How many times can I activate SPSS?

IBM restricts Grad Pack licenses to 2 activations to be used on 2 separate machines (1 activation per machine) provided you are the only user of the license on both machines. Once activated your license cannot be deactivated, suspended, paused or transferred to another machine. De-activations and transferability are features limited to more expensive Commercial licenses which are $1000's per annum.

Upon installation, SPSS extracts your machine's "lock-code" (a unique identifier for your machine) which it uses to activate your license. In the event of computer hardware changes (e.g. reformatting or replacing your hard drive) or updates to your operating system (i.e. updating macOS), a new lock-code may be created by your machine. For your SPSS license to work with your new lock-code an additional activation is required.

If one of your activations remains unused, you can use it to license SPSS on your machine. Otherwise, you will need to purchase a new license.

To activate SPSS you will need to open the License Authorization Wizard following the instructions below:

Not sure which statistics edition is right for you?

At a very high level…
SPSS Statistics Base is useful for learning basic statistics. If non-linear regression, GLM, MANOVA or other more advanced functions are required, students should purchase SPSS Standard at a minimum. Students who need to perform missing values analysis or categories will require SPSS Premium.

Amos is required to perform structural equation modelling. Purchasing Amos alone does not provide access to SPSS Statistics software.

For v27 only:

Base Grad Packs now include bootstrapping and data preparation capabilities

Standard Grad Packs include bootstrapping, data preparation and custom tables functions

If you are unsure we recommend checking with your university or college, or if you don’t know which Statistics functions you need, purchase SPSS Statistics Premium which contains all the stats modules. For more detail on the specific functionality, check out the detailed guide.

What’s the Purchase Process?

During Checkout
We recommend using your university or academic Institution issued email address because this is the fastest way to get your SPSS Grad Pack license code and download link, usually within 10 minutes.

After Purchase
We send you an email confirming your purchase, which is followed by a second email with the download link to your SPSS Grad Pack, please allow 10 minutes for this process to occur, and also check your spam/junk folder as sometimes our second email sneaks into there.

Note
If using a generic email such as Gmail or Hotmail during Checkout you will be emailed a link to a form to upload your student proof and once approved we release your license code.

Who’s eligible to buy SPSS Grad Packs?

A Grad Pack is exclusively for a student who is currently enrolled in an higher educational institution, to obtain a degree or participate in a continuing education program. Once purchased, the student must only use the SPSS Grad Pack for non-commercial academic research, such as completing assignments and university research.

SPSS Grad Pack v26 vs. v31?

v31 is the more recent release (mid 2025) and better suited to recent operating systems. The v31 Base edition and v31 Standard edition now include some features which are only available in the Premium edition of v26. To check which version suits your machine use "System Requirements" link.

Click here for a pdf of new features in SPSS v31.

You should purchase v26 only if you have been instructed by your course coordinator or if your Windows operating system does not support 64-bit programs.

How do I renew my expired SPSS Grad Pack?

SPSS Grad Packs run for a fixed amount of time and cannot be renewed as such. If you are still a student and need access to SPSS again, you simply purchase a new Grad Pack for the required amount of time (6 months, 12 months or 2 years). If you buy the same version (eg version 26) you will not need to re-install the software - just run the License Authorization Wizard and use the new code. If you have any issues, click here for more FAQ's

Is my computer system compatible? System Requirements

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