Hey everyone,
I’m currently exploring the development of my own Revit/Dynamo add-ins (mostly C# with some Dynamo integration), aiming to eventually reach the level of tools like DiRoots / PyRevit.
(an Idea that I have is to develop a free tool to convert your PyRevit Hosted toolbar into an independent one)
At the moment I’m between roles and don’t have access to a company Revit license, and my Revit trial has expired. Since most of the development work happens outside of Revit itself, I mainly need Revit for testing and validation.
I’m trying to understand what options exist in this situation. Are there any legitimate ways to access Revit for development and testing purposes without committing to a full yearly subscription? For example, developer, educational, or other short-term licensing routes that people here have experience with.
Any pointers or experiences would be helpful.
Some years ago i installed Revit without licensing it, i still had access to the geometry engine in Dynamo Sandbox to have some fun
Nowadays, Revit is connected to the Desktop Connector and it will close the application if you’re not logged in 
Yep, install an older version
If you are provably using Revit as a developer (either producing add-ins commercially, or content creating to promote), you can apply to the ADN. I did this a year or so ago to keep developing my C# toobar and Dynamo package once I slowed down consulting and didn’t need a regular commercial license. I set mine up against a different email to my work one just to ensure I don’t stray into it for my consulting - in that case I would just reactivate Revit for a short duration, but I’ve put that on the shelf for now.
I’m not sure how high the bar to warrant entry is, but my YouTube channel and git were luckily substantial evidence of the work I did to warrant access to the program. You’ll likely need to share examples of your development output (e.g. a github), social engagement (e.g. in these forums) or community facing development output (e.g. dynamo packages).
Took about a month to go through, but otherwise has been brilliant. You also get access to a lot of handy resources and communities as well - I rate it far higher than being expert elite in terms of what you can get out of it (which I was in briefly as well, onerous terms of use said no more to that one).
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Alright I will look into it and mention you as the referal. But in the mean time I’ll use a dummy account + trial account in the interest of time
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As with anything be aware of the terms of use. To my understanding the intent of a trial is noncommercial purposes. They may consider this on ADN review, unsure how it is handled in practice.
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