Non-commercial use only, and adaptations stay under the same NC-SA terms. A paid product cannot rely on this grant.
On this page
What it does
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 combines two limits. You may copy, adapt and share the work for non-commercial purposes if you credit the creator and license Adapted Material under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The NonCommercial definition is the license's own: nothing primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. Share-alike still attaches when you do release an adaptation. This is content licensing, not OSI open source. Icon packs, teaching materials and community art often arrive this way.
Details
A paid or ad-supported product is outside the grant, and share-alike does not fix that. The two paths that work are buying a commercial license, or replacing the asset. If you stay inside non-commercial use and you adapt the work, the adaptation has to go out under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, not under CC BY-SA or a proprietary wrap. Attribution remains a separate section 3(a) duty in every case.
Pros
- Naming both limits (NonCommercial and share-alike) is better than forcing a nearby SPDX id.
- Unchanged non-commercial use is the easy case: credit the creator and keep the notices reachable.
Cons
- A commercial product has to replace the asset or buy a separate license. No checklist item lifts the use limit.
- 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.
Same license
Adapted Material you share must go out under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Share-alike does not lift the NonCommercial limit.
What CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 requires when you ship
CC-BY-NC-SA-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 handle Adapted Material when that changed version also goes out under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, not under a more permissive Creative Commons member.
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, or replace the asset with one that has no NonCommercial limit.
You stay inside section 3(a)(2) when the credit sits somewhere a user can reasonably reach from the asset, even on a non-commercial site.
The duties named in CC-BY-NC-SA-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.
Same license
Adapted Material you share must go out under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Share-alike does not lift the NonCommercial limit.
Things to be aware of
- A designer downloads a 'free' icon set, sees SA, and misses NC. Share-alike does not make commercial use permitted.
- Teams recolour the set for a non-commercial project and ship it as CC BY-SA. The adaptation has to stay NC-SA.
- Teams treat an internal tool at a commercial company as non-commercial by default. That reading is contested, so write down who decided it.
What the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 does not do
Search results often flatten Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 into a slogan. These are the usual misreads. CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 is a grant with conditions, not a permission to skip the paperwork below.
- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 does not permit commercial use. Meeting share-alike and credit does not open a paid product.
- It does not let you relicense an adaptation under CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY 4.0. Share-alike here keeps the NonCommercial limit.
How CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 differs from nearby licenses
These licenses are often confused with CC-BY-NC-SA-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-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-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-SA-4.0
- Use it commercially, but anything you build on it stays under the same license. This is where Stack Overflow snippets bite.
- 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.
Common questions about Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Answers to common questions about what Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 requires, when its duties apply, and what evidence belongs with a release.
What is the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0?
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 combines two limits. You may copy, adapt and share the work for non-commercial purposes if you credit the creator and license Adapted Material under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The NonCommercial definition is the license's own: nothing primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. Share-alike still attaches when you do release an adaptation. This is content licensing, not OSI open source. Icon packs, teaching materials and community art often arrive this way.
What does CC-BY-NC-SA-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 handle Adapted Material when that changed version also goes out under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, not under a more permissive Creative Commons member. 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, or replace the asset with one that has no NonCommercial limit. You stay inside section 3(a)(2) when the credit sits somewhere a user can reasonably reach from the asset, even on a non-commercial site.
Is CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 open source?
Not in the OSI sense. CC-BY-NC-SA-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-SA-4.0 different from Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0?
CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 asks this: Non-commercial use only, and adaptations stay under the same NC-SA terms. A paid product cannot rely on this grant. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 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. Open the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 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-SA-4.0 for a buyer?
The identifier starts with CC-BY, so the attribution item appears in every deployment context and a person has to confirm it before you publish. It also starts with CC-BY-NC, so the component page shows a restricted-use warning. There is no obligation in the product for the NonCommercial limit or for share-alike on adaptations. Those decisions are yours.
Where do I record CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 for a buyer?
The identifier starts with CC-BY, so the attribution item appears in every deployment context and a person has to confirm it before you publish. It also starts with CC-BY-NC, so the component page shows a restricted-use warning.
There is no obligation in the product for the NonCommercial limit or for share-alike on adaptations. Those decisions are yours.
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.