[Colorado-Talk] New 2025 Jaws Licensing and Pricing Explained

Tue Jul 22 21:37:41 UTC 2025

Hi Showe:

The JAWS Professional license does include the remote access to Citrix at no extra charge. The rest of us have to pay $200, which doesn't seem like much in the over-all scheme of things.

Kind regards,

Curtis

From: Showe Trela <myshowe86 at gmail.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2025 3:34 PM
To: NFB of Colorado Discussion List <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Colorado-Talk] New 2025 Jaws Licensing and Pricing Explained

This is great! Thanks for the condensed explanation because I was confused... lol Question: Can you tell me if the professional license  now includes the $200 remote/Citrix  license? I remember running into a situation where a client had JAWS Professional but DVR had to purchase them this extra license  so that they could access remote services or something. They were working in the medical field where they had this remote server that ran JAWS which they had to access remotely ... I didn't work with them so I never knew what the whole situation was all about but I just remember that they had to get this extra remote access license ... So on top of the professional license , they had to pay this $200 remote access license . Curious if this is no longer the case. Thank again for this info. 

Showe 

On Tue, Jul 22, 2025 at 2:40 PM Curtis Chong via Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org <mailto:colorado-talk at nfbnet.org> > wrote:

New 2025 Jaws Licensing and Pricing Explained

by Jim Barbour <mailto:JBar at barcore.com>  and Curtis Chong <mailto:chong.curtis at gmail.com> 

Vispero has introduced new licensing options and prices for its JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion software. Many people have found that the new licensing and pricing options are more than a little difficult to understand. In this article, we endeavor to provide a concise, clear explanation of the new licensing and pricing structure, using JAWS as an example. We believe that once people understand how the licensing and pricing for JAWS works, they will be better able to understand the new pricing and licensing for ZoomText and Fusion.

While we include specific pricing information in this article, we always recommend checking with Vispero to obtain the most current pricing information that is in effect. The Vispero eStore can be found at this URL:

https://store.freedomscientific.com/search?q=jaws

Perhaps the most noticeable change in the JAWS licensing structure is the introduction of a subscription license. A subscription license will stop working (i.e., JAWS will run in 40-minute demo mode) when it expires.

Types of Licenses

Shown below is information about the two primary license types that Vispero is now offering for JAWS. There may be other license types offered to students, developers, IT professionals, and support organizations that are not discussed here.

1. JAWS Perpetual License

The perpetual license for JAWS is one with which most users of JAWS are quite familiar. Historically, when a perpetual license was purchased, users were entitled to receive two annual major upgrades for JAWS (usually released in the fall) before having to pay a service maintenance agreement (SMA) fee to become eligible to receive the next two major upgrades .

The new perpetual license comes with a two-year service maintenance agreement (SMA) which starts as soon as the license is purchased. The maintenance agreement no longer relates to any major upgrade releases of JAWS. Customers purchase software maintenance agreements (SMAs) to extend the life of the license by an additional 2 years. SMAs must be purchased regularly (now every two years) to keep the perpetual license active. SMAs are significantly less expensive than the initial cost of the perpetual license. SMAs must be purchased before the license expires. If the license expires, JAWS will continue to function normally, but no new releases will be authorized to run. So, JAWS will begin to age noticeably as bug fixes and features are released that can't be taken advantage of. The only way to bring an expired  JAWS perpetual license up to date is to purchase a new license. In other words, to keep a perpetual license active, an SMA must be purchased every 2 years, before the current SMA expires.

2. JAWS Subscription License

The subscription license is a new type of license that is being introduced by Vispero. This type of license acts more like a software rental. A subscription license is purchased for a 1, 2, or 3 year period. The longer the period, the lower the annual payment. When the subscription license expires, instead of only refusing new upgrades, JAWS reverts to running in demo mode. However, the expired license can be reactivated at any time by paying for a new 1, 2, or 3 year license. Once paid, the license becomes active, the software will function, and all new releases are authorized to run. What we don't know is whether or not the reactivated or new license would need to be paid at the same annual cost as the original license or whether something similar to a service maintenance agreement could be purchased to continue a license that has already been subscribed to.

The two versions of JAWS

JAWS comes in two versions: Home and Professional. JAWS Home is intended for use by end-users for personal, non-commercial use only and runs on all supported versions of the Windows® operating system.

JAWS Professional is intended for use by organizations and end-users for any purpose--whether commercial, educational, or personal. JAWS runs on all supported versions of the Windows® operating system. Additional options for JAWS Professional include Multi-user, Enterprise, and District licenses as well as features like Remote Access, which allows you to establish remote sessions from your computer to terminal servers using Microsoft Remote Desktop Services or Citrix XenApp® and XenDesktop®.

If the above paragraphs challenged your understanding of the universe, just think of JAWS Home as something you would use for yourself personally while JAWS Professional would be used in an employment or self-employment situation.

Pricing for JAWS licenses

The type of license, version of JAWS, and the length of the license combine to set the price of the license.

The professional version of JAWS costs more than the home version. The extra cost includes free remote access to terminal servers.

In the long run, the subscription license costs more than the perpetual license but results in the buyer having to spend a lot less up front.

Longer licensing periods have a less expensive per year cost. Shorter periods allow for more payment flexibility.

Here are a few examples of JAWS pricing.

•           A three-year subscription license for JAWS professional totals $2,778 ($926 paid per year). We are not sure what needs to be paid beyond the third year--whether it would be a service maintenance agreement or a continuation of the $926 annual payment, but we are sure that something will need to be paid to keep the license active..

•           A perpetual license for JAWS professional with a two-year SMA costs a total of $2,267.50. Beyond the second year, a service maintenance agreement fee would need to be paid, probably on a biennial basis.

•           A three-year subscription license for JAWS home totals $1,869 ($623 per year). We are not sure what needs to be paid beyond the third year--whether it would be a service maintenance agreement or a continuation of the $623 annual payment.

•           A three year perpetual license for JAWS home with a 2 year SMA costs $1,548. Beyond the second year, a service maintenance agreement fee would need to be paid, probably on a biennial basis.

Vispero offers a discounted subscription license if the user is a blind person using JAWS at home. This license (currently called a Home Annual License) is $104.50 per year and is available only to people living in the United States. Acquisition of this type of license is initiated by calling Vispero at 1-800-444-4443.

The JAWS Home Annual subscription license includes:

•           One-year automatic renewal managed from the user portal,

•           Noncommercial use on your personal computers at home,

•           Installation on up to three of your computers, and

•           Technical support and all upgrades and updates during the license term.

This type of license is ideal for people who are short on cash and need JAWS on computers they would use exclusively at home for non-commercial purposes.

Conclusion

We hope that this article has helped to clarify what Vispero is doing with regards to licenses and pricing for its software--in particular, for JAWS. Interested persons can contact Vispero directly when the time comes actually to make a purchase of JAWS, ZoomText, or Fusion.

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