What Is Commercial Software?

Date First Published: 27th September 2023

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn about what commercial software is in this article.

Commercial software, sometimes known as payware, is a type of software that requires payment before it can be used. After payment, users can use all the features of the software without any restrictions. Commercial software is funded through sales instead of donations and ads. It is the opposite of freeware, which is made available to other users free of charge.

Since users have paid for the software, commercial software often comes with professional support (e.g. for setup, troubleshooting, installation, etc) from the creators. This is unlike open-source software which does not guarantee any professional support. The software is usually well-supported and maintained by the creators.

How Does Commercial Software Work?

Commercial software often comes in a physical box which is displayed in retail stores. They usually contain the software CD or DVD and an instructions booklet along with the registration key to register the software when installing it.

Although commercial software is often sold in a physical box, this is not as common now and it is possible to directly download most commercial software from the company's website. The user pays for the software and after paying, it downloads to the user's computer.

Commercial software is often a type of freemium software, meaning that basic features are available free of charge, but a user can upgrade to unlock the full features by paying for a registration key, removing the limitations from the free or trial version. Some commercial software, such as Adobe Creative Cloud requires users to register the program to continue using it after 30 days.

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