Unity licenses are primarily activated through Named User Licensing by signing in to Unity Hub with a Unity ID, which automatically activates licenses for Personal, Pro, Enterprise, Industry, Student, and Educator plans. Unity Personal requires online activation only, while Pro, Enterprise, and Industry users can activate offline if needed. Troubleshooting includes returning previous activations and contacting support for persistent issues.
Symptoms:
- How do I activate the Hub?
- How do I activate Unity?
- I haven't used Unity before and want to know how to activate my license.
- I want to activate my Unity Personal, Pro, Enterprise, Industry, Student, or Educator license.
- I've used Unity Personal and now want to switch to my new Pro, Enterprise, Industry, Student, or Educator license.
- I'm on a secure or closed network and can't activate online.
Before you start
Unity now activates most licenses through Named User Licensing (NUL). Instead of entering a serial number, you simply sign in to Unity Hub with your Unity ID, and your license activates automatically. It stays active as long as you're signed in, and returning it is as easy as signing out.
Use the sections below for your license type.
Unity Pro, Enterprise, and Industry
Unity Educational Grant license
Unity Personal
Personal licenses can be activated only through Named User Licensing. There's no serial key option for Personal, and manual or offline activation isn't available either. If you need to activate without an internet connection, you'll need to move to a Unity Pro subscription.
If you use the Unity Personal plan, sign in to the Unity Hub to automatically activate your license. No further action is required. To return your Unity Personal license, sign out of the Unity Hub.
If you don't already have a license for Unity Personal, or if the Hub didn't activate it when you signed in, follow these steps:
- In the left sidebar, select Licenses > Add license.
- Select Get a free personal license.
- Read the terms.
- Select Agree and get personal edition license.
Note: If your organization brings in $200K USD or more per 12-month period, or already uses Unity Pro, Enterprise, or Industry, you don't qualify for Unity Personal.
Unity Pro, Enterprise, and Industry
These plans activate automatically through Named User Licensing once your administrator assigns you a seat.
- Launch Unity Hub.
- Select Sign in.
- Your license activates automatically. To confirm, select Licenses from the left side menu.
If your license doesn't appear, select Refresh.
Using an older Editor version? Named User Licensing covers 2019 LTS, 2020 LTS, and every version released since. If you're on an earlier version, activate with a serial number instead:
- Launch the Unity Hub and sign in.
- Select Licenses from the left side menu > + Add license.
- Select Activate with serial number.
- Enter your serial number and select Activate license.
Need help finding your serial number? See "How do I find my license serial number?"
Unity Student and Educator
Student and Educator plans also use Named User Licensing. Once SheerID verifies your status and your seat is assigned, sign in to Unity Hub, and your license will activate automatically.
- Launch Unity Hub and sign in with your Unity ID.
- Select Licenses from the left-side menu to confirm activation. Select Refresh if your license doesn't show up right away.
Using an older Editor version? This automatic flow applies to Unity 2019.4.27 and later, and 2020.2.2 and later. If you're on an earlier version, follow the steps above under Pro, Enterprise, and Industry, using the serial number associated with your Student or Educator seat.
Activating on a closed or secure network
If your network blocks online activation, or you see a connectivity error while activating, you have a couple of options:
- Check "Define exceptions on your web proxy" to see if a proxy setting is the culprit.
- If you're a Pro, Enterprise, or Industry user, follow "How do I manually activate my Unity license?" to complete activation offline using a license request file.
This manual path isn't available for Unity Personal.
Troubleshooting
- "Activation failed: serial number has reached maximum license activations". Return a previous activation first. See "How do I return the activations on my Pro/Enterprise license?"
- Still stuck? Send your log files and screenshots of the error to the Customer Experience team, and they'll help you resolve it.