In the world of software, an entitlement is the right to access and use software. There are two main ways a software entitlement can be used:

1. Internally - entitlements determine who, within an organisation, has access to what resources
2. Externally - a software vendor controls the end-user’s access to their software product by using entitlements

From the end customer's perspective, a software entitlement is invisible as they simply gain access to an application and never even have to think about entitlements. But from the software vendor's perspective, an entitlement is a smart technical mechanism to give/remove access from the end user, based on for example if they’ve paid or not.

10Duke is a specialist in software licensing for fast-growing software businesses, and our licensing engine uses entitlements as described above (externally). If you’re a software business looking to increase your revenues and monetize your product more efficiently, follow the link to our product section.

A software entitlement also helps software vendors to track and monitor access rights/license usage to their software product in real-time and helps to maximise license compliance.

For instance, a company may purchase 10 licenses in order to gain access to a software application for 10 of their employees. A good software entitlement management system ensures that the software application is only being used by authenticated and authorised users, and it is being used in the right place and at the right time. By using software entitlements, the vendor can ensure that the EULA (End-user License Agreement) is not breached.