Free for non-commercial purposes only. In a paid or ad-supported product the grant does not reach you, whatever the download page said.
On this page
What it does
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 lets anyone use, adapt and share a work, for non-commercial purposes only. It is not an open source license and it is not open content under the usual definitions, because the limit lands on the use itself rather than on how you distribute. The license defines the boundary in its own words: nothing primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. It shows up on icon packs, stock photography, sound libraries and academic data sets.
Details
This is the asset that stops a release. If your product is sold, ad-supported, or used to run a commercial business, the grant does not reach it, and no checklist item fixes that. Attribution does not cure it. Putting the credit in your about box does not cure it. The two paths that work are buying a commercial license from the creator, or replacing the asset. Internal use inside a company is argued both ways, and the cautious reading treats a commercial company's internal tooling as commercial.
Pros
- Naming the situation (no license, dual license, exception, custom text) is better than forcing a nearby SPDX id.
- Once the files are read, the rest of the review looks like any other component.
Cons
- Auto-fetch and SPDX matching will not finish this for you. A person has to read what shipped.
- Wrong SPDX on a dual-license or LicenseRef package is a common attestation error.
What it allows and requires
Choose a category to see the full grant in one scannable list. Permissions show what the license allows, limits show what it withholds, and obligations show the conditions your release process must satisfy.
Permissions
Modify
You may adapt the work, within the license's share-alike or non-commercial limits if those apply.
Distribute
You may share copies of the original and, where allowed, of your adaptations.
Limits
Hold liable
The authors disclaim warranty. Recipients cannot hold them liable for damages arising from the software, except where law forbids that disclaimer.
Use trademark
The license is not a trademark license. Names, logos and product marks stay with their owners unless a separate grant says otherwise.
Commercial use
CC-BY-NC does not allow commercial use. A paid product, ads, or other commercial advantage is outside the grant.
Obligations
Give credit
Give the credit the license asks for, in a reasonable manner, without implying endorsement.
What CC-BY-NC-4.0 requires when you ship
CC-BY-NC-4.0 is readable source with use limits. The work is to match your use to the written grant, then keep the text on the record so procurement can read it. Do not treat a source-available identifier as OSI-style open source because the code is on GitHub.
You are inside the grant when the project using the work is genuinely non-commercial, and the credit carries the creator's name, the copyright and license notices, a link to the work and any change.
You are outside it when the product is sold, ad-supported, or used for commercial advantage, which is the license's own wording rather than a reading of it.
You resolve a commercial product when you buy a separate license from the creator and record that agreement against the component.
You resolve it the cheaper way when you replace the asset with one under CC-BY-4.0 or another license that carries no use restriction.
You keep internal use defensible when you get a written answer from counsel, because internal use at a commercial company is argued both ways.
The duties named in CC-BY-NC-4.0
The written grant is the source of the limits. These rows are the usual conditions teams have to match against their actual use, then keep on the record.
Give credit
Give the credit the license asks for, in a reasonable manner, without implying endorsement.
Things to be aware of
- A designer downloads an icon set marked free, the NC suffix goes unread, and it ships in a paid product. Check the suffix before the asset enters the repository.
- Teams think attribution fixes it. The credit is a separate condition, and meeting it does not make commercial use permitted.
- Teams assume the family members behave alike. CC BY-NC-SA adds share-alike on top, and CC BY-NC-ND forbids sharing adaptations at all.
- Teams treat an internal tool as non-commercial by default. That reading is contested, so make the decision deliberately and write down who made it.
What the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 does not do
Search results often flatten Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 into a slogan. These are the usual misreads. CC-BY-NC-4.0 is a grant with conditions, not a permission to skip the paperwork below.
- CC BY-NC 4.0 does not permit commercial use. Attribution does not cure a paid, ad-supported, or commercially advantaged product.
- It is not OSI open source and not open content under the usual definitions. The limit lands on the use itself.
How CC-BY-NC-4.0 differs from nearby licenses
These licenses are often confused with CC-BY-NC-4.0, but their release duties differ. Each row summarizes what the license requires when you ship. Open the linked page for the full checklist.
- CC-BY-NC-4.0
- Free for non-commercial purposes only. In a paid or ad-supported product the grant does not reach you, whatever the download page said.
- CC-BY-4.0
- Credit the creator and you may use the work commercially. The credit may sit anywhere a user can reasonably find it.
- CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0
- Non-commercial use only, and adaptations stay under the same NC-SA terms. A paid product cannot rely on this grant.
- CC-BY-SA-4.0
- Use it commercially, but anything you build on it stays under the same license. This is where Stack Overflow snippets bite.
Common questions about Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0
Answers to common questions about what Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 requires, when its duties apply, and what evidence belongs with a release.
What is the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0?
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 lets anyone use, adapt and share a work, for non-commercial purposes only. It is not an open source license and it is not open content under the usual definitions, because the limit lands on the use itself rather than on how you distribute. The license defines the boundary in its own words: nothing primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. It shows up on icon packs, stock photography, sound libraries and academic data sets.
What does CC-BY-NC-4.0 require when you ship a product?
You are inside the grant when the project using the work is genuinely non-commercial, and the credit carries the creator's name, the copyright and license notices, a link to the work and any change. You are outside it when the product is sold, ad-supported, or used for commercial advantage, which is the license's own wording rather than a reading of it. You resolve a commercial product when you buy a separate license from the creator and record that agreement against the component. You resolve it the cheaper way when you replace the asset with one under CC-BY-4.0 or another license that carries no use restriction. You keep internal use defensible when you get a written answer from counsel, because internal use at a commercial company is argued both ways.
Is CC-BY-NC-4.0 open source?
Not in the OSI sense. CC-BY-NC-4.0 is source-available: you can read the code, but the grant restricts how you may use it. Read the actual text.
How is CC-BY-NC-4.0 different from Creative Commons Attribution 4.0?
CC-BY-NC-4.0 asks this: Free for non-commercial purposes only. In a paid or ad-supported product the grant does not reach you, whatever the download page said. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 asks this: Credit the creator and you may use the work commercially. The credit may sit anywhere a user can reasonably find it. Open the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 page for what that license requires when you ship. Do not treat the SPDX ids as interchangeable because the short names look similar.
Where do I record CC-BY-NC-4.0 for a buyer?
Two things happen, and neither of them is a non-commercial check. The identifier starts with CC-BY, so the attribution item appears on the project checklist in every deployment context and a person has to confirm it before you publish. The identifier also starts with CC-BY-NC, so the component page shows a restricted-use warning saying the license limits how the component may be used. There is no obligation in the product for the non-commercial limit itself: that decision is yours, and it belongs with counsel.
Where do I record CC-BY-NC-4.0 for a buyer?
Two things happen, and neither of them is a non-commercial check. The identifier starts with CC-BY, so the attribution item appears on the project checklist in every deployment context and a person has to confirm it before you publish.
The identifier also starts with CC-BY-NC, so the component page shows a restricted-use warning saying the license limits how the component may be used. There is no obligation in the product for the non-commercial limit itself: that decision is yours, and it belongs with counsel.
Read /docs/reviewing-component for the review flow.
See also
The hub is the pillar for this cluster. Sibling licenses are the other spokes. Product FAQ links explain how SourceTrust records the duty, not the license text itself.
Practical guidance for procurement review, not legal advice. Confirm high-stakes use with counsel.