TeamViewer terminates perpetual licenses

TeamViewer sold perpetual licenses for versions 11 & 12 at prices ranging from $650 to over $5,000 depending on the tier, then announced in May 2025 that those versions would lose access to the company's relay servers on December 31, 2025.^[1] Without relay servers, the software can't connect to remote machines over the internet. It can only function over a Local Area Network. For remote access software, that removes the core reason anyone bought it.

A class-action lawsuit, Thorner v. TeamViewer US, Inc. (Case No. 9:26-cv-80214), was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on March 3, 2026.^[2]

TeamViewer SE is a German software company headquartered in Göppingen that makes remote desktop & remote support software.^[3] The company was founded in 2005.^[3] Through version 12, TeamViewer offered a perpetual licensing model: customers paid a one-time fee & could use the software indefinitely without recurring charges.

Perpetual license pricing was tiered. A single-computer Business license cost roughly $650, while multi-computer licenses ran around $1,300 CAD.^[4] Version upgrades (e.g., v10 to v12) cost an additional $639 or more.^[4]

In 2014, private equity firm Permira Holdings acquired TeamViewer & restructured the company toward recurring revenue.^[3] On September 25, 2019, TeamViewer conducted its IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at €26.25 per share.^[3] Under Permira's ownership, TeamViewer transformed into a pure SaaS provider; the company's revenue grew from approximately €100 million at acquisition to roughly €700 million by the time Permira completed its exit in September 2025.^[3]

TeamViewer 12, released in November 2016, was the last version widely sold with a perpetual license.^[5] TeamViewer's own end-of-support announcement describes versions 11 & 12 as "the last versions of TeamViewer that were not subscription based."^[1] The company no longer offers perpetual licenses.^[6] Perpetual licenses purchased before the switch were supposed to remain valid. Forum users in the TeamViewer community cited what they described as a 10-year server availability guarantee in their license agreements.^[7] Archived copies of the EULA from 2017, retrieved via the Wayback Machine, do not contain such a clause; Section 5 covers customer obligations & makes no mention of server availability.^[8] When versions 8 through 10 reached end-of-life in 2021, a TeamViewer staff member acknowledged a commitment to "10 years of server service from purchase year" for those license holders.^[9]

On May 26, 2025, TeamViewer announced that versions 11 & 12 would no longer be supported on the company's global network infrastructure after December 31, 2025.^[1] A brief grace period extended the final cutoff to January 7, 2026. After that date, these versions can only connect to machines on the same Local Area Network; internet-based remote sessions are permanently disabled because TeamViewer's relay servers stop routing traffic for those versions.

The practical effect is that the software's primary function is destroyed. Users who paid for perpetual licenses to access remote machines over the internet are left with a product that can only work if both machines are on the same network, which eliminates the need for remote access software in the first place. Users on the TeamViewer community forum reported that without server authentication, the software defaults to a "Free" mode on LAN, which drops connections due to "suspected commercial use" detection.^[1]

Unlike the earlier end-of-life actions for versions 8 through 10 (see below), TeamViewer did not offer complimentary access to a newer version. The only option presented was an "exclusive upgrade discount" to a subscription plan, which users described as paying a recurring annual fee for functionality they had already purchased outright.^[1]

This is not the first time TeamViewer has shut down relay servers for perpetual license holders. Versions 8, 9, & 10 were discontinued on September 15, 2021.^[9][10] After that date, those versions could no longer connect to remote machines outside the local network.

TeamViewer did provide a bridge for those users: all version 8 through 10 license holders received complimentary access to TeamViewer 15, corresponding to 10 years of server service from the purchase year.^[9][10] Version 8 holders received complimentary TeamViewer 13 access valid through December 31, 2023.^[10] This was consistent with the 10-year server service commitment TeamViewer staff acknowledged for those versions.^[9]

For versions 11 & 12, no equivalent complimentary access was provided. If the 10-year commitment acknowledged for versions 8 through 10 applied equally to later perpetual licenses, a customer who purchased a TeamViewer 12 license in 2017 would be within that window until 2027; the December 31, 2025 cutoff arrives two years early.^[1]

TeamViewer sent the following email to perpetual license holders:^[11]

How does this affect you?

• After the above date, licenses for TeamViewer 11 and 12 will no longer be supported on our global network infrastructure.
• You will still be able to use these versions for local (LAN) connections, where both devices are on the same network, but internet-based remote sessions will no longer be available.

Why this change?

As technology and security standards evolve, older software versions like TeamViewer 11 and 12 become more susceptible to vulnerabilities and lack the capabilities to support modern features. Continuing to maintain these legacy versions not only poses security risks but also limits our ability to provide you with the most stable and secure experience.

Your options

We highly encourage you to consider upgrading to the latest version of TeamViewer. As a valued customer, we are pleased to offer you an exclusive upgrade discount should you choose to transition to a subscription plan.

The email frames the shutdown as a security measure. It does not address the perpetual nature of the licenses, the 10-year server service commitment previously acknowledged for older versions, or that "upgrading" means paying an ongoing subscription for functionality customers already purchased with a one-time payment. The "exclusive upgrade discount" is not specified.^[1]

On March 3, 2026, Craig Thorner filed Thorner v. TEAMVIEWER US, INC. (Case No. 9:26-cv-80214) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.^[2] The complaint targets TeamViewer's U.S. subsidiary & seeks class-action status on behalf of perpetual license holders.

Consumers on the TeamViewer community forum & the Linus Tech Tips forum have discussed breach of contract (the perpetual license was an indefinite-term agreement) & false advertising (marketing the license as "perpetual" while planning to shut down the infrastructure it depends on) as potential legal theories.^[1][12]

Community forums document customers from multiple countries discussing legal options & gathering invoices and historical EULAs to establish breach of contract.^[1]

TeamViewer has faced litigation over its licensing practices before, though on a different issue. In Gershfeld v. TeamViewer US, Inc. (9th Cir. No. 21-55753), Jack Gershfeld alleged TeamViewer violated California's Automatic Renewal Law by renewing his subscription without adequate disclosure. The Ninth Circuit upheld the district court's dismissal in January 2023, finding TeamViewer's checkout disclosures & pre-renewal email adequate under the statute.^[13] That case dealt with auto-renewal disclosures, not the separate question of whether shutting down relay servers for perpetual licenses constitutes breach of contract.

TeamViewer US, Inc. is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau.^[14]

The announcement triggered backlash across tech communities. On the TeamViewer community forum, customers focused on the legal implications & discussed organizing a class-action lawsuit.^[1] The discussion ran across multiple pages, with users arguing that a perpetual license for software whose primary function depends on the vendor's servers can't reasonably be interpreted as allowing the vendor to later disable those servers.^[1]

Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips had been publicly critical of TeamViewer's pressure tactics since October 2021, when he posted on social media: "ZERO DOLLARS YOU VAMPIRES! I paid for a f***ing *perpetual* license of TeamViewer 12. Stop emailing me. Stop calling me at Eastern-Time-o-clock in the morning and stop popping up this crap when I use the software I paid THOUSANDS of dollars for."^[15]

When the version 11 & 12 shutdown was announced, Sebastian covered it on the LTT WAN Show in June 2025. He revealed that Linus Media Group had spent roughly $5,000 for a corporate perpetual license of TeamViewer 10, then paid an additional $1,000 to upgrade to version 12.^[16] Sebastian argued that if a company unilaterally revokes a perpetual license that was paid for in full, the consumer is morally justified in using the software by other means.^[16]

The shutdown has driven users toward alternatives. RustDesk, an open-source self-hosted remote desktop tool, is frequently recommended in forum discussions as an option for users who refuse to pay recurring fees for a function they already own hardware & bandwidth to perform.^[17][12]

• Lifetime license removal
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