For admins: Add more seats to your multi-user or campus license

Who this article is for:

Administrators of an ATLAS.ti multi-user or campus license: The person who activates the license key, invites others to use the license, and manages license users in the ATLAS.ti account page my.atlasti.com (such as the head of a research team or department)

How to add seats to your multi-user license

If you want to accommodate more users in your license, you can add seats by purchasing an additional license and activating it under the same administrator account.

1. Purchase an additional ATLAS.ti license.
2. Go to https://my.atlasti.com and log in to your admin account.
3. Enter the new license key (R-...) in Activate Product.

ATLAS.ti automatically combines all activated licenses into a shared license pool connected to the administrator's account.

You do not need to reinvite users. All invited users will automatically be able to use the additional seats.

Only licenses of the same type can be combined

All licenses in the pool must be the same license type. Commercial licenses can only be combined with other commercial licenses, and educational licenses with educational licenses. Mixing commercial, educational, or government licenses is not supported.

Example

Your organization has a 20-user license. You purchase and activate an additional 10-user license under the same administrator account. Your organization will now have 30 seats available in total, and all invited users will automatically be able to use them.

Each license keeps its own expiration date. For example, you might have 2 licenses:

• A 20-seat license that expires on 2026-6-21
• A 10-seat license that expires on 2028-6-21

Seat availability over time:

• until 2026-6-21→ 30 seats available
• from 2026-6-21 to 2028-6-21→ 10 seats available
• after 2028-6-21 → no seats available

How to add seats to your Campus license

Campus licenses follow the same logic as multi-user licenses. You can increase the number of available seats by purchasing an additional campus license and activating it under the same administrator account.

For example, if you already have a 200-user campus license, adding another 100-user license will create a combined pool of 300 users.

Only campus licenses can be combined with other campus licenses. Mixing different license types is not supported.

The activation process is identical to multi-user licenses, and the seats are added to your existing pool right away. Our ATLAS.ti team will always assist with any technical details during setup when you are purchasing a new Campus License.

Unique Users Count for Campus Licenses:

Seats determine how many users can work in the software at the same time. A 500-seat license allows up to 500 concurrent users, as in standard Multi-User Licenses.

Unique users define how many individuals can access the license over a year. For campus licenses, this is set at five times the number of seats. For example:

A 500-seat license therefore allows up to 2,500 unique users annually.

A 200-seat license allows 1,000 unique users annually.

The annual reset affects only the unique user count. It does not remove users or change accounts, but clears the usage count. After the reset, users must access ATLAS.ti again to be counted in the new cycle. In practice, this means that inactive users from the previous year no longer occupy a place in the limit unless they return and actively use ATLAS.ti.

This approach allows institutions to provide broad access while keeping the active user pool aligned with actual usage.

Additional licenses increase both limits. For example, adding 100 seats raises capacity to 600 concurrent users and 3,000 unique users per year.

Common issues or mistakes

• Activating the new license under a different account

  The additional seats will not be added to your existing pool unless the license is activated under the same administrator account.

• Mixing license types

  Commercial, educational, and government licenses cannot be combined. If you try to activate a different type, it will not increase your available seats.

• Expecting users to need reinviting

  You do not need to invite users again. All existing users automatically benefit from the added seats.

• Confusion about expiration dates

  Each license keeps its own expiration date. This means your total number of seats can decrease over time as individual licenses expire.

• Seats still appear full after adding a license

  If all seats are still occupied, it may be because users are actively using the software. Seats are only freed when users close ATLAS.ti.

When to contact support

Contact ATLAS.ti support if:

• You activated a new license under the correct account, but the seats are not added
• You are unsure which account your licenses are linked to
• You accidentally activated a license under the wrong account