FileMaker is now Claris FileMaker, and the licensing model changed substantially from the boxed “FileMaker Pro Advanced” era that most search results still describe. If you are looking at an old version, the important thing to understand is what the current model asks of you before you build anything new on it.
Claris licenses per user per year with a minimum number of seats, and quotes vary by region and volume. Get current figures for your region from claris.com/filemaker.
How the licensing actually works
- Annual, per user. There is no perpetual licence in the current model the way there was with FileMaker Pro Advanced. You are renting seats.
- There is a minimum seat count. This is the detail that surprises solo developers and very small teams — you may have to buy more seats than you have people.
- The platform is bundled. A licence covers the desktop app, FileMaker Server, FileMaker Go on iOS and WebDirect browser access, rather than being sold as separate products.
- “Advanced” is gone as a separate SKU. The developer tools that used to justify the Advanced upgrade are now part of the standard product.
The question to answer before you commit
FileMaker’s strength is that one person can build a working, deployable database application very quickly, with a native iOS client for free. Its weakness is lock-in: a FileMaker solution is not portable. Migrating away later means rebuilding, not exporting. So the honest question is not “what does a seat cost” but “what does this cost over five years, including the seats I will have to add as the team grows” — and whether a web stack or a no-code platform would serve the same need with less lock-in.
The legitimate free routes
- Free trial — Claris offers a time-limited trial of the full platform from claris.com.
- FileMaker Go — the iOS client is free from the App Store. You still need a licensed host, but the devices themselves do not cost extra.
- Education and non-profit pricing — Claris runs discounted academic and charitable tiers, and they are a substantial reduction rather than a token one.
Softwares Academy does not host or distribute installers, licence keys or activation tools. If a site offers a paid application as an archive with a password, that is not a licence.
Alternatives worth considering
- Airtable or Notion databases — far quicker for small team workflows, though weaker on complex relational logic and offline use.
- Microsoft Access with SharePoint or Power Apps — the natural route if your organisation is already on Microsoft 365.
- LibreOffice Base with PostgreSQL or MySQL — free, no lock-in, but you are building more of it yourself.
- Baserow or NocoDB — open source, self-hostable Airtable-style platforms; the strongest option if avoiding lock-in is the priority.
- A plain web application — if the solution will outlive the team that built it, a conventional stack is often cheaper over five years than per-seat licensing.
