Monitor and manage app licenses in SharePoint Server
APPLIES TO: 
2013 2016 2019 Subscription Edition 
SharePoint in Microsoft 365
You can use the SharePoint Central Administration website to monitor and manage licenses for apps for SharePoint. Licenses for apps for SharePoint are digital sets of verifiable information that state the user rights for an app for SharePoint. Apps that are distributed through the SharePoint Store are the only apps that have built-in licenses that SharePoint Server recognizes.
Members of the Farm Administrators group manage licenses for apps and can also assign license managers for others to manage app for SharePoint licenses.
Here are the basics of what SharePoint Server does and doesn't provide for apps for SharePoint licensing:
SharePoint Server provides:
Storefront to obtain apps
Storage and renewal of app for SharePoint licenses
User Interface (UI) to assign users to specific app for SharePoint licenses
APIs for developers to query for license information
SharePoint Server doesn't enforce app for SharePoint licenses.
Developers must add code in their apps for SharePoint to retrieve license information and react accordingly.
All apps for SharePoint licenses are bound to a specific SharePoint Server deployment but can be transferred to a different SharePoint Server deployment three times.
Monitoring and managing app licenses
A farm administrator or a license manager can check the licenses for all apps for SharePoint on the App Licenses page. It's important to track the number of licenses that are available for each app for SharePoint so that users don't exceed this number. An administrator can assign more users to an app for SharePoint license, purchase more licenses for an app, and also add managers to a license.
To view app license details
In Central Administration, click Apps.
On the Apps page, in the SharePoint and Office Store section, click Manage App Licenses.
On the Manage App Licenses page, click an app for SharePoint in the list to view the license details.
The Manage App License page shows detailed licensing information. This includes the name of the app, the developer, and current license details.
In the top section, click the drop-down arrow in the dialog to see purchase details for the selected app for SharePoint.
The app details include the following information:
Number of licenses available for users
License type
App purchaser name
To add users to the app license
On the Manage App Licenses page, click an app for SharePoint for which you want to add users.
In the People with a License section, click assign people.
In the dialog that appears below, enter the user name that you want to add and then, click Add User.
The user name is added to the list at the bottom of this section and the number of available licenses for this app is refreshed for the selected app for SharePoint.
To purchase more app licenses
On the Manage App Licenses page, click an app for SharePoint for which you want to purchase more licenses.
In the People with a License section, click buy more licenses.
The SharePoint Store opens with the specific app showing the details with links to purchase additional licenses. Choose the number of Apps you want to purchase and then click OK.
To remove app licenses
On the Manage App Licenses page, click an app for SharePoint for which you want to remove licenses.
On the Actions drop down list, click Remove this License.
Verification: Optionally, include steps that users should perform to verify that the operation was successful.
To recover app licenses
On the Manage App Licenses page, click an app for SharePoint for which you want to recover licenses.
On the Actions drop down list, click Recover License.
The app for SharePoint details shows any changes the administrator has made.
To add a license manager
On the Manage App License page, in the License Managers section, click add manager.
Below the License Managers section, the new App manager appears in the list.