Your flexible path to smarter engineering
Automation Builder is available in Basic, Standard, and Premium editions, designed to meet every need, from small projects to complex systems for OEMs and system integrators.
After installation, simply select your preferred license:
- Free 30-day trial – explore all
- Standard and Premium features
- Free Basic edition – ideal for getting started
Standard or Premium licenses – unlock full functionality and efficiency. You can activate, remove, or transfer licenses at any time, with network license options for multi-user environments.
Choose the licensing option that fits your team
You can activate, remove or transfer your license at any time. Whether you use a single-seat installation or a team setup, Automation Builder supports both.
PC-bound (single device)
Bind your license to one workstation, ideal if you’re working independently or want a simple setup.USB dongle (portable)
Place the license on a USB key (dongle) configured as PC-bound or floating, great if you move between sites or use different computers.Network (floating) license
Set up a central license server so multiple users can share a pool of licenses, optimal for teams, training labs or large-scale installations.Mix & match
You’re free to combine options. For example, some licenses PC-bound while others float via USB dongle for mobility.Installation options for older versions
For projects based on Automation Builder 2.4, we strongly recommend installing Automation Builder 2.5 with the version profile for 2.4. If you install Automation Builder 2.5 after version 2.8, rerun the Automation Builder 2.8 installer to ensure the latest shared components are available, as versions prior to 2.6 were not designed for side-by-side installation.
- Automation Builder supports side-by-side installation of multiple versions.
- To access older versions such as Automation Builder 2.5 or earlier, install version 2.5 first (optionally including previous versions) before installing Automation Builder 2.8.
- Automation Builder 2.6 and 2.7 can be installed or removed independently of 2.8.
Some components are shared across versions, even when installed side-by-side.
These include, for example, AC500 V2 libraries and CODESYS V2 engineering and gateway elements.
Such shared items are updated together, regardless of which version is active.
- Automation Builder is also available as a 32-bit edition with a dedicated installer.
- Please note that the same version cannot be installed in both 64-bit and 32-bit on one PC.
Use the 32-bit version when migrating AC500 V2 libraries to AC500 V3 or performing IEC 61131 programming of ACS880 drives.
Automation Builder 2.8 - Features and target hardware
| Basic system engineering (free) |
Standard integrated system engineering | Premium productivity and collaboration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Productive engineering | |||
| Integrated engineering for PLCs, motion, drives and control panels | ◊ | ● | ● |
| Integrated tool suite installation and maintenance (online and offline) | ● | ● | ● |
| Project handling including project archive and backup features | ● | ● | ● |
| Project lifecycle support (version profiles and project migration) | ● | ● | ● |
| Native language support in EN, DE, ES, FR, CN | ● | ● | ● |
| Support of standardization and re-use by flexible configurations of machine variants | - | - | ● |
| Support of re-use by cross project and cross Automation Builder instance copy & paste | ● | ● | ● |
| ECAD roundtrip engineering - AC500 and EPLAN / Zuken E3 | - | - | ● |
| ECAD roundtrip engineering for 3rd party devices - PLC and EPLAN / Zuken E3 |
- | - | ● |
| Bulk data import/export with change control to any tool via CSV (also via copy & paste) | - | - | ● |
| Bulk data import/export of device and I/O lists and IEC 60870-5-104 | - | - | ● |
| Change management support by project compare | - | - | ● |
| Automation of engineering (execution of Python scripts) | - | - | ● |
| Virtual system testing based on Virtual Commissioning Technology | - | ○ | ○ |
| Collaborative engineering support by Professional Version Control (GIT or Subversion) | - | ○ | ○ |
| PLC engineering AC500 V2 (for AC500-eCo V2, AC500 V2, supported AC500 local I/O modules, supported AC500 extension modules) | |||
| PLC application programming (IL, LD, FBD, SFC, ST) plus CFC | ● | ● | ● |
| PLC firmware update, download and online change to single or several PLCs | ● | ● | ● |
| PLC simulation, diagnosis and debugging | ● | ● | ● |
| Integrated firmware identification and update (PM and CM devices) | ● | ● | ● |
| Configuration of communication protocols for TCP/IP, Modbus, CS31, IEC60870-5-104 | ● | ● | ● |
| Configuration of communication protocols for PROFINET, PROFIBUS DP, EtherCAT, CAN (all via communication module) | - | ● | ● |
| Condition Monitoring CMS: configuration, libraries for CMS control and wave file handling | - | ● | ● |
| C/ C++ application programming (GNU compiler) | - | - | ● |
| Advanced simulation support including virtual PLCs |
- | ○ | ○ |
| PLC engineering AC500 V3 (for AC500-eCo V3, AC500 V3, supported AC500 local I/O modules, supported AC500 extension modules) | |||
| PLC application programming (LD, FBD, SFC, ST) plus CFC | ● | ● | ● |
| PLC firmware update, download and online change to single PLCs | ● | ● | ● |
| PLC simulation, diagnosis and debugging | ● | ● | ● |
| Integrated firmware identification and update (PM and CM devices) | ● | ● | ● |
| Configuration of communication protocols for TCP/IP, Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU, CS31 | ● | ● | ● |
| Configuration of onboard communication protocols for CAN, IEC 60870-5-104, DNP3 (1), IEC 61850 (1), BACnet (1), KNX (1), Ethernet/IP (1), EtherCAT (1), PROFINET (1) | - | ● | ● |
| Configuration of communication protocols for PROFINET, PROFIBUS DP, EtherCAT, CAN (all via communication module) | - | ● | ● |
| Configuration of motion axes and graphical CAM tables | - | ● | ● |
| Static code analysis | - | ○ | ○ |
| Safety PLC engineering integrated solutions (for AC500-S safety CPU, safety I/Os and PROFIsafe devices) | |||
| Safety PLC application programming (LD, FBD, ST) | - | ○ | ○ |
| Fieldbus protocol engineering for PROFIsafe | - | ○ | ○ |
| Safety Code Analysis Tool | - | ○ | ○ |
| Safety Verification Tool |
- | ○ | ○ |
| SCADA engineering (for ABB zenon) | |||
| Integrated SCADA and PLC engineering with ABB zenon editor | - | ○ | ○ |
| Control Panel engineering (for CP600-eCo, CP600, CP600-Pro) | |||
| CP600 and CP600-Pro panel configuration with PB610 Panel Builder 600 | ◊ | ● | ● |
| CP600-eCo panel configuration with PB610 Panel Builder 600 | ● | ● | ● |
| Integrated PLC tag data import | - | ● | ● |
| Control panel simulation | ● | ● | ● |
| Drive engineering (for all ABB low voltage AC drives) | |||
| IEC 61131 programming of ACS880 and DCS880 |
● | ● | ● |
| Drive management with common process data editor (Drive - PLC) | - | ● |
● |
| Drive commissioning with Drive composer pro | ◊ | ● | ● |
| Motion engineering (for Motiflex e180, Motiflex e190, E530) | |||
| Motion application engineering with Mint WorkBench | ● | ● | ● |
| Modbus TCP engineering (for CI521-MODTCP, CI522-MODTCP) | |||
| Configuration and diagnosis of unbundled Modbus TCP CI (communication interface) devices |
● | ● | ● |
| Solution engineering | |||
| Drive library (PS553-DRIVES, PS5605-Drives) | ● | ● | ● |
| MQTT and JSON libraries | ● | ● | ● |
| SNMP and SMTP libraries | ● | ● | ● |
| Motion control wizard, CAM editor and library for AC500 V3 (PS5611-MC) (1) | ○ |
○ |
○ |
| Motion control library for AC500 V2 (PS552-MC-E) | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| Solar library for AC500 V2 (PS562-SOLAR) | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| Water library for AC500 V2 (PS563-WATER) | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| Adaptive temperature control library for AC500 V3 (PS5621-TempCtrl) (*) | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| Temperature control library for AC500 V2 (PS564-TEMPCTRL) | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| BACnet - ASC library for AC500 V2 (PS565-BACnet-ASC) | ○ |
○ | ○ |
| BACnet - BC protocol for AC500 V3 (PS5607-BACnet-BC incl. ASC) (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| AC500 High Availability for AC500 V2 (HA-CS31 library) | ● | ● | ● |
| AC500 High Availability HA-Modbus TCP library for AC500 V2/V3 (PS5601-HA-MTCP) (1) |
○ | ○ | ○ |
| Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) for CM5640-2ETH (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| KNX protocol for AC500 V3 (PS5604-KNX) (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| IEC 61850 for AC500 V3 (PS5602-61850) (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| Data logger library for AC500 V3 (PS5609-LOG) (1) | ○ | ○ | ○ |
| Pumping library for AC500 V3 (PS5608-Pump) (*) |
○ | ○ | ○ |
| FTP client library for AC500 V2 (PS554) (*) | - | ● | ● |
| Signal processing package for AC500 V2 (*) | - | ● | ● |
| Pumping library for AC500 V2 (PS571) (*) | - | ● | ● |
| HVAC library for AC500 V3 (*) | ○ |
○ | ○ |
| HVAC library for AC500 V2 (*) | - | ● | ● |
| Process control objects (PCO) library (*) |
● | ● |
● |
| Ethernet/IP (PS5613-ETHIP) (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| EtherCAT onboard (PS5615-ECAT) (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| PROFINET I/O Controller onboard (PS5623-PN-C-e) (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| PROFINET I/O Device onboard (PS5623-PN-D-e) (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| OPC UA client (PS5616-UACli) (1) | - | ○ | ○ |
| DNP3 outstation onboard (PS5614-DNP3-O) (1) | - | ○ |
○ |
| Further features | |||
| PLC multi download tool for large installations | ● | ● | ● |
| OPC server tool, license manager, installation manager, PLC gateway, IP configuration tool |
● | ● | ● |
| Operating systems | |||
| Windows 11 (32/64 Bit) Professional/Enterprise, Windows 10 (32/64 Bit) Professional/Enterprise, Windows Server 2012 R2 64 Bit, Windows Server 2019 |
● | ● | ● |
| PC requirements | |||
| Minimum: 1 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 5-18 GB free disk space | ● | ● | ● |
● included ○ optional (additional license required) as integrated tool / feature / library ◊ optional (additional license required) as standalone tool / feature - not integrated in Automation Builder (1) Additional runtime license per PLC required. (2) In preparation (*) Technology Preview: Technology Previews are non-final versions of our product and should not be taken as a measure of the fit, finish, capability, and overall quality of the product. |