License Overview

Open-source licenses at a glance — what you can, must and cannot do.

MIT

MIT License

The most permissive standard license. Allows almost everything as long as the copyright notice is retained.

Permitted:
Commercial use, modification, distribution, private use
Required:
Include license and copyright notice
Forbidden:
Author liability
Apache-2.0

Apache License 2.0

Similar to MIT but with explicit patent grant. Ideal for businesses.

Permitted:
Commercial use, modification, distribution, patent use
Required:
Include license, document changes
Forbidden:
Trademark use, liability
GPL-3.0

GNU General Public License v3

Copyleft license: derived works must also be published under GPL. Protects software freedom.

Permitted:
Commercial use, modification, distribution
Required:
Publish source code, use same license
Forbidden:
Liability, proprietary sublicensing
AGPL-3.0

GNU Affero General Public License v3

Like GPL, but also for server software: if you offer the software over a network, you must provide the source code.

Permitted:
Commercial use, modification, distribution
Required:
Provide source code (even for network use)
Forbidden:
Liability, proprietary sublicensing
LGPL-3.0

GNU Lesser General Public License v3

Weaker copyleft: the library stays free, but programs using it may be proprietary.

Permitted:
Commercial use, linking with proprietary code
Required:
Publish changes to the library
Forbidden:
Liability
MPL-2.0

Mozilla Public License 2.0

File-level copyleft: modified files must stay under MPL, new files can be proprietary.

Permitted:
Commercial use, modification, mixing with proprietary code
Required:
Disclose modified MPL files
Forbidden:
Liability, trademark use
BSD-2/3-Clause

BSD License

Very permissive, similar to MIT. The 3-Clause variant additionally prohibits using the project name for advertising.

Permitted:
Commercial use, modification, distribution
Required:
Include copyright notice
Forbidden:
Liability