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Token-based licensing: Value Based Licensing
Value Based Licensing (VBL) is Solid Edge's token-based system that allows you to purchase cost-effective license packages for on-demand access to add-on components — Generative Design Pro, simulation, electrical routing, and others — instead of buying a fixed license for each one. Introduced with Solid Edge 2023, it requires the Hybrid SaaS licensing model: without it, token packages cannot be activated.
When does it make sense, and when doesn't it?
It makes sense if several people on the team occasionally need different advanced features — electrical routing today, simulation tomorrow, generative design the week after — without any one person using them often enough to justify a dedicated license. It makes less sense if one person uses the same add-on every day: in that case, a fixed license may cost less over time.
This is a calculation that depends on the cost of the token package versus the cost of an individual license, neither of which is publicly listed — it needs to be worked out with an actual quote, not estimated from this page.
How does it work?
The mechanism is a shared pool: the company purchases a token package that is added to its Hybrid SaaS account, ready to use immediately after a license exchange through the Software Center, with no additional installation required. Each add-on component "costs" a defined number of tokens when launched; the network license manager shows how many tokens each add-on requires and how many remain in the pool. Unlike many software token systems, Solid Edge VBL tokens are not consumed: they return to the pool right after use, ready to be assigned to another user or another add-on.
A practical example
A company with four Solid Edge Classic Hybrid SaaS licenses and a 50-token package could simultaneously have one user creating a hydraulic pipeline with XpresRoute (6 tokens) while another opens a CATIA V5 file with the dedicated translator (21 tokens) — once finished, the tokens return to the pool for the rest of the day. It should be stated clearly: these numbers (6 and 21 tokens) come from a third-party article, not from an official Siemens price list I was able to verify directly — treat them as an illustrative example of how the system works, rather than as a guaranteed, up-to-date cost for those two specific add-ons.
Available token packages
Token packages of 25 or 50 are available, and can be expanded over time.
Which add-on components can you activate?
- Solid Edge Generative Design Pro — optimizes components for weight, strength, and material usage through generative algorithms, with support for conventional manufacturing processes as well
- Point Cloud Visualization — visualization and manipulation of large point cloud datasets, with clipping levels and density control
- Electrical Routing — electrical wiring planning
- PCB Collaboration, Advanced PMI — electrical wiring planning
- Simulation
- Solid Edge XpresRoute — piping routing
With the Designcenter Solid Edge 2026 release, additional components are added: Design Configurator Standard (automatically generates 3D models, drawings, and bills of materials from design rules and parameters), an expanded Model-Based Definition, Designcenter Solid Edge Inspector (automatic quality control documentation, with an advanced version that integrates CMM data), and Automatic Drawings (generates 2D drawings from component files through a guided, customizable workflow)
FAQ
My advice is to get in touch with us to check the detailed price list. One example is 6 tokens for XpresRoute and 21 for the CATIA V5 translator.
That's not what happens with individual use — the tokens return to the pool right after an add-on is used; they aren't consumed.
Yes, it can be split across different users or groups within the same company.
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