Guide · Licensing API
A dedicated licensing API for Swift and macOS apps
A licensing API issues, validates, and revokes entitlements separately from your payment processor. Here's what it covers, why DIY breaks, and how Keylight does it Apple-native.
Start FreeUpdated June 2026
A dedicated licensing API does one job: decide who’s allowed to run your software. Not payments — that’s Stripe’s job. Licensing. Keys, activations, offline checks, entitlements, revocation. It lives next to your payment processor, not inside it.
What a licensing API actually does
The work that’s easy to underestimate:
- issues license keys when someone pays;
- activates a device and counts it against a limit;
- verifies offline, so the app launches with no network;
- carries entitlements — which features, which tier — into the app;
- revokes on refund or chargeback;
- handles renewals and expiry.
None of it is exotic. All of it is fiddly, and all of it has edge cases that bite in production.
Why DIY licensing breaks
You can build this yourself. Most people who do regret the timing. The happy path is a weekend. The edge cases are the next three months: the customer offline on launch, the laptop that died and needs its seat back, the refund that has to actually revoke, the signature you have to get right or the whole thing is theater. It’s a real system pretending to be a small one. Migrating off a homemade setup is a whole category for a reason.
A dedicated licensing API, Apple-native
Most licensing APIs are language-agnostic — Keygen, Cryptlex — which means you wire the client yourself, in whatever language you’re in. Powerful, and more work.
Keylight takes the other approach for Apple apps: the API is there, but the Swift SDK is the point. checkOnLaunch(), switch on the state, done. Offline checks on Ed25519 leases, feature flags signed in, Stripe wired so a payment mints the license. It’s a dedicated licensing API with the Mac client already written. If you’re comparing the field, start with the best licensing platforms for macOS apps or the Keylight vs Keygen breakdown.
Where Keylight fits
Shipping a Mac or Swift app and want the licensing layer without building it? Keylight. Native Swift SDK, offline leases, Stripe-native minting, feature flags in the lease.
Plans start at $19/month, with a free tier. Wire Stripe, drop in the SDK, ship.
Frequently asked
What is a dedicated licensing API?+
A service that issues, validates, and revokes software licenses through an API, separate from your payment processor. It handles license keys, device activations, offline verification, and entitlements.
What's the best dedicated licensing API for Swift apps?+
Keylight is built Apple-native with a Swift SDK, offline Ed25519 leases, and Stripe-native minting. Keygen and Cryptlex are strong language-agnostic alternatives.
Is a licensing API better than building my own?+
For most indie developers, yes. The edge cases — offline verification, device limits, refund revocation, signed entitlements — are easy to get wrong and tedious to maintain.
Is there a Keygen alternative for Apple apps?+
Keylight is a Keygen alternative focused on Apple platforms: a native Swift SDK, offline leases, and Stripe wired in rather than bring-your-own-payments.
Start licensing your app today
Drop in the Swift SDK, point it at your dashboard, and sell paid apps in under a minute. Free forever tier included.
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