Comparing Synergy Business Essential, Advanced and Enterprise

Checked 15 October 2026.

Synergy Business comes in three editions. Essential is for a team that installs and runs Synergy 1 or Synergy 3 itself. Advanced adds policy controls, builds for older systems and hands-on help from our engineers with rolling it out. Enterprise is for site-wide or volume deployment, licensed by agreement rather than by serial key, with custom builds and a custom SLA. Buy Essential or Advanced from the business page, or start a free 14-day trial there (it needs a card); for a longer trial, starting at 30 days, contact our business team. Enterprise is arranged with our business team: Synergy Business and Enterprise

Not sure which fits, or need a quote, a demo or a longer trial? Contact our business team

Not sure whether you need a Business License at all? See: Do I need a Business or a Personal License?

Trials

Essential and Advanced come with a free 14-day trial, started from the business page with a card. For a longer trial, starting at 30 days, with no card and no obligation, contact our business team. Enterprise trial licenses and demos are arranged on request. The steps, and how to cancel: Start or cancel a Synergy Business free trial

Every edition includes

• Both Synergy 1 and Synergy 3, on Windows, macOS and Linux. Synergy 1 is the mature, enterprise-ready build we recommend for business; Synergy 3 is the easier, everyday option. Use whichever fits each computer.
• Unlimited computers in one setup.
• Copy and paste text, HTML and images between computers, and hotkeys to switch computers or send keystrokes.
• TLS encryption, on by default: TLS 1.2 is the enforced minimum, TLS 1.3 is used where both computers support it, and older protocol versions are disabled. Each computer generates its own RSA certificate (2048-bit or 4096-bit), and computers verify each other by SHA-256 certificate fingerprint, so there is no certificate authority to run. The full picture, written for security reviews: Security and Architecture Overview
• Offline, air-gapped activation at no extra cost. On Essential and Advanced it's challenge-based: you enter a code on our website for each server computer and get one back. Enterprise has no activation at all, since it's licensed by agreement: no serial key and no challenge. How it works: How license activation works in Synergy 1 and Synergy 3
• Priority support by phone, video and remote session: a 4-hour response for normal-priority tickets within UK business hours (9am to 5pm). Out-of-hours calls are available when scheduled in advance, and emergency call-out options are available subject to contract. Enterprise has a custom SLA.
• Business purchasing: quotes, purchase orders, invoicing with payment terms, VAT invoices, reseller coordination and a dedicated account manager. For procurement and security teams: vendor onboarding, data processing terms, security review, risk assessment and compliance support, and completed vendor questionnaires (HECVAT among them), with a custom contract or MSA for orders of 10 seats or more, as a rider or on your own paper.
• Seats that aren't tied to a named person unless you ask for that: a seat can be in one user's name or shared, and reassigned freely within the seats you've paid for.

What each edition adds

Custom builds and bespoke features are an Enterprise feature; on Essential and Advanced we can make exceptions, so ask your account manager.

Synergy Business Essential

Everything listed above, for a team that installs and manages Synergy 1 or Synergy 3 itself. Licensed per seat, as a yearly business subscription or as a perpetual license.

Synergy Business Advanced

Everything in Essential, plus:

• Policy-based controls, in Synergy 1: a locked settings file (Synergy.locked.ini in the system-wide settings folder) that Synergy 1 reads on every launch, applying each setting it holds and greying out its control, so a standard user can't change it. It locks TLS encryption, the certificate, the key length, client certificate checking, clipboard sharing and the clipboard size limit, and any other setting by its key. Synergy 3 has no locked settings file, so choose Synergy 1 where settings must be enforced. The file, its keys and where it goes: Lock down Synergy 1 settings so users cannot change them
• Rollout and configuration help from our engineers. This is a service, not a management console: there is no central dashboard, and the apps are deployed and configured with your own tooling. We work with your IT team on the plan and the details: silent installs through Group Policy, SCCM, Intune or any tool that takes MSI arguments, the settings scope for shared computers, the screen layout as a text configuration file, the locked settings file and pre-seeded trusted fingerprints, so every computer comes up configured and nobody is asked to make a trust decision. The steps we work through: Deploy Synergy 1 or Synergy 3 across your organization, including silent install on Windows
• Custom LTS and legacy operating system support: when the current version doesn't run on a system still in its vendor's paid extended support, or on a legacy system, we build it for you. Which systems that covers: Operating system and hardware requirements
• Assisted TLS setup for your own certificates, also a service: where policy requires you to control the key material, our engineers help you roll out a certificate of your own to every computer and pre-seed the trusted fingerprints during provisioning. Computers still verify each other by fingerprint, so a certificate from your own authority earns no extra trust; this is for controlling the key material. What the files hold and where they live: Business & Enterprise Hardening Guide
• Activations beyond your seats, on a yearly business subscription: activations are normally per seat, and a server activation beyond the seat count is refused. On Advanced it is never refused; we true up the seat count at your yearly renewal instead.

Synergy Enterprise

Everything in Advanced, for site-wide or volume deployment. Enterprise is perpetual only; there is no Enterprise subscription.

• Keyless offline deployment: licensed by agreement rather than enforced in the software, so there's no serial key, no activation and no per-device challenge.
• Zero telemetry: the phone-home features are removed, so nothing is sent.
• Bespoke feature development and custom builds.
• Site and volume licensing, with a custom service-level agreement.

Seats and activations

A seat covers one person running one server, the computer whose keyboard and mouse are shared. Client computers need no seat and never use an activation. For how activation works, its limit and how to free an activation, see: How license activation works in Synergy 1 and Synergy 3

Add seats any time, from your account page or by talking to us. If you'd rather have one license and one renewal date, we'll co-term your seats: one license, one renewal, with the difference pro-rated. For a business subscription bought on our website, see: Manage your Synergy Business subscription

Yearly or perpetual

Essential and Advanced are sold as a yearly business subscription or as a perpetual license; Enterprise is perpetual only. A yearly business subscription gets software updates and support throughout its term, and its license stops working when the term ends unless it renews. A perpetual license keeps working forever; software updates and support run for its term, and an optional yearly maintenance plan keeps them coming.

What business editions send us

Essential and Advanced activate once per computer and then send a daily usage report (the serial key, the app version, the operating system name and hashed machine identifiers), for license compliance only, so seat use can be reconciled at renewal. An offline key never sends it, and Enterprise sends nothing at all. The full details: Security and Architecture Overview