License Paid Features
Self-hosting Bitwarden is free, however some features must be unlocked in your self-hosted instance with a registered license file. A license file can be obtained from the Bitwarden-hosted web app by either an account with a premium individual subscription or by the owner of an organization.
The steps are different when working with an individual license versus an organization license.
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The procedures in this article assume that you have already started a paid subscription to Bitwarden. If you haven't, refer to About Bitwarden Plans and What Plan is Right for Me?
Follow these procedures when working with an individual license for a premium subscription. You'll be working in both the cloud web vault and your self-hosted web vault, and your account email addresses should match.
After you create an account on your self-hosted server, retrieve your license from the cloud web app:
Log in and select Settings → Subscription from the navigation.
Select the Download license button:
Download personal license
Next, log in to your self-hosted Bitwarden server to apply the downloaded license:
If you haven't already, verify your email address. You will need to have configured SMTP-related environment variables to do so.
Select Settings → Subscription from the navigation.
In the License file section, select the Browse... or Choose file button button and add the downloaded license file.
Select the Submit button to apply your premium license.
If for any reason you need to update your individual license file, for example when it expires:
Follow the steps to Retrieve your license again.
Follow the steps to Apply your license again, only this time you will see an Update license button rather than a button to browse for a new license.
Follow these procedures when working with an organization license for a Families or Enterprise organization.
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You must be an organization owner to retrieve, apply, and update a license.
Before starting an organization on your self-hosted server, retrieve your organization license from the cloud web app:
In the Bitwarden web app, open the Admin Console using the product switcher:
Product switcher Navigate to Billing → Subscription.
Scroll down and select the Download license button.
When prompted, enter the installation ID that was used to install your self-hosted server and select Submit. If you don't know the installation ID off-hand, you can retrieve it from
./bwdata/env/global.override.env.
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Make sure that the installation ID you retrieved from bitwarden.com/host uses the same data region as where your organization exists.
Applying your license in a self-hosted server is the means by which you'll create a self-hosted organization. From your self-hosted web vault:
Start a new organization by selecting the Add organization button.
Select the Browse... or Choose file button, add the downloaded license file, and select Submit.
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If you receive a version not supported error message, update your server and try uploading your license file again. To update your server, make a backup of the bwdata directory and follow these instructions.
Organizations may need to update the license file on their self-hosted server, for example to add user seats or when your license expires. When your license expires and your organization renews, you have 60 days to apply the updated license file to your self-hosted organization.
There are two methods for doing so, however Families organizations may only update manually:
Automatic billing sync unlocks Families sponsorships (only for Enterprise) and simplified license updating, preventing admins from needing to manually re-upload licenses, for example in the case of organization renewal. To set up automatic sync:
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To successfully setup Automatic Billing Sync, an active subscription license is required. If a self-hosted organization has been setup from a cloud hosted organization still in its trial period, a license will have to be downloaded and applied to the self-hosted organization once the trial period is over. Learn more about paid subscriptions here.
Step 1: Enable cloud communication
First, you'll need to configure your server to allow communication with our cloud systems.
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This step must be completed by someone with access to your self-hosted instance's configuration files.
In order to enable cloud communication, set the following line in bwdata/env/global.override.env to true:
BashglobalSettings__enableCloudCommunication=true
Once you have set this value, apply your change by running the ./bitwarden.sh rebuild command. Start your server again with the ./bitwarden.sh start command.
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Enabling automatic sync requires communication with Bitwarden's cloud systems. If your environment uses a firewall to block outbound traffic, you will need to allow https://api.bitwarden.com or .eu and https://identity.bitwarden.com or .eu.
Step 2: Retrieve billing sync token
Once cloud communication is enabled at the server-level, a sync token needs to be passed from the cloud organization you use for billing to your self-hosted organization. To retrieve your sync token from the cloud web app:
Log in to the Bitwarden web app and open the Admin Console using the product switcher:
Product switcher Navigate to Billing → Subscription.
Scroll down to the self-hosting section and select the Set up billing sync button.
Enter your master password and select Generate token.
Copy the generated token.
Step 3: Apply billing sync token
To apply the billing sync token to your self-hosted organization:
Open the self-hosted Admin Console and navigate to Billing → Subscription.
In the License and billing management section, choose the Automatic sync option.
Select the Manage billing sync button.
Paste your generated Billing Sync Token and select Save.
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Sync for Families for Enterprise will occur once daily once you've triggered your first sync. The Last sync field in this section will report Never until you trigger your first sync.
Sync for license updates must always be done manually by selecting the Sync license button (see the next section for details).
Step 4: Trigger sync
Trigger a sync once you've completed setup and each time you need to update your license. Sync for Familes for Enterprise will occur once daily. To trigger a sync:
Open the self-hosted Admin Console and navigate to Organization → Billing.
Select the Sync license button.
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If you receive a version not supported error message, update your server and try uploading your license file again. To update your server, make a backup of the bwdata directory and follow these instructions.
To manually re-upload a license file:
Follow the steps to Retrieve your license again.
Open the self-hosted Admin Console and navigate to Billing → Subscription.
In the License and billing management section, choose the Manual upload option.
Select the Browse... or Choose file button to add your license file.
Select Submit.
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If you receive a version not supported error message, update your server and try uploading your license file again. To update your server, make a backup of the bwdata directory and follow these instructions.
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