> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.sevenpens.com/drawtab/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.sevenpens.com/drawtab/apps/bundled-software.md).

# Bundled software and subscriptions

## Overview

Software that ships with a drawing tablet is part of what you are buying, and it is worth looking at before the purchase rather than after.

There are two different situations, and they matter for different reasons.

## Trial licences bundled with a tablet

Most drawing tablets come with a limited-time trial licence to one or more applications. Usually these trials last anywhere from 3 to 6 months. After that you'll have to pay for the app. Some are subscriptions and some are one-time purchases.

Things to keep in mind:

* The bundle is a trial, not a licence. Treat it as a way to try an app, not as software you own.
* What is bundled changes over time, and often varies by region and by retailer. Check what your specific unit actually includes rather than what a review from a year ago says.
* If the app the bundle gives you is one you were going to buy anyway, that is real value. If it isn't, it isn't.

## Software that is the point of the tablet

This is newer, and it applies mostly to standalone tablets - the ones that are a complete device rather than something you plug into a computer.

On these, the bundled app is frequently the selling point. The XP-Pen Magic Note Pad (MNP1095) is the clearest example: it is sold as a note-taking device, and the note-taking is done by XP-Pen's XPPen Notes app. XPPen Notes is a white-labelled version of JNotes, and it has a paywall - some of the functionality requires a paid tier.

So on a tablet like this, "what does the software cost" is a hardware buying question. A note-taking tablet whose note-taking app is behind a subscription is a different product from one whose isn't, even if the hardware is identical.

Ask before buying a standalone tablet:

* Which app is the device actually sold around?
* Is that app free, paid once, or subscription?
* Which features sit behind the paid tier - and are they the features you are buying the device for?
* If you stop paying, what happens to the notes or drawings you already made?

## When the software has a problem, it is not a tablet problem

Activation, licences, entitlements and account problems with a bundled app have nothing to do with the tablet hardware or the tablet driver. They go to the software vendor's support, not to a drawing tablet community.

This comes up often enough with XPPen Notes, Clip Studio Paint plans and similar that it is worth stating plainly: nobody in a tablet community can see your account, and a plausible-sounding guess about someone else's licensing system tends to cost the person asking a lot of wasted time.

## Status of this page

I have not yet catalogued which apps ship with which tablets, or for how long. The general shape above holds; the per-model specifics do not exist here yet.