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Free trial and temporary license

You can try GroupDocs.Comparison without buying a license. The evaluation build is the same as the licensed build — applying a license simply removes the trial restrictions.

Evaluation mode limitations

Only the first two pages of each document are processed.
Trial badges are stamped on the top of every output page.

30-day temporary license

For unrestricted evaluation, request a free 30-day temporary license.

How to set a license

Note
The license should be set once per process, before any other GroupDocs.Comparison class is used. Calling set_license() multiple times in the same process is harmless but wasteful — subsequent calls are no-ops.

Set license from a file

The example guards the call with an os.path.exists check so the script fails loudly when the license file is missing instead of raising an opaque runtime error from the .NET layer.

set_license_from_file.py

import os
from groupdocs.comparison import License

def set_license_from_file():
    # Absolute path to the license file
    license_path = os.path.abspath("./GroupDocs.Comparison.Python.lic")

    if not os.path.exists(license_path):
        print(f"License file not found: {license_path}")
        print("Place a valid .lic file at that path or set GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH.")
        return

    # Instantiate License and apply the file
    license = License()
    license.set_license(license_path)
    print(f"License applied from: {license_path}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    set_license_from_file()

Set license from a stream

Same existence guard — if the .lic file isn’t there, the script exits cleanly with a human-readable message instead of failing inside the stream-open call.

set_license_from_stream.py

import os
from groupdocs.comparison import License

def set_license_from_stream():
    # Absolute path to the license file
    license_path = os.path.abspath("./GroupDocs.Comparison.Python.lic")

    if not os.path.exists(license_path):
        print(f"License file not found: {license_path}")
        print("Place a valid .lic file at that path or set GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH.")
        return

    # Open the license file as a binary stream and apply it
    with open(license_path, "rb") as license_stream:
        license = License()
        license.set_license(license_stream)
        print(f"License applied from stream: {license_path}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    set_license_from_stream()

Set license from the GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH environment variable

For applications that should pick up a license without code changes, set GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH and load it explicitly at startup:

export GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH="/path/to/GroupDocs.Comparison.Python.lic"

import os
from groupdocs.comparison import License

def apply_license_from_env():
    lic_path = os.environ.get("GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH")

    if not lic_path:
        print("GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH is not set — running in evaluation mode.")
        return

    if not os.path.isfile(lic_path):
        print(f"GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH points at a missing file: {lic_path}")
        return

    License().set_license(lic_path)
    print(f"License applied from: {lic_path}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    apply_license_from_env()

Metered license

A metered license is an alternative usage-based licensing model: you are billed on the volume of data processed rather than per developer. See the metered licensing FAQ for details.

Replace the placeholder public_key and private_key values with the credentials issued to you — the example guards against the placeholder values and exits with a message if they haven’t been edited:

set_metered_license.py

from groupdocs.comparison import Metered

PLACEHOLDER = "*****"

def set_metered_license():
    # Set your public and private metered keys
    public_key = PLACEHOLDER
    private_key = PLACEHOLDER

    if public_key == PLACEHOLDER or private_key == PLACEHOLDER:
        print("Metered keys must be set before running this example.")
        print("Edit public_key and private_key with the credentials from")
        print("https://purchase.groupdocs.com/ to enable metered licensing.")
        return

    # Instantiate Metered and apply the keys
    metered = Metered()
    metered.set_metered_key(public_key, private_key)

    # Inspect usage so far
    mb_processed = metered.get_consumption_quantity()
    credits_used = metered.get_consumption_credit()
    print(f"MB processed: {mb_processed}")
    print(f"Credits used: {credits_used}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    set_metered_license()

Pricing

Pricing information for GroupDocs.Comparison subscriptions is available at the pricing page.

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