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Education

Welcome to LightBurn's educational resources. This section is still growing, so check back soon.

Why Use LightBurn

LightBurn works with a wide variety of laser cutters, allowing you and your students to design right in the software, import designs from other software you're already using, prepare designs to cut and engrave, and control supported lasers.

Our software is not a subscription and protects your students' privacy and personally identifiable information by never collecting it in the first place.

  • Once you buy a LightBurn license, your license is good forever. Your purchase includes one year of updates1.
  • LightBurn does not require user accounts, and does not collect sensitive user data.
  • LightBurn does not require an internet connection.

Licensing

A standard license comes with 3 seats – this means that with one license, you can run LightBurn on up to three computers. If you need more than that, you can purchase additional seats at a reduced price. If a computer is no longer in use, you can deactivate your license for that computer, freeing up the seat it was using for another computer.

Calculate the price with our quote calculator

Classroom-Friendly Licensing Setups

LightBurn offers two advanced licensing setup options intended for classrooms and other shared spaces. By using System Locked or Floating licenses, you can give access to more students than you have seats without having to use shared computer logins.

System Locked Floating
Summary A System Locked license is locked to the computer it's activated on2. Each seat is tied to a specific computer, but can be used by anybody who logs into that computer. This does not require a special license type. With a Floating license, instead of purchasing a seat for each computer you want to use LightBurn with, you purchase as many seats as you want to be able to use at the same time and install it on as many computers as you want.
Seats to Purchase Purchase enough seats for the total number of computers you want to install LightBurn on. Purchase enough seats for the total number of users that will run LightBurn at the same time.
Use Case Ideal when you don't have a reason to install LightBurn on extra computers, or need to run it without internet access. Ideal when you have significantly more computers that might be used with LightBurn than will be used at any particular time, for instance with multiple computer labs or student-issued computers.
Setup Can be set up by anybody with admin rights on the computer, following our directions. Generally set up by your IT department, folowing our directions.
Internet Connectivity No internet connection required3. Internet connection required so your computers can check licenses in and out from our license server.
Number of Seats No minimum number of seats, add as many as suits your needs. Minimum of 10 seats. When you use our Quote Calculator , calculating for 10+ seats will generate links for purchasing either a regular or floating license.

Privacy, Security, and Accessibility

Privacy, security, and accessiblity are always important topics, and privacy is particularly important when working with minors. You can find answers to frequently asked questions from our educational customers below.

How is student data protected?

LightBurn does not manage or collect sensitive data from end users. See below for more information on what data LightBurn does collect for purposes of purchasing and managing software licenses.

Is LightBurn a cloud service? Does it require an internet connection?

LightBurn is a software package that runs entirely on the local computer. An internet connection is not required, except to activate a free trial.

Does LightBurn utilize an internet connection in any way?

If available, LightBurn utilizes an internet connection for three purposes:

  • License activation and deactivation. If this is not an option, you can complete an offline activation instead.
  • Checking for updates to the software and built-in links. This check takes place once a day when the software is opened, and accesses LightBurn's servers as well as a publicly accessible GitHub repository.
  • If you choose to use the Web Integration for Cuttle, an internet connection is used to connect to Cuttle. LightBurn does not receive or send any additional information through the web integration.

LightBurn does not connect to the internet for any other purposes.

How does LightBurn use, collect, and share personal information?

At present, we do not collect or process personal information considered to be "Sensitive Information", "Sensitive Personal Information", or "special category data" in connection with our services.

For customers who license our software or make other purchases, we collect the following information:

  • Name and contact information, including company affiliation.
  • Order information.
  • Payment information, including credit card account or bank account and routing information.

We use this information for the following purposes:

  • To process payments and generate license keys.
  • Service analysis, security, and administration.

Information is collected directly from the individual, and may be shared with our payment processor, our license key processor, and our sales tax remittance processor. It may also be shared with the following:

  • Processors/service providers: We share your personal information with third parties that provide services to us. We engage these kinds of third parties with contracts that require them to use your personal information only for the purpose of delivering the services for which we have engaged the third party and as required by law. These kinds of third parties provide website hosting, business, professional, administrative, or technical support functions for us, such as payment processing, billing, data storage, quality assurance, and marketing.
  • Legal compliance recipients: We disclose personal information to the courts, the government, law enforcement agencies, litigants, and similar recipients when required by law.
  • Successors: We may disclose personal information associated with a part of our business to a buyer, potential buyer, or other successor to our business.
Where do you store data?

Your personal information will be stored and processed in the United States, where our servers are located. If we transfer personal information to the United States from another jurisdiction, we will do so in a way that complies with applicable legal requirements.

Does LightBurn back up the software configuration?

Yes, LightBurn's preferences are automatically backed up regularly. All backups are saved to the local computer. Read more in our documentation.

Does LightBurn provide regular alerts for software updates?

Yes. If an internet connection is available, LightBurn checks for updates on a daily basis and will notify users of an update when available.

Does LightBurn require any third party agreements?

As of May 14, 2026, there are no additional terms and agreements required for use of Third Party Software or Components in order to use LightBurn.

Frequently Requested Documents

These are some of the most requested documents from our educational customers. If you need additional documents, please contact support .

HECVAT

VPAT

W-9

Tax-Exempt Status

To request tax-exempt status:

  • Create an account on our web store. Use the email you'll use for the actual purchase.
  • Email support from the email you signed up with, requesting tax-exemption. Include documentation to show your tax-exempt status.
  • Once given tax-exempt status, you'll be able to purchase on our website without being charged tax.

  1. Your LightBurn license key will keep working after your update period expires, but only for versions of LightBurn that were released before the end of your update period. If you want to update to newer versions, you don't need to buy a whole new license – you just need to purchase another year of updates . ↩

  2. You can still deactivate the seat if you're no longer using this computer with LightBurn, freeing up the seat for use with another computer. ↩

  3. Without an internet connection, you will not have the built-in Cuttle integration, automatic checks for software updates, and one click access to the help pages by pressing F1 on the LightBurn UI. ↩