There has been confusion about how Synergy 1 and Synergy 3 relate to one another and how licensing works across the two versions. This post explains how the two products fit together and how licensing is structured.

TL;DR

• We tested a maintenance based licensing approach for a short period and later returned to the previous model.
• Personal licenses remain permanent and our products are not a subscription for personal customers.
• Synergy 3 does not replace Synergy 1 because Synergy 3 depends on it as a separate component.
• Synergy 1 is still under active development and is not a legacy product.

Why Synergy 3 exists

Synergy 3 was created for people who struggle to use the Synergy 1 GUI, which is highly manual. It provides guided setup, automatic discovery, configuration syncing, and a more modern interface that removes the need for manual setup. Synergy 3 required a new architecture to support config sync, automatic discovery, and modern onboarding. Its purpose is to simplify onboarding for users who would otherwise find Synergy 1 difficult to configure, not to replace the underlying engine or the licensing model that already existed.

The name 'Synergy 3' has also been a source of confusion because it implies a direct successor to Synergy 1. In reality it is a separate product that builds on the same engine rather than replacing it. The naming created the impression of a major version upgrade instead of a standalone layer with a unique purpose. Clearer naming at the time of launching Synergy 3 would have avoided much of the misunderstanding about compatibility, licensing, and long term support around Synergy 1. We decided to stick with the name Synergy 3 as not to cause further confusion, but we may decide to re-brand Synergy 3 in future if this continues to be a source of confusion.

Maintenance licenses

We also tried out a maintenance license model for a short period, but decided against it. The goal was to align with the wider software landscape where many similar products use maintenance based licensing. In practice it created confusion for customers who expected Synergy licensing to remain simple and predictable, so the model was removed for personal users. Synergy is not a subscription product for personal use. Synergy 3 does not require a Synergy 1 license. Personal licenses remain permanent.

Our Synergy Business and Synergy Enterprise products are separate and can be either subscription or perpetual depending on the agreement arranged with our business team. Our business and enterprise licensing does not affect personal licensing for either Synergy 1 or Synergy 3.

How it fits together

Synergy 1 is the core engine (in the context of Synergy 3, we call it "the Core"). It handles input sharing, network protocol behavior, and cross platform communication. Synergy 1 continues to be developed, maintained, supported, and updated. Most of the development happens through our open source upstream project Deskflow which we contribute to regularly. Deskflow, which is sponsored by Synergy, advances the engine, maintains compatibility across bleeding edge platforms (especially on Linux), and delivers improvements that are integrated downstream into commercial releases of Synergy.

Synergy 3 runs on top of Synergy 1, and uses it as its open core. It was created to provide enhanced configuration features, synchronization, simplified setup, and user interface improvements. It does not replace Synergy 1 or its engine. Synergy 3 includes the Synergy 1 engine internally, so it does not require customers to hold a separate Synergy 1 licence.

Licensing for Synergy 1 remains unchanged. Where lifetime access was originally provided for Synergy 1, those entitlements continue to apply. There is no planned end-of-life (EOL) date for Synergy 1. Synergy 3 does not modify Synergy 1 license terms, and using Synergy 3 does not affect ongoing access for Synergy 1.

The engine codebase has consistently been split between open source and proprietary layers. The core engine remains open source (with Deskflow being upstream). The commercial user interface in Synergy 3 is proprietary for now, but that may change. That structure supports stable long term development and ensures the core engine’s evolution remains open.

Synergy 1 is not a deprecated legacy product. Synergy 1 remains the foundational and actively maintained component of the stack. Synergy 3 adds new capabilities but builds upon and depends on the Synergy 1 engine.

Occasional operational issues have sometimes caused confusion about access or download availability. These issues stemmed from bugs in our new website, which have since been fixed, and not changes to licensing policy.

If you have any questions

We hope that this article helps to clear up understanding around our stack. In short, Synergy 1 is the core engine and Synergy 3 as the optional configuration layer. These products coexist and are both actively developed side-by-side.

Please always feel free to reach out to the team and ask any questions that you might have around our licensing model.