid | |
|---|---|---|
| The platform you get | The complete set | The complete set |
| Features | All of them | All of them |
| Daemons | Every native daemon | Every native daemon |
| Updates within your major version | Included | Included |
| Who it is for | One host, non-commercial use | Commercial use, or additional hosts |
| What you need | A free account & the non-commercial terms | Company details & a licence |
| Price | Free | £1 per binion (£13 for today’s set) |
The free tier is genuinely free — free forever, no credit card, no time limit. It is meant for hobby, homelab, education, charity, and evaluation. As soon as you put Binions to commercial use, or want a second host, you move to a paid licence — but the software in front of you does not change at all. For a side-by-side of who pays and who does not, see Plan comparison.
Binions bundles a few supporting infrastructure components so the platform works out of the box. These are repackaged from well-known open-source projects and are always free, in both the free and paid offerings — you pay for the Binions integration, never for these binaries.
| Edge router | Traefik — routes and terminates traffic at the front of your host |
| Object storage | MinIO — local storage for files and artefacts |
| Tracing (optional) | Jaeger — request tracing for when you want deeper visibility |
No editions to choose, no upsell to unlock features. Everyone runs the same complete platform. There is no comparison chart of tiers to study and no feature you have to buy to switch on — the only decision is whether your use is free non-commercial, or paid.
* Raspberry Pi and other 64-bit ARM hardware are supported from the public 1.0 release. Binions is currently in alpha, and the alpha packages are for 64-bit x86 (amd64) only.
What about enterprise? Larger deployments can be licensed under an enterprise licence — a contract negotiated directly with us, covering things like multi-host licensing, service levels, individually agreed liability terms or compliance requirements. It changes the agreement, never the build: enterprise licensees install exactly the same complete Set as everyone else. See section 6 of the Licence agreement.