Readium LCP
LCP Pricing
In this section, we’ll detail the Readium LCP pricing model.
Key Points
To use the LCP DRM, an organisation must be a member of EDRLab. EDRLab membership fees are listed on the Why Should I Become a Member page.
The LCP pricing structure is dual:
- A “revenue-based” pricing model, which is the model on which LCP has historically been based. This tiered pricing structure is determined by the client organisation’s annual gross revenue from digital publications, i.e., related to ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, etc., distributed with or without DRM, and if DRM is applied, with LCP or another DRM. For non-profit organizations, the annual budget related to digital publications serves as a reference.
- A “volume-based” pricing model, which addresses LCP Server fees only, for organisations that generate more than 1 million LCP licenses per year. This variant has been created to adapt the model to companies distributing LCP licenses on behalf of large libraries and e-book vendors.
Important Notes
- Annual Fee Structure: All listed fees are charged annually as of the date of contract signature and are exclusive of taxes.
- Selection of one of the two approaches: In case the revenue-based and volume-based calculations end up with different fee levels, the highest fee level will be selected.
- Discount for Low-income Countries: We are committed to accessibility and affordability for companies in low-income countries. Members in Class A and B belonging to countries listed in our official list of low-income countries receive a 50% rebate on the total certification cost.
- Predictable updates: Prices are reviewed every two years by the EDRLab board, with changes announced six months before their implementation in January of the following year. Future fee increases should not exceed inflation rates in Europe.
- Benefits reversed to open-source and open standards: the benefits we obtain from LCP services are reinvested in our development of Readium toolkits, Thorium Reader applications, and our work on digital publishing standard formats (EPUB 3, Web Publications).
The following sections outline the annual fees that have been applied to new LCP integrations starting in March 2025, and to existing customers from January 2026.
Glossary
- Server: LCP is integrated server-side, to generate LCP licenses, using or not the open-source Readium LCP Server.
- Mobile app: LCP is integrated in an iOS or Android application, using or not the open-source Readium Mobile toolkit.
- Hardware: LCP is integrated in an e-reader (e-ink reader) or a similar hardware device (e.g., glasses). Note that annual fees are waived for makers of specialized hardware dedicated to people with disabilities, e.g., Braille notepads.
- Thorium Desktop fork: LCP is integrated in a GitHub fork of Thorium Desktop.
- Thorium Desktop Profile: A Custom Profile is generated for the organisation.
Revenue-base pricing
| Class | Server | Mobile app (iOS or Android) |
Hardware | Thorium Desktop fork |
Thorium Desktop profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A – 0-300K€ | 1,200 | 300 | 500 | 1,500 | 1,000 |
| B – 300K to <1M€ | 1,800 | 600 | 750 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| C – 1 to 5M€ | 3,000 | 900 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| D – 5 to 10M€ | 6,000 | 1,200 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| E – 10 to 15M€ | 12,000 | 1,800 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| F – 15 to 20M€ | 18,000 | 3,600 | 6,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| G – 20 to 30M€ | 36,000 | 4,800 | 8,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| H – 30 to 100M€ | 60,000 | 9,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 |
| I – > 100M€ | tbn | tbn | tbn | tbn | tbn |
All prices are in €, before VAT.
Volume-based pricing
For organisations generating more than one million LCP licences per year, EDRLab applies a specific model for the LCP Server fee. The number of licenses generated during the previous year is reported to EDRLab in batches of 10,0000 licenses. Each batch is valued at 100€ before VAT, which corresponds to a 0,01 € transaction cost. The use of the license (acquisitions or library lending) does not come into play. If the revenue-based and volume-based calculations yield different fee levels, the highest fee level is selected.
Organisations generating more than ten million LCP licences per year should contact EDRLab for a negotiated contract.
Additional Applications
This applies to extra applications, built and deployed by the same organisation after the first one has been fully certified:
- Mobile applications: 20% of the base fee per additional application or a Class A fee, whichever is higher.
- Hardware: No additional charges per extra device.
- Thorium Custom Profile: 20% of the base fee per additional profile or a Class A fee, whichever is higher.
- Thorium fork: 50% of the base fee per additional fork.
Other Readium projects
Thorium Reader
The reference; a free & ad-free desktop reading app, LCP compliant, OPDS friendly, fully accessible, multilingual, multi-formats.
Readium Mobile
The mobile reading engine every developer should use to develop great EPUB reading apps.
contact@edrlab.org
+33 1 83 64 41 34
