Use, change and pass on the software freely, except to run an online service that competes with Confluent. Not open source, and it never converts.
On this page
What it does
The Confluent Community License Agreement 1.0 grants a royalty-free, worldwide license to use the software, prepare changes and new works, distribute it and make copies. One purpose is carved out, and the agreement calls it the Excluded Purpose: making available any software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service or other similar online service that competes with Confluent products or services that provide the software. Confluent uses it for parts of its platform, such as ksqlDB and several Kafka connectors, next to the Apache 2.0 parts.
Details
The carve-out is narrower than the fear it creates. Running the software to power your own product is inside the grant, including a product you sell and host. What is outside is offering the software to others as a hosted service that competes with Confluent. Unlike the Business Source License there is no date on which any of this changes, and unlike the Elastic License there is no license-key clause. Distribution is allowed, so the notice work matters: a changed copy must say it was changed, and the Confluent notice must travel with every copy.
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
Commercial use
You may use the software in a product you sell, and host that product yourself.
Modify
You may prepare changes and new works based on the software.
Distribute
You may distribute the software, in source form or built form, and make copies.
Limits
Competing online service
You may not use it to offer a hosted service that competes with the publisher's products, or with the services that provide the software.
Sublicense
The license cannot be sublicensed. Each recipient takes the same agreement directly.
Use trademark
Confluent keeps its trademarks and service marks. The agreement grants no license to them.
Hold liable
The authors disclaim warranty. Recipients cannot hold them liable for damages arising from the software, except where law forbids that disclaimer.
Obligations
Include copyright
Reproduce every copyright and ownership notice in the software on each copy you pass on.
Include notice
Each copy carries the notice naming the Confluent Community License Agreement 1.0 and where to read it.
State changes
A copy you changed carries prominent notices saying that you changed it.
What Confluent-Community-1.0 requires when you ship
Confluent-Community-1.0 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 not offering an online service that competes with Confluent products or with the services that provide this software.
You use it inside your own product or platform, which the agreement allows, including a product you sell and host yourself.
A copy you changed carries prominent notices saying that you changed it.
Every copy you pass on keeps all copyright and ownership notices, and carries the notice naming this agreement and where to read it.
You are not sublicensing it. Each recipient takes the same agreement directly, rather than terms from you.
The duties named in Confluent-Community-1.0
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.
Include copyright
Reproduce every copyright and ownership notice in the software on each copy you pass on.
Include notice
Each copy carries the notice naming the Confluent Community License Agreement 1.0 and where to read it.
State changes
A copy you changed carries prominent notices saying that you changed it.
Things to be aware of
- Teams see Confluent code next to Apache 2.0 code in the same product and assume one license. The two grants are different, and so is the review.
- Teams read the service carve-out as a ban on hosting. Hosting your own product on it is allowed. Offering this software as a service is not.
- Teams wait for a conversion date like the one in the Business Source License. This agreement has none, so the limit stays for good.
What the Confluent Community License 1.0 does not do
Search results often flatten Confluent Community License 1.0 into a slogan. These are the usual misreads. Confluent-Community-1.0 is a grant with conditions, not a permission to skip the paperwork below.
- The Confluent Community License is not an OSI-approved open source license. The Excluded Purpose is a limit on the field of use.
- It does not convert to an open license on a later date, and it does not stop you from selling a product that runs on the software.
How Confluent-Community-1.0 differs from nearby licenses
These licenses are often confused with Confluent-Community-1.0, but their release duties differ. Each row summarizes what the license requires when you ship. Open the linked page for the full checklist.
- Confluent-Community-1.0
- Use, change and pass on the software freely, except to run an online service that competes with Confluent. Not open source, and it never converts.
- Elastic-2.0
- Source available with three prohibitions: no offering it as a managed service, no defeating the license keys, no removing notices.
- BUSL-1.1
- Source available, not open source. Each version converts to an open license on its own Change Date, usually four years after release.
- source-available
- You can read the code. That is not the same as permission to use it any way you like. Source available is not open source.
Common questions about Confluent Community License 1.0
Answers to common questions about what Confluent Community License 1.0 requires, when its duties apply, and what evidence belongs with a release.
What is the Confluent Community License 1.0?
The Confluent Community License Agreement 1.0 grants a royalty-free, worldwide license to use the software, prepare changes and new works, distribute it and make copies. One purpose is carved out, and the agreement calls it the Excluded Purpose: making available any software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service or other similar online service that competes with Confluent products or services that provide the software. Confluent uses it for parts of its platform, such as ksqlDB and several Kafka connectors, next to the Apache 2.0 parts.
What does Confluent-Community-1.0 require when you ship a product?
You are not offering an online service that competes with Confluent products or with the services that provide this software. You use it inside your own product or platform, which the agreement allows, including a product you sell and host yourself. A copy you changed carries prominent notices saying that you changed it. Every copy you pass on keeps all copyright and ownership notices, and carries the notice naming this agreement and where to read it. You are not sublicensing it. Each recipient takes the same agreement directly, rather than terms from you.
Is Confluent-Community-1.0 open source?
Not in the OSI sense. Confluent-Community-1.0 is source-available: you can read the code, but the grant restricts how you may use it. Read the actual text.
How is Confluent-Community-1.0 different from Elastic License 2.0?
Confluent-Community-1.0 asks this: Use, change and pass on the software freely, except to run an online service that competes with Confluent. Not open source, and it never converts. Elastic License 2.0 asks this: Source available with three prohibitions: no offering it as a managed service, no defeating the license keys, no removing notices. Open the Elastic License 2.0 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 Confluent-Community-1.0 for a buyer?
The catalog records Confluent-Community-1.0 as source available, and as a license a network deployment does not clear. A network distribution review item therefore appears on the checklist for SaaS and mixed projects, and publishing stays blocked until a person confirms it. The identifier is a templated one, so the fetch never lands it on confirmed, and the text found in the package is put in front of you. The stored text is what your attestation page and your exports carry, which is how a recipient learns that the same limit applies to them.
Where do I record Confluent-Community-1.0 for a buyer?
The catalog records Confluent-Community-1.0 as source available, and as a license a network deployment does not clear. A network distribution review item therefore appears on the checklist for SaaS and mixed projects, and publishing stays blocked until a person confirms it.
The identifier is a templated one, so the fetch never lands it on confirmed, and the text found in the package is put in front of you. The stored text is what your attestation page and your exports carry, which is how a recipient learns that the same limit applies to them.
Related licenses
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.