Software licences explained
The licence decides what you may do with the software: run it, change it, host it for others or build it into your own product. Here we explain the licence types in our catalog in plain language, and what they mean for eight common use cases.
This is guidance, not legal advice. Check with a lawyer before deciding.
What is open source?
Open source means the source code is published under a licence that lets anyone use, study, change and share the program, for any purpose, including commercially.
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) reviews licences against its Open Source Definition. We only call OSI-approved licences open source. Being able to read the code on GitHub is not enough.
OSI-approved or source-available?
Source-available licences publish the code but limit its use, usually by forbidding others from offering it as a service or competing with the vendor. They can be perfectly reasonable for internal use, but they are not open source and we label them clearly.
Licences sometimes change between versions. A project that was MIT last year may be source-available today, and parts of a project (for example an ee/ or enterprise folder) can carry a different licence from the rest. Always check the licence of the exact version and parts you use.
Colour legend
Verdict per use case
- Allowed
- Conditions apply
- Not allowed without an agreement
- Not applicable
- Unclear – verify
Licence badges on products
- Permissive open source
- Copyleft (open source with sharing duties)
- Conditions apply: network copyleft, source-available, custom
- Not for business use without an agreement
- Free but not open source
Licence families
Permissive Permissive licences
You may use, change, host and redistribute the code freely, even in closed commercial products. The main requirement is that the licence and copyright notice travel with the code when you redistribute it.
Examples: MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD-2-Clause, BSD-3-Clause
Licences in the catalog
- MIT License · 218 products
- Apache License 2.0 · 230 products
- BSD 2-Clause License · 6 products
- BSD 3-Clause License · 24 products
- ISC License · 1 product
- PostgreSQL License · 2 products
- zlib License · 1 product
- The Unlicense · 1 product
- Creative Commons Zero 1.0 · 1 product
- Educational Community License 2.0 · 1 product
Weak copyleft Weak copyleft
Changes to the licensed code itself (the library or files) must be shared if you distribute them, but your own code that merely uses it is not affected. Internal use and hosting as a service are free.
Examples: LGPL-2.1, LGPL-3.0, MPL-2.0, EPL-2.0
Licences in the catalog
Strong copyleft Strong copyleft
Free to run internally and as a web service. If you distribute the program, or a product built on it, the whole work must be licensed under the same licence and the source must come with it.
Examples: GPL-2.0, GPL-3.0
Licences in the catalog
Network copyleft (AGPL) Network copyleft (AGPL)
Like the GPL, plus a network clause: if you change the program and users reach it over a network, including your own staff, you must offer them the modified source. Running it unmodified is free.
Examples: AGPL-3.0
Licences in the catalog
Source-available (not OSI) Source-available (not open source)
The code is public but the licence limits its use, usually against offering it as a service or competing with the vendor. Internal use is often allowed. Several variants turn open source after a date (the BSL Change Date, Fair Source after two years).
Examples: Business Source License (BSL/BUSL), Server Side Public License (SSPL), Elastic License 2.0 (ELv2), Fair Source licences such as the Fair Core License (FCL) and Functional Source License (FSL), Sustainable Use License, Monospace Sustainable Core License
Licences in the catalog
- Business Source License 1.1 · 4 products
- Elastic License 2.0 · 6 products
- Sustainable Use License · 2 products
- Fair Core License 1.0 (ALv2 future licence) · 1 product
- tldraw license · 1 product
- Monospace Sustainable Core License 1.0 (GPL future licence) · 1 product
- Server Side Public License 1.0 · 1 product
- Functional Source License 1.1 (FSL) · 3 products
- Commons Clause (on top of an OSS licence) · 1 product
- Craft License (Pixel & Tonic) · 1 product
- Statamic License · 1 product
- PLANKA Community License 1.1 (Fair Use License) · 1 product
- Any Source Available License 1.0 · 1 product
- Fair Core License 1.0 (MIT future licence) · 1 product
- PolyForm Shield License 1.0.0 · 1 product
Custom licence Custom licences
A well-known licence with vendor additions, for example a requirement to keep the logo visible or a ban on multi-tenant hosting. We never guess a standard licence for modified text; read the terms.
Examples: Open WebUI License, Dify Open Source License
Licences in the catalog
Custom AI licence AI model licences
Many AI models have their own licences with an acceptable-use policy (AUP), user-count thresholds and sometimes geographic limits. The same model family can have different licences per version: check the model card of the exact model you use. AI used for HR decisions is high-risk under the EU AI Act.
Examples: Llama Community License (Meta), Gemma Terms of Use (Google), OpenRAIL licences, Qwen licences (some Qwen models are Apache-2.0), DeepSeek licences (some DeepSeek models are MIT), Mistral licences (some Mistral models are Apache-2.0, others research-only)
Licences in the catalog
Non-commercial Non-commercial licences
Free only for personal use, research, education or evaluation. Any use in a business needs a commercial agreement. We never recommend them as alternatives.
Examples: CC BY-NC, PolyForm Noncommercial, Screenpipe Commercial License
Licences in the catalog
Free, not open source Free but not open source (freeware/proprietary)
The program costs nothing to use under the vendor's terms, but you get no source code and no right to change or redistribute it. The terms can change at any time, and the free tier sometimes covers personal use only: check what applies to business use. We never call it open source.
Examples: Free desktop apps and free tiers, for example LM Studio
Licences in the catalog
No licence No licence
Code without a licence is not free to use, even if it is public: all rights are reserved to the author. We don't include such projects in the catalog.
Examples: Repositories without a LICENSE file
No product in the catalog uses a licence of this type right now.
The use cases we assess
- U1 Self-hosted, internal use, unmodified
- You install the software on your own servers or cloud and use it internally, without changing the code.
- U2 Self-hosted and modified
- As above, but you change the code: your own features, plugins or integrations.
- U3 Novro hosts it for you (single-tenant)
- Novro or another vendor runs the software as a service (SaaS) for you, in a separate instance per customer.
- U4 Shared multi-tenant instance
- One shared instance used by several customers at once (multi-tenant).
- U5 In your cloud, managed by Novro
- The software runs in your own cloud account but is installed and managed by Novro or another partner.
- U6 Redistribution (builds, images, appliances)
- You pass the software on: ship builds, container images or appliances, or embed it in your own product that you give or sell to others.
- U7 Commercial use
- You use the software in a business that makes money, internally or with customers.
- U8 AI acceptable use (AUP, EU AI Act)
- For AI models: may the model be used for your purpose under the licence's acceptable-use policy and the EU AI Act?
Licence family by use case
| Licence family | U1 | U2 | U3 | U4 | U5 | U6 | U7 | U8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permissive | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Not applicable |
| Weak copyleft | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Conditions apply | Allowed | Not applicable |
| Strong copyleft | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Conditions apply | Allowed | Not applicable |
| Network copyleft (AGPL) | Allowed | Conditions apply | Allowed | Conditions apply | Allowed | Conditions apply | Allowed | Not applicable |
| Source-available (not OSI) | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Conditions apply | Not allowed without an agreement | Conditions apply | Not applicable |
| Non-commercial | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement |
| Custom AI licence | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply |
| Custom licence | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Conditions apply | Not applicable |
| Free, not open source | Conditions apply | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Conditions apply | Not allowed without an agreement | Conditions apply | Not applicable |
| No licence | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement | Not allowed without an agreement |
Building on it: four questions
On every product page we answer four questions about building on the project. The answers come from the same licence engine as the per-use-case verdicts.
- B1 Change the code for internal use in your company
- May you adapt the code, add features or integrations, and run your own version internally? Under the AGPL an extra condition applies if users reach it over a network.
- B2 Build your own product or service on top and offer it to customers as SaaS
- May you build your own product or service on top and sell it as SaaS? Permissive licences and the GPL: yes. AGPL: yes, but your changes must be shared with users. BSL, SSPL, ELv2, FSL and Sustainable Use: usually no for competing services.
- B3 Make a closed-source derivative and sell or distribute it
- May you make a closed-source derivative and sell or distribute it? Permissive licences: yes. LGPL/MPL: yes if your code stays separate. GPL and AGPL: no, the derivative must carry the same licence.
- B4 Use the project's name and trademark
- May you use the project's name and logo? Almost never without permission: the licence covers the code, not the trademark.
| Licence family | B1 | B2 | B3 | B4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permissive | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Weak copyleft | Yes | Yes | Yes, with conditions | No |
| Strong copyleft | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Network copyleft (AGPL) | Yes, with conditions | Yes, with conditions | No | No |
| Source-available (not OSI) | Yes, with conditions | No | No | No |
| Non-commercial | No | No | No | No |
| Custom AI licence | Yes, with conditions | Yes, with conditions | Yes, with conditions | No |
| Custom licence | Yes, with conditions | Yes, with conditions | Unclear – verify | No |
| Free, not open source | No | No | No | No |
| No licence | No | No | No | No |
This is guidance, not legal advice. Check with a lawyer before deciding.