Evaluating Thales/Gemalto?

We are a partner in your success ...you are not just a "number" to us, we really care.

Choosing Nalpeiron and Zentitle2 means choosing a partner invested in your long-term success, not just a supplier.

Thales (which acquired Gemalto) is a global conglomerate with over 83,000 employees and a primary focus on defense, aerospace, and security and software licensing is no longer its main focus.

Its priorities differ from Nalpeiron, which is dedicated to licensing and depends on delivering exceptional customer service to survive and grow.

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Nalpeiron Growth Platform

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Nalpeiron vs Larger Competitors

Nalpeiron

Larger Competitors

Low risk

Stable, pioneer of cloud licensing, since 2005

Part of a private equity portfolio or huge public company. Thales, based in France, has 80,000 employees. Revenera, licensing one many products, owned by PE Thoma Bravo.

Easy onboarding

Software + full-service support + training

Complex products needing 3-6 months of onboarding.

Global support - fast - in 3 time zones

US / CET / UK offering priority support

Slow and unresponsive support, out-of-date products, high support costs (60% of tickets)

Highly scalable, secure and battle-tested cloud

$1Bn+ of customer revenues protected and enabled

On-premise, 1980 client-server, with operations issues. Poor cloud infrastructure.

Focused, specialist - 100% focus on licensing

Not part of a bigger group, with 20 years+ in the space

5-20% focus, not their primary business, part of a group

Constant innovation, with real IP

Two issued US patents

Often older technology, with complexity from multiple aquistions

Selecting the right software licensing and entitlement management vendor is a critical decision that can significantly impact your organization’s operations, scalability, and long-term success.

Learn more about how to select a vendor

Comparison with Thales/Gemalto

Thales/Gemalto vs. Zentitle2: Why Partnership Matters in Software Licensing

When evaluating enterprise software licensing solutions, the provider's business model and customer engagement philosophy are just as critical as technical features. Thales (which acquired Gemalto) is a global conglomerate with over 83,000 employees and a primary focus on defense, aerospace, and security.

In contrast, Zentitle2 is built around being a true partner, not just a supplier.

Here's how these differences impact your experience and success.

Picking the Right Software Licensing Vendor Is Critical

Selecting the right software licensing vendor is a pivotal decision for any software company—particularly those operating at enterprise scale. The experience of leading organizations shows that this choice has far-reaching consequences for cost, agility, and peace of mind.

"Hexagon and many others have switched to us to save hundreds of thousands in license, service, and support costs. The Thales Sentinel platform and dongles use an older technology stack that requires many manual processes and is less agile and automated than Zentitle2. Currently, the Sentinel platform is a small unit within the vast French Thales empire of 80,000 employees. Customers report slow response times, outdated technology (dongles), costly support burden, and continual cost increases."

Why Leading Companies Are Switching from Thales

Many software companies, including industry leaders like Hexagon, have migrated from legacy platforms such as Thales Sentinel to modern solutions like Zentitle2. The reasons are clear:

  • Cost Savings: Significant reductions in license, service, and support costs—often saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
  • Modern Technology: Zentitle2 uses a cloud-first, automated technology stack, eliminating manual processes and outdated dongle-based systems.
  • Agility and Automation: Companies gain the flexibility to adapt licensing models, automate entitlement management, and quickly respond to market needs.
  • Superior Support: Customers report faster, more knowledgeable support compared to legacy vendors, reducing operational challenges.
  • Scalability: Zentitle2 supports enterprise-class demands, serving companies from startup through IPO and beyond.

The Customer Perspective

David O'Neal, Product Line Director at New River Kinematics, summarizes the impact of switching to Nalpeiron's Zentitle platform:

"For any large software company that prizes the value of what they are making, Nalpeiron is the best way of ensuring the security of their software—and for a large company, that's really important. We've come a long way from our dongle days. With Nalpeiron, we can finally stop stressing over licensing issues and focus on what we do best: building great software."

This testimonial highlights three key points:

  • Security: Nalpeiron provides robust protection for valuable intellectual property, a top priority for large software vendors.
  • Operational Focus: By eliminating licensing headaches, engineering teams can focus on innovation and product development.
  • Modernization: Moving away from dongles and legacy systems creates smoother customer experiences and easier compliance.

Supplier vs. Partner: The Thales/Gemalto Experience

Thales' software licensing business (Sentinel, formerly Gemalto) is only a small part of its vast portfolio, which spans defense systems, avionics, and critical infrastructure. For Thales, software licensing is a side business, not a core focus. This reality is reflected in customer experiences:

  • Slow, Impersonal Support: Customers frequently report that Thales/Gemalto can take weeks to respond to support requests. The scale and bureaucracy of a 70,000+ employee conglomerate mean you're often just a ticket in a queue, not a valued partner.
  • Complexity and Onboarding: Thales' licensing solutions are powerful but notoriously complex. New users repeatedly mention the steep learning curve, with onboarding and configuration remaining difficult long after initial setup.
  • Lack of Agility: As a small division in a massive organization, Thales' licensing business is slow to adapt. Updates, feature requests, and even basic support can be delayed by internal processes and shifting corporate priorities.
  • Transactional Relationship: Thales' main business is not software licensing, so customers may not receive the strategic, consultative partnership needed to optimize product packaging, pricing, and rollout.
"We did struggle to start with to get to grips with the software. This has proven to be the case each time a new user has started to use it. It isn't the easiest to pickup and start using." - Verified Thales Sentinel user

Affordability and Value

Many companies have switched to Zentitle2 to save significantly on licensed software costs, service, and support costs—sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Zentitle2 is praised for delivering enterprise-class capabilities at a price point accessible to startups, scale-ups, and SMBs, not just large enterprises.

Customer Feedback: What Users Say

  • Customer Service: While some users note improvements in recent years, many still cite slow response times and difficulty getting timely, actionable help.
  • Ease of Use: The platform is seen as reliable but hard to configure and maintain, especially for new users.
  • Cloud and Modernization: Customers express a desire for more cloud-based features and streamlined admin capabilities, but progress has been slow.
  • Operational Downtime: Reports of the system being slow or occasionally down during critical usage periods are not uncommon.

Zentitle2: A True Partner in Your Success

Zentitle2 stands apart by making your success its core mission. Unlike Thales, Zentitle2 is not a side business in a sprawling conglomerate. Instead, it offers:

  • Responsive, Expert Support: Fast, personalized responses from subject matter experts who know your business and care about your outcomes.
  • Strategic Partnership: Zentitle2 works closely with clients on best practices, implementation, rollout, and product strategy-helping you craft, price, and package offerings to win in the marketplace.
  • Modern, Cloud-Native Platform: Built for today's SaaS and software businesses, Zentitle2 is agile, scalable, and easy to integrate-without the legacy complexity of older, on-premise systems.
  • Affordability and Focus: With a singular focus on software licensing and monetization, Zentitle2 delivers enterprise-grade capabilities at a price point accessible to companies of all sizes.

Comparison Table: Zentitle2 vs. Thales/Gemalto

Feature/Aspect Zentitle2 Thales/Gemalto (Sentinel)
Business Focus Licensing is core business Tiny part of a massive conglomerate
Support Fast, expert, personalized Can take weeks to reply; impersonal
Onboarding Streamlined, guided, efficient Complex, steep learning curve
Customer Focus True partnership, strategic guidance Transactional, supplier relationship
Platform Modernity Cloud-native, agile, easy integration Legacy, on-premise options, slow to modernize
Responsiveness High Low, due to size and bureaucracy
Affordability Competitive, transparent High support costs, less flexibility
Technology API-first, analytics, AI integration Legacy stack, less flexible, hardware keys and related issues with dongles

Conclusion: The Value of Partnership

Choosing Thales/Gemalto/Sentinel means working with a supplier for whom software licensing is a minor, side business-often resulting in slow support, complex onboarding, and a transactional relationship.

Zentitle2, on the other hand, is invested in your growth and success, offering not just technology but a true partnership.

That's why so many organizations seeking agility, responsiveness, and a customer-first approach are making the switch to Zentitle2.

The contents of these tables was researched from the Internet and first hand experience. Please excuse any errors.

Learn more about the difference between the Nalpeiron Growth Platform, Zentitle and Thales/Gemalto

All the features you need

Adaptable and powerful. 1000s of top software companies rely on Nalpeiron to deliver a solution that meets all their requirements.

Online and Offline Licensing

License Models

Price and package using any licensing model, including subscriptions and usage based. No ongoing engineering required.

Online and Offline Licensing

Multi-Platform

SaaS, Windows, Mac and Linux, ARM, Android and Embedded Linux. Ship to multiple platforms faster and with less engineering effort.

Online and Offline Licensing

Online & Offline

End-users can activate online or offline. Nalpeiron Growth Platform is a powerful hosted platform with a 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Online and Offline Licensing

Dark Sites & VMs

License software in dark sites and offline customer environments, and prevent license abuse from duplicated Virtual Machines (VMs).

Online and Offline Licensing

Sales Teams

Sales teams are armed with customer usage knowledge, signposting them to who to speak to and when in order to win deals.

Online and Offline Licensing

Customer Success

Customer Success teams get simple super-early churn-risk warnings needed to guarantee better renewal rates, with no learning curve.

Online and Offline Licensing

Revenue Opportunities

New revenue opportunities are uncovered automatically, all customer accounts are auto-scanned to reveal new pre-qualified expansion deals.

Online and Offline Licensing

Insights & Alerts

Actionable insights and alerts enable revenue-facing teams to win more new business. Keep and expand customer accounts.

Online and Offline Licensing

Trial Conversions

Convert more trials. Sales Teams know exactly when/why/who to contact to to close business. An unfair advantage for B2B SaaS sales.

Online and Offline Licensing

Usage Analytics

Prospect and customer usage analytics are no longer a black box. Sales and CS have the full picture to engage with customers and get results.

Online and Offline Licensing

Best Experience

End-users get a smooth, fast and hassle free experience. Support tickets lowered by up to 60%. Drive up customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Online and Offline Licensing

Optimized for SaaS

Deliver more revenue across the whole product lifecycle. Remove engineering dependencies. Gain, retain, & grow your SaaS customers.

Working hand-in-hand with the fastest growing software companies and $1Bn tech giants

"I have used Nalpeiron for about 10 years and it is definitely the best licensing I have worked with in my support career.

I have worked with around 10 different licensing platforms and used many others with the products I purchased.

None have been as reliable, easy to use and implement for support and customers alike."

Kelly Bishop

Technical Support

"Fantastic flexibility is key in how we license our software and features in order to provide a smooth experience for our end users.

Nalpeiron delivered on this and more. Enough tools to provide us with what we need to integrate with our existing business systems.

EUP is easy to set up giving our users more control over managing and distributing our licenses."

Mark Senior

Sales Director

"Nalpeiron overall does a great job in getting a license solution to customers. The tool has plenty of features to match business requirements.

Maintaining an in-house solution would be expensive and time consuming.

Nalpeiron provides a service where you do not need to worry about this and focus on your business."

Chris Ang

CEO

Discuss your project with an expert, no obligation:

Book a quick 20-minute meeting to discuss your project, click here →

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Scalability to match your growth

1000s of companies use Nalpeiron to maximize the revenues from their SaaS, software and hardware with many going from startup to IPO on our platform

20 Years+

Track Record

$1B+

Revenues Protected

300M+

Transactions / Month

99.9%+

Uptime SLA for 10 Years+

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Zentitle2 Vs. Thales/Gemalto FAQs:

How do Zentitle2 and Thales Sentinel (Gemalto) compare in technology and agility?
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Zentitle2 is built on a modern, cloud-based architecture, enabling automation, integration, and rapid deployment of new licensing models. In contrast, Thales Sentinel (Gemalto) relies on an older technology stack, often requiring manual processes and the use of hardware dongles, which can limit agility and automation for software vendors.

What are the main differences in customer support and responsiveness?
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Zentitle2 is recognized for its fast, expert, and highly responsive customer support, offering hands-on partnership and consulting throughout implementation and rollout. Many Thales/Gemalto customers report slower response times and a higher support burden, partly due to the size and structure of the Thales organization

Which platform offers greater flexibility and ease of integration?
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Zentitle2 provides extensive APIs, webhooks, and integrations-especially with CRM systems-making it easier to connect with existing business systems and adapt to evolving business needs. Thales Sentinel’s older platform is less flexible and can be more challenging to integrate with modern SaaS and cloud environments.

How do the platforms compare in terms of scalability and reliability?
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Zentitle2 is designed to support enterprise-scale deployments, with proven reliability for 24x7x365 operations and the ability to handle hundreds of millions of users. Many fast-growing companies and large enterprises have switched from Thales/Gemalto to Zentitle2 for its scalability and operational excellence.

What are the differences in pricing and total cost of ownership?
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Zentitle2 is frequently cited as offering better value for money, with lower costs for licensing, service, and support. Customers have reported significant savings-sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars-after migrating from Thales Sentinel. Thales/Gemalto has been criticized for continual cost increases and a costly support burden.

More information
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