Licenses
License encyclopedia
What each common third-party license actually grants, what it does not, and where teams get it wrong. Plain language. Not legal advice.
Last updated: August 31, 2026
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Permissive licenses
When you ship permissively licensed code, keep the required copyright notices and license text with every copy. Your own source can usually remain private.
- MITMIT License
- Apache-2.0Apache License 2.0
- BSD-3-ClauseBSD 3-Clause License
- BSD-2-ClauseBSD 2-Clause License
- ISCISC License
- Zlibzlib License
- BSL-1.0Boost Software License 1.0
- PSF-2.0Python Software Foundation License 2.0
- PostgreSQLPostgreSQL License
- Unicode-3.0Unicode License v3
- NTPNTP License
- W3C-20150513W3C Software Notice and Document License (2015-05-13)
- XnetX.Net License
- OpenSSLOpenSSL License
- PHP-3.01PHP License 3.01
- MulticsMultics License
- MulanPSL-2.0Mulan Permissive Software License v2
- OGTSLOpen Group Test Suite License
- OFL-1.1SIL Open Font License 1.1
- CC-BY-4.0Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
- CC-BY-3.0Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
- AFL-3.0Academic Free License v3.0
- BSD-1-ClauseBSD 1-Clause License
- MIT-0MIT No Attribution
- BSD-4-ClauseBSD 4-Clause Original
- BSD-3-Clause-ClearBSD 3-Clause Clear
- Apache-1.1Apache License 1.1
- Apache-1.0Apache License 1.0
- PHP-3.0PHP License v3.0
- W3CW3C Software Notice and License
- BeerwareBeerware License
- X11X11 License
- Unicode-DFS-2016Unicode License Agreement – Data Files 2016
- CC-BY-2.0Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
- ODC-By-1.0Open Data Commons Attribution 1.0
- FairFair License
- EFL-2.0Eiffel Forum License v2.0
- VSL-1.0Vovida Software License v1.0
- NCSANCSA / University of Illinois License
- IntelIntel Open Source License
- ECL-2.0Educational Community License v2.0
- UPL-1.0Universal Permissive License v1.0
- BlueOak-1.0.0Blue Oak Model License 1.0.0
- BSD-2-Clause-FreeBSDBSD 2-Clause FreeBSD License
- BSD-2-Clause-NetBSDBSD 2-Clause NetBSD License
- MIT-CMUCMU MIT-style License
- SaxpathSaxpath License
- EntessaEntessa Public License
- Python-2.0Python License 2.0
- Net-SNMPNet-SNMP License
- CERN-OHL-P-2.0CERN Open Hardware Licence v2 Permissive
- CalderaCaldera License
Weak copyleft
When you ship a changed weak-copyleft library, provide that library's source under the same license and preserve its notices. Your surrounding application can usually remain closed.
- LGPL-2.1-or-laterGNU LGPL v2.1 or later
- LGPL-3.0-or-laterGNU LGPL v3.0 or later
- MPL-2.0Mozilla Public License 2.0
- NokiaNokia Open Source License 1.0a
- LGPL-2.1-onlyGNU LGPL v2.1 only
- LGPL-3.0-onlyGNU LGPL v3.0 only
- MPL-1.1Mozilla Public License 1.1
- EPL-2.0Eclipse Public License 2.0
- EPL-1.0Eclipse Public License 1.0
- CDDL-1.0Common Development and Distribution License 1.0
- OCLC-2.0OCLC Research Public License 2.0
- NASA-1.3NASA Open Source Agreement 1.3
- CC-BY-SA-4.0Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
- MS-PLMicrosoft Public License
- CPL-1.0Common Public License 1.0
- CDDL-1.1Common Development and Distribution License 1.1
- Artistic-2.0Artistic License 2.0
- RubyRuby License
- IPL-1.0IBM Public License 1.0
- SPL-1.0Sun Public License 1.0
- APSL-2.0Apple Public Source License 2.0
- CC-BY-SA-3.0Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
- ODbL-1.0Open Database License 1.0
- GFDL-1.3-onlyGNU Free Documentation License 1.3 only
- GFDL-1.2-onlyGNU Free Documentation License 1.2 only
- GFDL-1.1-onlyGNU Free Documentation License 1.1 only
- QPL-1.0Q Public License 1.0
- SleepycatSleepycat License
- SISSLSun Industry Standards Source License
- Jabber-OSLJabber Open Source License
- NaumenNaumen Public License
- MS-RLMicrosoft Reciprocal License
- Watcom-1.0Sybase Open Watcom Public License 1.0
- APL-1.0Adaptive Public License 1.0
- LPPL-1.3cLaTeX Project Public License v1.3c
- RSCPLRicoh Source Code Public License
- ClArtisticClarified Artistic License
Strong copyleft
When you ship a combined program with strong copyleft code, recipients can require the corresponding source of the whole program under the same license.
Network copyleft
Running network-copyleft software as a website or API can trigger a source duty even when no file is handed over. Check the deployed service as well as shipped artifacts.
Public domain and no-condition grants
These grants usually impose no notice, attribution, or source duty. Record them anyway so the published inventory remains complete.
Source available
Source-available terms limit use even though the code is readable. Match production, commercial, and competitive use against the actual license text before release.
- source-availableSource available licenses
- BUSL-1.1Business Source License 1.1
- Elastic-2.0Elastic License 2.0
- CC-BY-NC-4.0Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0
- CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
- PolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0
- PolyForm-Small-Business-1.0.0PolyForm Small Business 1.0.0
Proprietary and commercial
Compliance depends on the agreement your company signed, not a public license summary. Verify the order form, permitted use, term, and redistribution rights.
Special cases
No license, multiple choices, exceptions, and custom identifiers cannot be cleared from the short id alone. Record the governing text and review that exact case.
These guides are educational. They are not legal advice, and they do not certify a product.