MathLive

Terms of service

Last updated 27 October 2026

These terms cover your MathLive account and the cloud scanner. The plugin's code is open source under the MIT license, which has its own terms.

The service

MathLive is a plugin for Obsidian with a free visual math editor and an optional cloud scanner that turns images of formulas into LaTeX. MathLive is run by Dan Zilberman ("we"). It is not made by or affiliated with Obsidian.

Your account

  • You sign in with Google and are responsible for what happens with your account and its API keys.
  • Keep your API keys private. If one leaks, remove it on your account page and create a new one.
  • One person per account. Don't share an unlimited plan with others or resell access.

Plans and payment

  • Prices are shown on the pricing page in US dollars. Purchases are sold and processed by Polar (polar.sh), our merchant of record, which also handles sales tax and receipts.
  • A scan only counts against your balance when it returns a formula. Purchased scans don't expire.
  • Monthly and yearly plans renew automatically every month or year until you cancel from your account (or in PayPal, for plans started there before the move to Polar). Cancelling stops future payments, and unlimited scans last until the end of the month or year you paid for.
  • “Unlimited” and “lifetime” mean unlimited personal use of the cloud scanner for as long as we run it, subject to fair-use rate limits that normal use never reaches.
  • Refunds are covered by the refund policy.

Acceptable use

Don't use MathLive to:

  • scan images you don't have the right to use, or that are illegal;
  • overload, probe or get around the limits of our servers, or scan in bulk with automated tools;
  • build a competing service from our scanner's output.

We may suspend accounts that break these rules, and will refund unused paid time when we do unless the use was abusive.

Your content

Images you scan and the formulas returned are yours. We only process them to give you the result, as described in the privacy policy.

Scanner results

The scanner uses AI models. It is usually right, but it can misread formulas, especially handwriting. Check results before relying on them.

Availability and changes

We work hard to keep scanning available and publish its live status, but we can't promise it will never be down. We may change or improve the service. If we ever shut the cloud scanner down, we'll give at least 60 days' notice and refund monthly plans for unused time, and the editor will keep working because it runs on your computer.

Liability

MathLive is provided “as is”. To the extent the law allows, we aren't liable for indirect or consequential losses, and our total liability for any claim is limited to what you paid us in the 12 months before it. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under consumer protection law.

Changes to these terms

We'll update the date at the top when these terms change, and say so on this site before important changes take effect. Questions? email [email protected].