Pricing

Priced by what you produce, not how many computers you own

Two tiers at launch. Three ways to pay. Additional Production Licences are separate, so a second machine never forces you into a bigger edition.

Every subscription includes one Production Licence.

Core

Save 45%

Road-use plate creation and printing

£79/year

Billed once for twelve months.

£64.88 a year less than Monthly Flex.

Billed once for twelve months. Renews annually at the price notified to you at least 30 days beforehand.

What you get

Complete road-use plate designer
Full plate format library — oblong, shortened, square, motorcycle, import, trailer
Road-use character and layout rules enforced before print
Supplier and British Standard footer markings
Printer profiles, X/Y and scale calibration, test print wizard
Dual-printer front and rear pair printing
Print queue, local history and reprint
Local project saving, templates, backup and restore
One Production Licence included

Most complete

Essential

Save 38%

Core plus show plates and signs

£149/year

Billed once for twelve months.

£90.88 a year less than Monthly Flex.

Billed once for twelve months. Renews annually at the price notified to you at least 30 days beforehand.

Everything in Core, plus

Everything in Core
Dedicated Show Plate workspace — custom spacing, fonts, colours and effects
Backgrounds, logos, graphics, decorative borders and layer control
Dedicated Sign workspace with a free canvas
Text, shapes, images, SVG import, QR codes and barcodes
Guides, grid, snapping, align and distribute
Bleed, safe areas, crop marks and page tiling
Production PDF, high-resolution raster and supported vector export
One Production Licence included

Not sure which tier you need? Compare them side by side or ask us. You can move from Core to Essential at any time and only pay the difference.

01Production Licences

Your tier is not your computer count

The tier decides what the software can do. Production Licences decide how many computers can print from it. Keeping those separate means a second machine never forces you into features you do not need — a Production Licence costs the same whichever tier you are on.

Work out your Production Licences

Additional Production Licences cost the same whichever tier you are on, because a second computer is another production endpoint in the same business, not a second subscription.

Tier

Payment option

Additional Production Licences

Need more than ten? Ask for a partner or enterprise quote.

Your configuration

Plate Software Essential: £149
+1 Production Licence: £79

Total£228

per year · no VAT charged

2 computers

can produce final printable output

Shared renewal date

Licences added part way through a term are charged pro rata and renew together with your subscription. No stray renewal dates.

Transfers, not repurchases

Move a licence to a new computer yourself, twice in any 30 days. The old machine is deactivated first. Genuine hardware failures are handled by support.

Not a user seat

Multiple staff can use the same activated computer. You are licensing production endpoints, not people.

02Compare

Exactly what is in each tier

Core is a complete road-use plate production product, not a deliberately weakened version of Essential. The difference is show plates, signs and creative export.

Feature comparison between the Core and Essential tiers
Capability	Core	Essential
ProductWhat each tier is for.
Road-use number plates	Included	Included
Show plates	Not included	Included
Signs	Not included	Included
Production Licences includedOne per subscription, on every tier	Included	Included
Additional Production Licence packsPriced the same whichever tier you are on	Included	Included
Windows desktop application	Included	Included
Windows desktop applicationWindows 10 and 11, 64-bit	Included	Included
Local project saving	Included	Included
Local backup and restore	Included	Included
Automatic updates	Included	Included
Customer records, documents and compliance workflowPlanned for the future Professional tier	Not included	Not included
Orders, inventory and trade accountsPlanned for the future Business tier	Not included	Not included
Customer web applicationNot part of the launch release on any tier	Not included	Not included
Road plate creationCore is a complete road-use production product, not a cut-down Essential.
Standard oblong plates	Included	Included
Shortened supported formats	Included	Included
Square and 4x4 formats	Included	Included
Motorcycle formats	Included	Included
Import formats	Included	Included
Trailer formats where applicable	Included	Included
Oversized supported formats	Included	Included
Hex road-use templates	Included	Included
Lipped and shaped supported templates	Included	Included
Front only, rear only, or a matched pair	Included	Included
Road-use character rules	Included	Included
Supplier and footer markings	Included	Included
British Standard marking configuration	Included	Included
Permitted identifiers and flags	Included	Included
Green flash	Included	Included
Adjustable constrained border	Included	Included
Pre-printed flag media mode	Included	Included
Raised-character layout and guide support	Included	Included
Road-use validation before print	Included	Included
Saved road plate projects and templates	Included	Included
Printing and calibrationDirect plate production is identical on both tiers. The export difference exists because Essential adds creative workflows where a production file is a normal requirement.
Direct printing	Included	Included
Print preview	Included	Included
Multiple printer profiles	Included	Included
Front and rear printer assignment	Included	Included
Dual-printer pair mode	Included	Included
X and Y calibration	Included	Included
Scale calibration	Included	Included
Rotation and mirror controls	Included	Included
Test print and calibration wizard	Included	Included
Print queue	Included	Included
Local print history and reprint	Included	Included
Copy quantity	Included	Included
Supported thermal workflows	Included	Included
Supported laser and LED workflows	Included	Included
High-resolution creative PDF export	Not included	Included
High-resolution creative raster export	Not included	Included
Supported vector export	Not included	Included
Show plates
Dedicated Show Plate mode	Not included	Included
Custom spacing	Not included	Included
Custom fonts	Not included	Included
Multiple text elements	Not included	Included
Custom colours	Not included	Included
Background images	Not included	Included
Logos and graphics	Not included	Included
Decorative borders	Not included	Included
Text effects	Not included	Included
Custom dimensions	Not included	Included
Layer controls	Not included	Included
Reusable show templates	Not included	Included
Signs
Dedicated Sign workspace	Not included	Included
Custom canvas size	Not included	Included
Multiple text boxes	Not included	Included
Shapes and lines	Not included	Included
Images and logos	Not included	Included
SVG import	Not included	Included
Layers, lock and visibility	Not included	Included
Align and distribute	Not included	Included
Guides, grid and snapping	Not included	Included
QR codes	Not included	Included
Barcodes	Not included	Included
Bleed and safe areas	Not included	Included
Crop marks	Not included	Included
Basic page tiling	Not included	Included
Sign templates	Not included	Included
Production PDF export	Not included	Included
High-resolution raster export	Not included	Included
Platform, support and licensing
Offline entitlement	Included	Included
Device transfer	Included	Included
Upgrade without reinstalling	Available	Already the top launch tier
Software updates	Included	Included
Rules and template updates	Included	Included
Printer profile updates	Included	Included
Email support route	Included	Included
Knowledge base	Included	Included
Roadmap area in the application	Included	Included
Partner-supplied licence support	Included	Included

03Questions

Pricing questions, answered in full

What is a Production Licence?

Permission for one Windows computer to create final printable output. It belongs to your business rather than a named employee, so any of your staff can use that computer. Every subscription includes one, and you can add more at any time.

Can I cancel the 12-month plan paid monthly?

No. That option is a twelve-month agreement whose payments are collected monthly, and the full term is payable. If you want the freedom to stop at any point, choose Monthly Flex instead, which is a rolling monthly subscription with no minimum term.

Can the price change while I am subscribed?

Not during a term you have already paid for. At renewal you renew at the price published at that time, and we will tell you at least 30 days before any change applies.

Can I upgrade from Core to Essential later?

Yes. Checkout calculates the pro-rata difference, your entitlement refreshes, and the Show Plate and Sign workspaces appear. There is no reinstall and no printer setup to repeat.

What happens if I stop subscribing?

Your local files stay on your machine and remain openable and editable. What stops is new production output. Nothing you have made is taken away or held hostage.

Does the software need to be online?

No. Plate Software works entirely offline — there is no activation server and no periodic check, so an internet outage never stops you working. You only need a connection to receive your key by email and to download the application.

Is macOS supported?

Not yet. Plate Software is a Windows application, and there is no macOS build. If you work on a Mac, do not buy it expecting to run it — that is the one incompatibility we cannot solve for you.

Is this DVLA-approved software?

No, and no software is. Plate Software is designed for UK number plate production and supports road-use layouts and BS AU 145e production workflows, but the material, printer, process, markings and finished plate all matter. Responsibility for the finished plate rests with the manufacturing business.

Do I have to buy my blanks or printers from you?

No. Bought direct, Plate Software is supplier-neutral, with no forced consumables contract. If you receive your licence through a supplier partner instead, any commercial conditions attached to it are the partner's, and they are clearly identified as such.

Buying for more than a handful of businesses?

Resellers, sponsoring suppliers and OEM partners are priced separately.

Partner programme