Check License Status and Feature Usage with rpk

To check the status of your license, use the rpk cluster license info command. Starting from version 24.2.8, this command provides a detailed overview of your Redpanda license, including its status, expiration, and a list of currently used enterprise features.

  1. Make sure that rpk is installed and configured to connect to your cluster’s Admin API endpoint.

  2. Get the details about your cluster’s license:

    rpk cluster license info

    The command displays the license information in a user-friendly format. The output depends on the license status. It can include the following:

    Field Description

    License status

    Indicates the current state of the license. Possible values include:

    • valid: The license is active and valid.

    • expired: The license has expired, and restrictions may apply to enterprise features.

    • not_present: No license is currently applied.

    License violation

    A boolean value that indicates whether enterprise features are being used in violation of the licensing terms:

    • true: Enterprise features are enabled without a valid license.

    • false: No violations are detected.

    If the license is in violation, you must either obtain a valid license or disable the enterprise features in use to ensure compliance. For instructions, see Disable Enterprise Features in Redpanda.

    Organization

    The organization for which the license was issued. Typically corresponds to the organization that purchased or activated the license.

    If the cluster is less than 30 days old, it has a built-in free trial license. In this case, the organization is set to Redpanda Built-In Evaluation Period.

    Type

    The type of license applied to the cluster:

    • enterprise: A full-featured enterprise license.

    • trial: A time-limited trial license.

    • free_trial: A 30-day trial license issued during initial deployment of a cluster.

    Expires

    The expiration date of the current license. After this date, the license status changes to expired.

    Enterprise features in use

    A list of enabled enterprise features in the cluster, such as tiered_storage, audit_logging, and partition_auto_balancing_continuous.

    Enterprise features in use are specific to Redpanda. They do not include enterprise features for Redpanda Connect or Redpanda Console.

If the license is within 30 days of expiration, a warning is logged. rpk displays warnings when you execute rpk commands that use the Admin API in the following scenarios:

  • License violation: When enterprise features are enabled without a valid license.

  • Trial expiration: When enterprise features are enabled and a trial license expires in less than 15 days.

  • Enterprise expiration: When enterprise features are enabled and an enterprise license is expired.

Examples

This section provides examples of what rpk reports depending on the license status.

Valid license:

LICENSE INFORMATION
===================
License status:              valid
License violation:           false
Enterprise features in use:  [partition_auto_balancing_continuous]
Organization:                Devex
Type:                        enterprise
Expires:                     Oct 11 2025

Without a license:

LICENSE INFORMATION
===================
License status:              not_present
License violation:           false
Enterprise features in use:  [partition_auto_balancing_continuous]

Expired license:

WARNING: The following enterprise features are being used in your Redpanda cluster: [partition_auto_balancing_continuous]. These features require a license.
LICENSE INFORMATION
===================
License status:              expired
License violation:           true
Enterprise features in use:  [partition_auto_balancing_continuous]

Change the output format

Different output formats can be useful depending on your scenario. For example, if you are writing scripts or automating license monitoring, you may prefer the JSON format, as it’s easily parsed by tools like jq or integrated into monitoring systems.

To get the license information in another format, use the --format flag:

rpk cluster license info --format <format>

Replace <format> with one of the available formats, such as json or yaml. For more formats, see rpk cluster license info.

Suggested reading