30-Day Trial
Start a free 30-day KubeMQ trial at kubemq.io/trial — what it allows, the 3-day check-in rule, recovering a lost key, conversion, and troubleshooting.
A trial is a real online license: one installation, 30 days, every feature. You get it from the website in a few minutes without talking to anyone.
Get a trial key
Fill in the form
Open kubemq.io/trial and enter your name, company, work email and the platform you will run on. Use a work email: free-mail and disposable addresses are refused (the form offers a contact link if that blocks you).
Confirm your email
You receive a one-time verification link, valid for 24 hours. The site shows the same "if this address is eligible we sent a link" message whether or not the address qualifies, so check your spam folder rather than resubmitting.
Save the key from the second email
Clicking the link confirms the request and the license is issued. A second email brings the license key, a quickstart, and the trial's expiry date. The key is shown only in that email — it is stored by KubeMQ as a hash, never in clear. Copy it somewhere safe.
Start the server
Pass the key as KUBEMQ_LICENSE_KEY:
docker run -d \ --name kubemq \ -p 50000:50000 \ -p 9090:9090 \ -p 8080:8080 \ -p 9092:9092 \ -p 5672:5672 \ -e KUBEMQ_LICENSE_KEY=YOUR_LICENSE_KEY \ europe-docker.pkg.dev/kubemq/images/kubemq-next:latestEvery other way to supply it — Compose, Helm, raw manifests — is on Use a license key.
What a trial allows
| Duration | 30 days from issuance |
| Installations | 1 — one fingerprint (one Docker host, one VM, or one Kubernetes cluster) |
| Mode | Online only. There is no air-gapped trial |
| Features | Everything — every messaging pattern, every connector, clustering |
| Lease | 24 hours, refreshed hourly while the server runs |
| Grace after a missed refresh | 2 days |
A trial server must reach the licensing endpoint at least every 3 days
A trial lease is valid for 24 hours and carries 2 days of grace. The server keeps
refreshing hourly while it can reach https://license.kubemq.io; if it cannot, it runs
on the cached lease for at most 24 h + 2 days before it drains and exits with code 3.
That is deliberately long enough to survive a weekend outage, and short enough that a
30-day trial ends within 33 days.
Trial limits:
- One trial per email address. Addresses are normalized before comparison, so
Name+tag@example.comandname@example.comcount as the same address. - Three active trials per company domain. A fourth request from the same domain is not refused — it becomes a request to sales, who will get in touch.
- A second server started with the same key on a different host is accepted, but the license is then over its installation cap: both servers log a warning every minute and the situation is visible to KubeMQ. Nothing stops automatically, but do not rely on it — request a proper license instead.
Lost your key?
Use the resend option on kubemq.io/trial with the same email. You receive a one-time confirmation link; clicking it regenerates the key and emails the new one. The old key stops working for new activations.
Servers that are already running are not affected — they hold a lease, not the key, and keep refreshing normally. Only a new installation (or a container recreated without its store volume) needs the new key.
Because the resend requires a click on a link sent to the address on file, someone who merely knows your email cannot rotate your key.
Converting to a paid license
Conversion is handled by KubeMQ sales — you receive a reminder email a week before the trial ends with a link to request an extension or a quote.
When a trial is converted or extended, the license id and the key stay the same. The
running server picks up the new plan, expiry and installation cap at its next hourly
refresh; there is nothing to reinstall and no restart. GET /api/v1/license shows the
new plan and license_expires_at once the refresh has happened.
Trial troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No verification email | Free-mail or disposable domain, or the address already has a trial | Use a work address; if you already have a trial, use the resend option instead |
| "Request a new link" on click | The verification link is older than 24 hours | Submit the form again |
Server exits at once, log ends in #first-boot-bad-key | The key was mistyped, or it was regenerated by a resend | Copy the key from the most recent email |
Server exits after ~30 minutes of retries, log ends in #first-boot-unreachable | The host cannot reach https://license.kubemq.io (firewall, DNS, proxy) | Allow HTTPS egress to the endpoint; a trial cannot use an offline file |
Warning every minute, #grace-countdown | The server has not refreshed for over 24 hours | Restore connectivity before the 2-day grace ends |
Warning every minute, #over-cap | The key is running on two installations | Stop one, or request a paid license with a higher cap |
Server stops after 30–33 days, #lease-and-grace-exhausted | The trial ended | Convert, or request an extension through the reminder email |
Every log line above is explained in full in Troubleshooting.
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Licensing Overview
How KubeMQ licensing works — key or file, the lease, boot and per-minute checks, the fail-open window, revocation, exit code 3, and each deployment mode.
Use a License Key
Pass KUBEMQ_LICENSE_KEY to Docker, Compose, Helm and manifests; activation, the lease cache and volume requirement, key regeneration, and GET /api/v1/license.