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VST 3 Licensing

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This developer use case guide will help you to decide which VST 3 licensing model to choose. The VST 3 SDK has new Usage Guidelines to follow for all licensing models, please read them carefully!

Steinberg VST usage guidelines

Whenever VST® is used or the SDK has been used to create a product or the SDK is included (Open-source GPLv3 case), it is required to add the reference to Steinberg by using the VST compatible logo as supplied by Steinberg. Included in the VST 3 SDK, the VST compatible logo can be found in the folder VST_SDK/VST3_SDK/vst3_doc/artwork.

What are the licensing options for VST 3?

You can choose between the Proprietary Steinberg VST 3 or the Open-source GPLv3 license (dual-license) depending on how you want to distribute your VST 3 plug-in/host. The License Agreement could be found here and in the VST 3 SDK package.

Which files fall under which license?

All files describing the VST 3 interface, except VST 2 files, located in the folder "pluginterfaces" of the SDK, fall under the dual-license described previously.

Developer use cases (FAQs)

The following use cases support you to choose the right license.