Name: Shadow Licensing Uncovered: Smart Control for Unmanaged Software
Start: 2026-02-04T10:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-02-04T17:00:00+00:00
Location: OpenLM

Buddy license management with OpenLM

Buddy (formerly Buddy.works) is a popular Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) automation platform used by DevOps teams to build, test, and deploy code. It streamlines the development lifecycle with rapid pipeline execution and Docker-based environments.

Monitoring Buddy usage is critical for engineering leadership and IT procurement. As development teams scale, the cost of SaaS seats can balloon unnoticed. OpenLM provides visibility into Buddy usage, ensuring that organizations are not paying for inactive developers or underutilized premium seats.

Buddy

Introducing the platform: What is Buddy?

Buddy is a web-based SaaS automation server designed to lower the entry barrier to DevOps. It allows developers to create pipelines that automate deployment to servers (AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, etc.) and run tests.

Because Buddy is often purchased by engineering teams directly (shadow IT) or paid on a per-user basis, licenses can easily become unmanaged. A common issue is the retention of paid seats for developers who have moved to different projects, left the company, or only require read-only access rather than full execution rights.

Licensing schemas of Buddy: What you must know

Buddy typically operates on a seat-based subscription model (e.g., Pro, Hyper, or Enterprise plans), where costs increase with the number of active workspace members.

Per-user cost: You pay for every user invited to the workspace who has access to pipelines.
Pipeline/resource limits: Higher tiers unlock more concurrent pipelines or faster execution modes.
The optimization challenge: If a developer leaves the organization but their account remains “Active” in the Buddy workspace, the company continues to pay for that seat monthly. Additionally, if users are assigned expensive “Write” access but only ever view logs, they may be downgradable to a cheaper or free role depending on the specific plan terms.

OpenLM’s solution for Buddy license optimization

OpenLM extends its asset management capabilities to DevOps tools like Buddy by interfacing with the platform’s API. This provides IT managers with data-driven insights into how the tool is actually being utilized, rather than just how many licenses were purchased.

OpenLM capability	Value for Buddy licenses
Harvesting inactive accounts	OpenLM identifies users who have not logged into Buddy or triggered a pipeline for a set period (e.g., 90 days). These “zombie” accounts can be deactivated to free up seats for new hires.
Verification of active users	Compare the list of paid Buddy users against Active Directory or HR records to instantly spot discrepancies, such as terminated contractors who still retain access to source code deployment tools.
Usage trend analysis	Monitor the adoption of the tool across different engineering squads. If a specific team has 10 licenses but only 2 users show daily activity, the license pool can be reduced or reallocated.
Security & Compliance	By tracking access, OpenLM helps ensure that only authorized personnel have active logins to critical deployment infrastructure, reducing the attack surface.

OpenLM advantages for Buddy license usage monitoring

OpenLM treats Buddy not just as a bill to be paid, but as an engineering asset to be managed.

Unified DevOps view: OpenLM allows you to view Buddy usage alongside other engineering tools like Jira, GitHub, and JetBrains. This provides a holistic view of the “Developer Seat” cost.
Automated reporting: Instead of manually auditing the Buddy “People” tab every renewal cycle, OpenLM provides automated reports on license utilization, ready for the finance team.
Cost avoidance: By identifying unused accounts before adding new seats, companies can often avoid upgrading to the next pricing tier, maintaining a lean and efficient DevOps budget.