Licensing & Activation
Private beta — free
Colourlab Ai 4 is currently in private beta and is free to use for the duration of the beta. There is no payment required, and there is no traditional license key to enter — see First-time sign-in and activation below for the beta flow.
When public beta opens, this page will be updated with the full activation flow for licensed installs.
For Colourlab Ai 3 users
If you hold a Colourlab Ai 3 license, your upgrade to Colourlab Ai 4 will be free.
One important detail: Colourlab Ai 4 ships first as a Pro version. A Creator version aimed at a broader audience is planned for release later in 2026.
If you want early access to Colourlab Ai 4 as part of your free upgrade, you'll need to upgrade your Colourlab Ai 3 license to Pro first. Once you're on Colourlab Ai 3 Pro, the upgrade to Colourlab Ai 4 Pro is free.
We'll publish the step-by-step instructions for both the Colourlab Ai 3 → Pro upgrade and the Colourlab Ai 3 Pro → Colourlab Ai 4 Pro free upgrade on this page when the public beta launches. Registered Colourlab Ai 3 users will also receive an email when it's time.
Pro and Creator
Colourlab Ai 4 ships first as Colourlab Ai 4 Pro. A Colourlab Ai 4 Creator edition — aimed at a broader audience with a tighter feature set — is planned for release later in 2026. Creator pricing and the Pro-vs-Creator feature comparison will be added to this page when Creator is announced.
The three license options below are for Colourlab Ai 4 Pro.
Free trial
- 15 days
- Available to new users and existing users
- Full Pro feature set during the trial
Subscription
- $49 / month or $490 / year (~17% off the monthly rate)
- All Colourlab Ai 4 Pro features
- Includes 800 cinematography analysis credits per month — see Cinematography Analysis Credits below
- Latest version always available
Perpetual license
- $980 — one-time purchase
- All Colourlab Ai 4 Pro features at the version you purchased
- Includes 800 cinematography analysis credits per month, ongoing
- Free upgrade to Colourlab Ai 5 when it ships
Cinematography Analysis Credits
Colourlab Ai 4 ships with two tiers of reference analysis:
- Basic analysis — free, no credits required, runs on every reference image. Good for browsing the Reference Library and quick previews.
- Detailed cinematography analysis — credit-based. Required when the AI agent builds looks for you — if you're driving Colourlab Ai 4 with intent-driven look building, you're using detailed analysis.
Monthly credit allowance
| License | Monthly credits |
|---|---|
| Subscription | 800 |
| Perpetual | 800 |
| Free trial | 100 |
Buying additional credits
Need more credits in a given month? Buy a top-up pack of 800 credits for $19 from your account. Purchased credits never expire — they roll over indefinitely.
New references over time
Your Reference Library will keep growing — we ship new references regularly so your inspiration pool stays fresh. New references are downloaded automatically the next time Colourlab Ai 4 connects to the internet.
Switching between license types
If you want to switch — subscription to perpetual, monthly to annual, anything in between — contact our team and we'll help you make the change.
Education
Educational institutions teaching Colourlab Ai 4 as part of a curriculum qualify for special educational pricing. If you want to equip a teaching lab or build Colourlab Ai 4 into a course, contact us to discuss.
Enterprise
Enterprise licensing includes the option for custom AI agent development tailored to your team's specific workflows. Contact us to talk through what you need.
Refund policy
15 days from the date of purchase, no questions asked. Subscriptions, perpetual licenses, and credit top-ups all qualify.
Worldwide availability
Colourlab Ai 4 is available worldwide, with pricing displayed and billed in your local currency.
First-time sign-in and activation
Colourlab Ai 4 requires an internet connection for first-time activation. During private beta, sign-in is Google only.
On first launch you'll see a Sign in to continue screen. From there:
- Click Sign in with Google and complete sign-in in the browser window that opens.
- Activate this installation when prompted.
- Done — you'll proceed into the onboarding flow (Reference Library download, Documents access, database setup).
That's it for first-run. Two clicks: sign in, activate.
Two activations per license
A single Colourlab Ai 4 license activates up to two computers at the same time — for example, a workstation in the suite and a laptop on the road.
To manage your sign-in or free up an activation — when retiring an old Mac, replacing a machine, or moving the license to a different computer — open Settings → License inside Colourlab Ai 4 and deactivate the installation you no longer need. That seat is then available to activate elsewhere.
Staying online
Colourlab Ai 4 must check in with our license servers at least once every two days to keep your license active.
You can absolutely work offline for short stretches — your projects remain accessible and most of the grading workflow runs fine without a connection. While offline, however:
- Detailed cinematography analysis is unavailable — it requires server-side compute.
- Basic analysis and previously-cached references continue to work normally.
Reconnect to the internet within 48 hours of going offline and your license re-validates automatically; detailed analysis comes back online as soon as the check succeeds.
Getting in touch
e-mail: help@colourlab.ai web: https://colourlab.ai/contact (opens in a new tab)
To switch license types, ask about education or enterprise pricing, or anything else licensing-related, contact our team via colourlab.ai (opens in a new tab).
Next
- Updating — keep your install current.