Most customers can choose a standard licensing path without much complexity. In many cases, the decision is simply whether you want self-hosted deployment or on-device deployment, and whether you prefer a yearly or perpetual license.
But some teams have deployment structures, legal requirements, or commercial plans that do not fit neatly into a standard package. That is where a custom licensing agreement makes sense. If your product, infrastructure, or distribution model is unusual, the best move is usually to talk to us directly instead of trying to force it into the wrong template.
Simple summary: request a custom licensing agreement when your deployment, redistribution plan, legal requirements, or enterprise structure goes beyond a normal self-hosted or on-device setup.
When a standard license is not enough
A standard license works well when the use case is clear and contained. For example, a company may want to run the model on its own server, or ship it inside a single mobile app. Those are relatively straightforward cases.
A custom agreement is usually needed when the business model or technical setup is more complex. That can happen when a company wants special redistribution rights, unusual deployment scope, cross-entity coverage, private legal terms, or a more customized support structure than the default license provides.
Common reasons customers request custom terms
The most common reasons to ask for a custom licensing agreement include:
- You want to embed BackgroundErase into a larger commercial platform with a distribution model that is not covered by a simple internal-use license
- You want multiple subsidiaries, brands, or business units covered under one agreement
- You need special redistribution or white-label terms
- Your legal or procurement team needs changes to the standard commercial structure
- You want custom maintenance, support, or upgrade rights
- You need a blend of self-hosted and on-device rights in the same agreement
- Your organization wants deployment scope tied to a particular geography, product line, or internal entity structure
Redistribution is a common trigger
One of the biggest triggers for a custom agreement is redistribution. A normal license may let your organization use the model commercially, but that does not automatically mean you can repackage the runtime, sublicense it to third parties, or distribute it across a more complicated partner network without explicit terms.
If your business involves embedded delivery, downstream customers, OEM-style bundling, reseller channels, or enterprise white-label distribution, it is usually better to ask for a custom agreement up front rather than assume the default language covers it.
Good rule of thumb: if another company, partner, client, or end user will receive the technology in a more direct way than normal product usage, you should probably ask for custom terms.
Mixed deployment rights
Some customers do not fit into a purely self-hosted or purely on-device model. For example, a company may want to run BackgroundErase on its own servers for internal operations while also shipping a limited on-device experience in a mobile app. Another company may want one license structure for internal tools and a different deployment right for a customer-facing SDK.
Those hybrid cases are exactly where a custom agreement can help. Instead of forcing the customer to juggle multiple mismatched assumptions, the agreement can be shaped around the actual way the business wants to deploy the technology.
Legal and procurement requirements
Sometimes the reason for a custom agreement is not technical at all. It is legal or procurement-driven. Larger companies may need vendor terms that fit internal review, finance workflow, entity structure, or risk policy. In those cases, the licensing conversation is often less about the model itself and more about whether the paper can match how the organization actually buys and governs technology.
This can include invoicing structure, entity naming, assignment rules, deployment scope language, maintenance definitions, or support obligations. These are all normal reasons to request a custom commercial agreement.
Maintenance and enterprise support terms
A custom agreement can also make sense when the customer wants a non-standard relationship around support. Some teams want maintenance coverage tied to a perpetual license. Others want a yearly license with stronger upgrade rights, priority response handling, or a more formal enterprise support model.
If the technology will sit inside a serious production workflow, it is common for the licensing conversation to overlap with questions about maintenance, support windows, rollout help, and long-term update rights.
What to include in your request
The fastest way to get a useful answer is to explain how you actually want to deploy the model. A strong custom-license request usually includes:
- Your company name and product or workflow type
- Whether you want self-hosted, on-device, or both
- Whether the use is internal, customer-facing, or partner-facing
- Whether any redistribution or white-labeling is involved
- Whether you want yearly or perpetual structure
- Whether you want maintenance or enterprise support included
- Any special legal, procurement, or entity-coverage requirements
This helps us understand whether the right answer is a standard package with small changes or a more fully custom agreement.
Typical custom-agreement scenarios
These are the kinds of cases where customers often request a custom agreement:
- A software company wants to embed the model into several branded products under one parent organization
- A mobile app company wants on-device packaging plus a fallback self-hosted deployment for certain users
- A platform wants special redistribution or downstream commercial delivery rights
- A customer wants perpetual usage rights plus a separate annual maintenance and enterprise support package
- A larger company needs contract language tailored to its legal and procurement process
Related licensing articles
This page usually goes hand in hand with the main licensing overview and the pages covering self-hosted, on-device, and commercial usage rights.
The simplest version
Request a custom licensing agreement if your deployment, redistribution plan, entity structure, legal review, or support needs do not fit a normal self-hosted or on-device license. The easiest way to start is to tell us exactly how you want to use and ship the technology.
Contact sales
If you need a custom licensing agreement, visit backgrounderase.com/enterprise and describe your intended deployment, distribution model, and support requirements as clearly as possible.