SaaS Licensing & White-Label Glossary

Software delivered over the internet on a subscription.

SaaS is software hosted by its provider and accessed by customers over the internet, usually for a recurring subscription fee. Because the vendor keeps operating the platform, a SaaS product can be licensed to other companies without shipping any hardware or installers — which is what makes licensing and white-labeling practical.

Paying for the right to use software you do not own.

A software license is a contract granting permission to use a product under defined terms: how many users or customers, in which territory, for how long, and whether the code may be modified or resold. Licensing transfers usage rights, not ownership of the intellectual property.

Rebrand someone else's product as your own.

A white-label deal lets you sell an existing product under your own brand name, logo, domain and pricing. The original builder stays invisible to your customers. Scope varies: a partial rebrand may keep vendor branding in emails or the footer, while a full rebrand removes every trace of the original vendor.

You sell the vendor's product, usually under their brand.

A reseller distributes a vendor's product to end customers, earning a margin or commission. Unlike white-labeling, the product typically keeps the vendor's brand. Reseller agreements are faster to start and lower risk, but you build less brand equity of your own.

Often used interchangeably with white-label.

Private label describes a product manufactured or built by one company and sold exclusively under another company's brand. In SaaS the term is used almost interchangeably with white-label, though private label usually implies a single exclusive brand partner rather than many.

Embedding another product inside your own.

OEM (original equipment manufacturer) licensing lets you embed a third-party product as a component inside your own platform. Your customers buy your product; the embedded technology is a hidden dependency covered by the OEM agreement.

You buy the codebase outright.

The seller transfers the full source code and, usually, the IP rights so you can host, modify and extend the product yourself. Highest upfront cost and highest control; you also inherit all maintenance, security and hosting responsibility.

You pay a percentage of what you earn.

Instead of a large upfront fee, you pay the seller an agreed percentage of the revenue generated with the product. Low entry risk for buyers testing a new market, and aligned incentives for sellers — but total cost can exceed a flat license if you scale fast.

A fixed monthly, annual or one-time payment.

A predictable recurring or one-time amount for the licensed rights, independent of how many customers you sign. Easiest to model financially and the most common structure for white-label SaaS deals.

Cost scales with the number of users.

Pricing is tied to the number of named users, seats or accounts using the software. Common in B2B SaaS. Confirm whether seats mean your customers' end users or only your internal team, because the difference can change the economics entirely.

Nobody else can license it in your lane.

An exclusivity clause prevents the seller from licensing the same product to competitors within a defined territory, industry vertical or timeframe. Exclusive deals command a premium and usually carry minimum revenue or minimum payment commitments.

Where you are allowed to sell.

Territory clauses define the geographic markets in which you may market and sell the licensed product. A regional license is cheaper; a worldwide license is broader but costs more and is harder to obtain exclusively.

Monthly and annual recurring revenue.

MRR is the predictable subscription revenue a product generates each month; ARR is the annualised figure. Buyers use both to sanity-check a seller's traction claims and to project the payback period on a licensing deal.

Who legally owns the software.

IP covers the copyright, trademarks and trade secrets in a product. In licensing, IP stays with the seller and you receive usage rights. In a source code sale or acquisition, IP ownership can transfer — always confirm in writing which of the two is happening.

Rights that never expire.

A perpetual license grants indefinite usage rights, often for a single upfront payment. Support, updates and hosting are usually billed separately, so a perpetual license is not the same as a perpetual maintenance commitment.

Your right to pass rights on to others.

Sublicensing permission lets you grant licensed rights onward to your own customers or partners. Critical for agencies and resellers building multi-tenant offerings — without it, each of your customers may technically need their own agreement with the vendor.

Shared infrastructure vs a dedicated instance.

In a multi-tenant setup all customers share one application instance with logical data separation. Single-tenant gives each customer a dedicated instance, which is easier to customise and rebrand deeply but costs more to operate.

A safety net if the vendor disappears.

A neutral third party holds a copy of the source code and releases it to you if defined triggers occur, such as the vendor going out of business or failing to meet support obligations. Common in enterprise licensing of business-critical software.

Guaranteed uptime and response times.

An SLA sets measurable commitments for availability, support response and incident resolution, plus the remedies if they are missed. If you resell under your own brand, your customer-facing SLA should never promise more than the vendor's SLA to you.

Getting the product into your control.

The transfer process after a deal closes: repository access, environment variables, domains, DNS, third-party accounts, documentation and a support window from the seller. Define it in writing before payment, not after.

Verifying claims before you pay.

Independent checks on code quality, security, dependencies, revenue evidence, churn, customer contracts and IP ownership. LicenseSaaS does not verify listings or sellers, so due diligence is entirely the buyer's responsibility.