Getting to Know the ArcGIS Developer Bundle: Products, Licensing and Tips

February 4, 2025

Andrea Becker

Looking for the ultimate ArcGIS development toolkit? The ArcGIS Developer Bundle gives you access to ArcGIS Enterprise, Pro and powerful extensions for all your development and testing needs. Not sure how to locate your Developer Bundle licenses? Read on for a step-by-step guide to get started!

Welcome to this guide on the ArcGIS Developer Bundle. Whether you’re exploring the ArcGIS Developer Bundle offering for the first time or seeking more details about your new Developer Bundle licenses, you’ve come to the right place!

Let’s dive into the basics - What is the ArcGIS Developer Bundle?

The ArcGIS Developer Bundle is the successor to the now-deprecated ArcGIS Developer Subscription program. It’s a comprehensive collection of products—including licenses and downloads—ideal for building applications and designing workflows with ArcGIS Enterprise in a development and testing environment, independent from your production systems.

If you previously used a Professional, Premium or Enterprise plan under an ArcGIS Developer Subscription, migrating to the Developer Bundle ensures continued access to ArcGIS Enterprise, offering comparable software to what was included in the ArcGIS Developer Subscription Enterprise plan. Be sure to check out some of the notes throughout this blog for details on key differences between the ArcGIS Developer Subscription and the Developer Bundle.

For those new to ArcGIS development, the ArcGIS Developer Bundle provides a cost-effective way to access ArcGIS software and tools, making it an excellent starting point for building applications and extending ArcGIS with custom functionality.

What products are offered in the ArcGIS Developer Bundle?

A moving image (gif) displaying the many license entitlements that come with the ArcGIS Developer Bundle.
Products included in the ArcGIS Developer Bundle

As you can see, it’s quite the list—let’s dive into the highlights:

ArcGIS Enterprise (Standard and Advanced): In ArcGIS Enterprise version 11.4, you will receive the following User Types:

Three Viewer
Two Creator
One Professional
One Professional Plus

If you want to use an earlier version of ArcGIS Enterprise, no worries—you’ll get equivalent User Types to the list above. For details on User Type equivalency, start by checking out this blog post.

ArcGIS Enterprise extensions: Get access to tools like ArcGIS GeoEvent Server, GeoAnalytics Server, Image Server, Notebook Server Advanced, ArcGIS Workflow Manager Server and more!

ArcGIS Pro: Included with Portal for ArcGIS Named User Types and available at three levels:

Creator (Basic)
Professional (Standard)
Professional Plus (Advanced).

Bonus: With the ArcGIS Enterprise Developer Bundle licenses, you can install multiple product versions and set up various testing environments, as long as they’re used exclusively used for development and testing purposes.

For the full list of products included in the ArcGIS Developer Bundle, click here.

Note: If you’ve used the ArcGIS Developer Subscription before, it’s important to note that the ArcGIS Developer Bundle comes without the free ArcGIS Location Platform services or the ArcGIS Online Dev and Test Organization, along with its user types and app licenses.

Is the ArcGIS Developer Bundle right for you?

If you think the ArcGIS Developer Bundle might be a good fit for you, you can purchase it through the Esri Canada Store.

Got questions? No problem! Reach out to your Esri Canada Account Manager directly, the sales team at Esri Canada (great if you’re new to ArcGIS), or your local distributor—they’re here to help you figure it out.

Already purchased the ArcGIS Developer Bundle? Here’s how to find your new licenses:

Once you’ve purchased the ArcGIS Developer Bundle, product licenses and downloads are made available through My Esri (my.esri.com) and managed by your organization's My Esri administrator.

Here’s how it works:

Product downloads: Find these in the Downloads section of My Esri.
Licenses: All Developer licenses are added to your organization’s regular license pool in My Esri and can be licensed using Esri’s standard licensing workflow.

Note: The ArcGIS Developer Bundle simplifies the licensing process compared to the old ArcGIS Developer Subscription. There’s no need to register or manage an ADS code anymore—all Developer licenses are now directly available in the main license pool.

Let’s walk through an example workflow to find and start generating licenses for your Developer Bundle, focusing on ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Pro. To get started, make sure you have the correct privileges in My Esri. If you can’t view the Licensing section mentioned below, please contact your My Esri administrator for help.

Step 1: Verify Your Licenses in My Esri

Start by checking that your Developer Bundle licenses are available in My Esri. Navigate to the Authorizations page on my.esri.com:

A screenshot of the Licensing drop-down in My Esri. It includes a red bound box to highlight the Authorizations button under the License Information section.

My Esri > Licensing > Authorizations

Your core product licenses and extensions associated with the Developer Bundle will be listed here and tagged as "Developer," distinguishing them from any production licenses.

For example, if you already have an ArcGIS Server Standard license for your production environment and you purchase the ArcGIS Developer Bundle, both licenses will show up on the Authorizations page, but one will be tagged as Developer in the License Type column:

A screenshot showing an ArcGIS Server Standard production and developer license in My Esri. It includes a red bound box to highlight the Developer tag in the License Type field.

Production and Developer ArcGIS Server Standard licenses

Step 2: License ArcGIS Server and Extensions

Once you spot your “Developer”-tagged licenses on the Authorizations page, head over to the License Esri Products page to generate a license file:

A screenshot of the Licensing drop-down in My Esri. It includes a red bound box to highlight the Start Licensing button under the License Esri Products section.

My Esri > Licensing > License Esri Products

For ArcGIS Server, select ArcGIS Enterprise, pick your desired version and choose Developer ArcGIS Server to proceed:

A screenshot of the License Esri Products page in My Esri. It includes a red bound box to highlight Developer ArcGIS Server under the License Type drop-down.

License Esri Products > Developer ArcGIS Server

As you step through the prompts to generate the license file, all products will have the tag “Developer”, confirming that the licenses are part of your ArcGIS Developer Bundle:

A screenshot of the Select Products page for the License Esri Products workflow in My Esri. It includes a red bound box to highlight the Developer Authorization Type.

License Esri Products > Developer ArcGIS Server > Select Products

Step 3: License Portal for ArcGIS

To license Portal for ArcGIS with your Developer Bundle license, use the same License Esri Products workflow in My Esri. Instead of selecting Developer ArcGIS Server, you’ll select Portal for ArcGIS:

A screenshot of the License Esri Products page in My Esri. It includes a red bound box to highlight Portal for ArcGIS under the License Type drop-down.

License Esri Products > Portal for ArcGIS

Note: At this stage, Portal for ArcGIS will not display a “Developer” tag. However, once you move to the next screen, the Developer tag will show up on the associated User Types:

A screenshot of the Select User Types page for the Portal for ArcGIS License Esri Products workflow in My Esri. It includes a red bound box to highlight the Developer tag.

License Esri Products > Portal for ArcGIS > Select User Types

All other Portal license entitlements on this page, such as add-on applications, user types and organizational extensions, will also be marked with the “Developer” tag if they’re part of your Developer Bundle.

Step 4: License ArcGIS Pro

ArcGIS Pro is included in the Developer Bundle and is accessed via Portal Named User licensing. To use ArcGIS Pro, you will deploy Portal for ArcGIS and ensure that your Portal username is assigned a User Type that grants access (For ArcGIS Enterprise 11.4, these are: Creator, Professional or Professional Plus). You can check and modify your User Type by logging into Portal for ArcGIS and navigating to the Organization > Members page:

A screenshot of the Members page in Portal for ArcGIS. It includes a red bound box to highlight the Professional Plus User Type.

Portal for ArcGIS > Organization > Members

Once you confirm your User Type, use your username to log in when you launch ArcGIS Pro. It’s that easy!

Key Takeaways

The ArcGIS Developer Bundle is a replacement for the deprecated ArcGIS Developer Subscription program, offering similar product access and a smoother licensing experience. With the Developer Bundle, you will not receive or register an ADS code, a previous requirement for the ArcGIS Developer Subscription program. The ArcGIS Developer Bundle does not include a Dev and Test ArcGIS Online organization.
It’s a cost-effective solution for developers, providing access to a comprehensive suite of ArcGIS products and tools for development and testing purposes.
Remember that Developer licenses in the ArcGIS Developer Bundle are now integrated into the main license pool in My Esri, tagged as “Developer” to distinguish them from production licenses. The license file generation process is the same as with production licenses.

If you’re new to ArcGIS or need assistance, our teams at Esri Canada are ready to help. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your Account Manager or the Esri Canada sales team to inquire about the ArcGIS Developer Bundle.

If you have any questions about your licenses, or experience any issues with the licensing process, please reach out to Esri Canada Technical Support.