How does a floating licence work? What is the cheapest way to licence a team where not everyone uses the software at the same time? This guide explains how Rhino 3D floating licences work, when they save money, and how to set them up — either through McNeel's Cloud Zoo or a LAN Zoo licence server on your own network.

What Is a Floating Licence?

A floating licence (sometimes called a network or concurrent licence) is a pool of licences shared across a team. Instead of buying one licence per person, licences sit in a shared pool: when someone starts Rhino, a licence is checked out to them; when they close Rhino, the licence returns to the pool for the next user. It is the same model used across professional CAD and engineering software.

The contrast is a named (single-user) licence, which belongs to one person and is theirs whether or not they are actively using it. Floating works the other way around — you buy enough licences to cover your peak simultaneous usage, not your headcount.

How Rhino Floating Works: Cloud Zoo Teams

Rhino 3D delivers floating licences through Cloud Zoo Teams — McNeel's hosted licence pool. There is no licence server to install and nothing to maintain on your network:

  • Team setup: A team admin creates a Cloud Zoo Team from McNeel's Rhino Accounts portal (accounts.rhino3d.com) and invites members by email.
  • Adding licences: Licence keys are added to the team pool, where any team member can draw on them.
  • Day-to-day use: Members start Rhino and log in with their Rhino Account. A licence is checked out on launch and returns to the pool when Rhino closes.
  • Location-independent: The pool lives online, so it works from the office, from home, or across multiple sites — no VPN and no network configuration.
  • Internet requirement: Rhino validates periodically with a brief internet connection; you do not need to be online constantly.

LAN Zoo: The On-Network Option

Cloud Zoo is not the only way to float Rhino licences. LAN Zoo is McNeel's licence server software: it runs as a service on one Windows machine on your own network and holds your licence pool there. Workstations borrow a licence when Rhino starts and return it when Rhino closes — the same floating model, hosted on your side of the firewall rather than in McNeel's cloud.

  • No internet dependency: licence check-ins stay on your local network, which suits secure facilities and sites where cloud services are not permitted.
  • Free server software: the Zoo is free from McNeel — you provide one always-on machine to run it.
  • Same licence keys: the same perpetual keys work on either system, and you can move into a Cloud Zoo Team later without repurchasing.

Which setup suits your team depends on where it works. Cloud Zoo removes server administration entirely and follows your team between office, home, and multiple sites. LAN Zoo keeps everything on your network — the natural fit for single-site offices and labs that need licensing to work with no internet at all.

When Does a Floating Licence Make Financial Sense?

The financial case rests on one question: how many people use Rhino at the same time?

Example: A studio of 10 designers where no more than 6 are ever in Rhino simultaneously needs just 6 floating licences. That is a 40% saving against buying 10 named licences.

Floating makes sense when:

  • Usage is staggered — part-time users, or roles that only open Rhino occasionally
  • Peak concurrency (for example on deadline days) is well below headcount
  • The team is spread across locations, so the pool's anywhere-access is useful anyway

It makes less sense when:

  • Everyone uses Rhino all day, every day — you would need roughly one licence per person anyway, so named licences are simpler
  • A very small team (2–3 people) with overlapping usage — individual licences cost about the same and avoid team administration

A practical middle route: give full-time daily users their own named licences and add a small floating pool for occasional users.

How to Model Your Concurrent Usage

Before buying, estimate your peak concurrent usage:

  • Count how many team members are in Rhino at the same time on your busiest day, not an average day
  • Add a seat or two of headroom if the team is growing
  • Start conservative — additional licences can be added to the pool at any time as usage grows

Setting Up a Cloud Zoo Team: What's Involved

Setting up a Cloud Zoo Team is straightforward for anyone with basic IT experience:

  1. Create a team from McNeel's Rhino Accounts portal (accounts.rhino3d.com)
  2. Invite your team members by email
  3. Add your licence keys to the team pool
  4. Members log in with their Rhino Account the first time they start Rhino

CADWAX can advise on pool sizing and configuration as part of your licence purchase.

Frequently asked questions

We already run our licences on a local server — can we move to Cloud Zoo?
Yes — and if the local server setup is working for you, there is no obligation to switch: LAN Zoo remains fully supported. Existing licence keys can be moved into a Cloud Zoo Team at any time with nothing to repurchase. Contact our team and we will walk you through it.

Weighing up floating licences?

CADWAX supplies Rhino 3D single-user and concurrent-user licences, so you can match your licensing to how your team actually works.

Get in touch and we'll help you size the right licence pool for your team.

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