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Add-On

Webopedia Staff
Last Updated May 24, 2021 7:34 am
Refers to a product designed to complement another product. For example, there are numerous add-on boards available that you can plug into a personal computer to give it additional capabilities. Another term for add-on board is expansion board.

Add-on products are also available for software applications. For example, there are add-on report generation programs that attach to popular database products such as dBASE, giving them additional report-generation and graphics capabilities.

The terms add-on and add-in are often, but not always, used synonymously. The term add-in can refer to individual chips you can insert into boards that are already installed in your computer. Add-on, on the other hand, almost always refers to an entire circuit board, cartridge, or program.