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Embedded licence alternatives: resell automation without an OEM agreement

The short answer: an embedded-platform licence (often sold as OEM or white-label) lets you distribute automations that run on a vendor's platform without each customer buying a subscription - in exchange for a negotiated agreement covering distribution rights, branding constraints, term and support. The alternative this directory is built around is an ownership model: compile each automation into a standalone desktop artifact you own, deliver the executable to your customer directly, and keep the relationship - and the margin - between the two of you.

What an embedded platform licence typically covers

  • Distribution rights - what you may ship, to how many clients, and whether the grant is per-client, per-seat or revenue-based.
  • Branding constraints - whether the vendor's name, marks or runtime notices must remain visible to your customer.
  • Term and renewal - embedded agreements are usually annual; a lapsed agreement can leave distributed automations stranded.
  • Support boundaries - which side owns first-line support, escalation, and uptime commitments for the platform your automation depends on.
  • Pricing structure - negotiated, and rarely published. Treat any figure you read elsewhere as a report about one deal, not a price list.

Embedded licence vs the ownership model

Compared on dimensions you can verify, not on price - one side's price is negotiated and unpublished.

Dimension Embedded licence Compiled artifact (ownership model)
What the customer receives An automation running on the vendor's platform A desktop executable named for the bot
Customer requirements Platform access, account, connectivity Their own machine; nothing to install
Hosting burden on you Platform must stay reachable (vendor-hosted or self-hosted) None - you host nothing per client
Branding Per the agreement's constraints Your brand on the launcher and the listing
Billing model Negotiated agreement, typically annual Product licence per the pricing page; your price to your customer
Remote switch-off Depends on the platform's controls Yes - server-controlled activation stops a launcher at its next start
Offline capability Bounded by platform availability Configuration fetched at launch; the run is local
Update path Platform-side changes, on the vendor's schedule Configuration-channel updates propagate to delivered launchers without re-delivery

Remote switch-off and the update channel are documented with their exact propagation bounds on the security page.

The ownership model, step by step

  1. Build the workflow in the desktop product and compile it into a standalone launcher.
  2. Brand it: your customer sees your name on the artifact and the listing.
  3. Choose the access model - public, password-gated, or server-controlled activation when the contract needs a kill switch.
  4. Deliver the file with its published SHA-256 digest and the platform install steps; the customer verifies and runs it.
  5. Invoice your client directly. There is no per-sale step through anyone else.

The full sell-side walkthrough - onboarding, licensing tiers, a worked revenue example - lives on the sell your bot page.

When an embedded licence is still the right choice

This page is not a brief against embedded licensing, and there are real situations where it wins: your customers are already standardised on the platform and want everything inside it; you need the vendor's managed hosting, SLAs and integrations more than you need ownership; or the automation depends on platform capabilities you cannot reproduce in a desktop artifact. If none of those apply - if what you actually want is to deliver automation a client runs on their own machine under your brand - the ownership model removes the agreement, the renewal and the per-client cost entirely.

Frequently asked questions

What is an embedded platform licence?
A commercial agreement - often branded OEM or white-label - that lets you distribute automations running on a vendor's platform without each customer buying their own subscription. It is negotiated rather than published, and typically covers distribution rights, branding constraints, term length and support boundaries.
Do I need an OEM licence to sell bots I build?
No, not when you deliver compiled artifacts. The licence tiers that include reseller rights cover distributing the standalone launchers you compile, under your own brand, with no per-client platform agreement. An OEM licence only becomes relevant when the automation must run inside someone else's platform.
How much does an embedded automation licence cost?
Embedded and OEM agreements are negotiated per distributor, so no honest public price list exists; treat any quoted figure as a starting point for negotiation. The comparison point on this side of the table is published: the product licence, with its current tiers and billing models listed on the product pricing page - that page, not this one, is the authoritative price source.
Can I white-label automation for my clients?
Yes. The compiled launcher carries your branding, and listings you publish carry your attribution. White-labelling artifacts you build is the intended commercial workflow; the exact terms are those of your licence tier on the product pricing page.
Can I switch a sold bot off remotely?
Yes, when its configuration uses server-controlled activation: updating the stored activation state stops the launcher at its next start, within the published cache window, and the launcher shows your message instead of failing silently. The security page documents the mechanism and its propagation bound.
Do my customers need their own automation platform licence?
No - that is the core of the artifact model. Your customer receives an executable, not a workflow they must run on a platform subscription. The only requirement is their own machine; the launcher fetches its published configuration at launch and runs locally.
Sell your own bot Product pricing Download the desktop product

Next comparison: can you export a workflow as a standalone app?