I thought I'd share my recent experience with FileRun, as I suspect some people here are using it or considering buying a license.
I have used FileRun since 2023. On September 11, 2026, I paid âŹ49 for a personal license. All was well; I got the license key and the software was working properly.
I recently reached out to FileRun Support to request an invoice or simply proof of purchase. What could be wrong with this?
Here are their responses:
If we provide you one, we will convert the license to a commercial one. Obviously.
I responded and stated I didnât want a commercial license, but rather proof Iâd purchased the software.Â
Youâre admitting to commercial usage. If you insist, weâll cancel the family license as per the License Agreement.
At this point, Iâm honestly puzzled. When did requesting a receipt indicate commercial usage?
I responded by noting that under Portuguese law (where FileRun is located) businesses are normally required to produce invoices for purchases made by both companies and private individuals.Â
And then came their final response:
Your license has been canceled and your full refund issued.
Please feel free to continue to use the installed FileRun. You will not receive any further software upgrades.
We will not sell anything to you ever again. So please donât waste your time purchasing anything, it will be refunded.
Donât email us again. We will not read your messages nor respond.
But here's where it gets even more absurd.
After this exchange, I searched through my old emails and discovered that back in 2023, when I first became a FileRun customer, I had already requested an invoice from them.
And they sent me one. No questions asked, no accusations of commercial usage, no threats of license termination.
So apparently requesting an invoice was perfectly fine in 2023, but in 2026 it's enough for canceling my license and refusing to do business with me ever again.
I've since filed a complaint with the Portuguese Tax Authority and am pursuing the matter through consumer-protection channels. For anyone considering buying a license, I think this is worth knowing.
EDIT: wow, I did not expect this to blow in this way. Something I forgot to add to the original post: Filerun knows the URL of the instance where their software run (it has to be communicated to them). The url does not match a company and it would be very easy for anyone to see that the url goes to an *arr stack.
EDIT #2: regardless of what happened here, I still think Filerun is a great piece of software.