Choose an open source license

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/WebSite"> <meta charset="utf-8"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Chivo:900"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/assets/css/application.css?v=7923e10f7f5ea49ec1f43c721e0a8826085831c4"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no">  <title>Choose an open source license | Choose a License</title> <meta name="generator" content="Jekyll v3.10.0" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Choose an open source license" /> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US" /> <meta name="description" content="Non-judgmental guidance on choosing a license for your open source project" /> <meta property="og:description" content="Non-judgmental guidance on choosing a license for your open source project" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://choosealicense.com/" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://choosealicense.com/" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Choose a License" /> <meta property="og:type" content="website" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary" /> <meta property="twitter:title" content="Choose an open source license" /> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@github" /> <script type="application/ld+json"> {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","description":"Non-judgmental guidance on choosing a license for your open source project","headline":"Choose an open source license","name":"Choose a License","url":"https://choosealicense.com/"}</script>  </head> <body class="default home"> <div class="container"> <h1>Choose an open source license</h1> <p>An open source license protects contributors and users. Businesses and savvy developers won鈥檛 touch a project without this protection.</p> <h2> <span>{</span> Which of the following best describes your situation? <span>}</span> </h2> <ul class="triptych situations clearfix"> <li class="existing"> <a href="community/"> <span class="triptych-sprite community"></span> <h3>I need to work in a community.</h3> </a> <p> Use the <a href="community/">license preferred by the community</a> you鈥檙e contributing to or depending on. Your project will fit right in. </p> <p> If you have a dependency that doesn鈥檛 have a license, ask its maintainers to <a href="no-permission/#for-users">add a license</a>. </p> </li> <li class="whatever"> <a href="licenses/mit/"> <span class="triptych-sprite three-arrows"></span> <h3>I want it simple and permissive.</h3> </a> <p> The <a href="licenses/mit/">MIT License</a> is short and to the point. It lets people do almost anything they want with your project, like making and distributing closed source versions. </p> <p> <a href="https://github.com/babel/babel/blob/master/LICENSE">Babel</a>, <a href="https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/blob/main/LICENSE.TXT">.NET</a>, and <a href="https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/MIT-LICENSE">Rails</a> use the MIT License. </p> </li> <li class="copyleft"> <a href="licenses/gpl-3.0/"> <span class="triptych-sprite circular"></span> <h3>I care about sharing improvements.</h3> </a> <p> The <a href="licenses/gpl-3.0/">GNU GPLv3</a> also lets people do almost anything they want with your project, <em>except</em> distributing closed source versions. </p> <p> <a href="https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/COPYING">Ansible</a>, <a href="https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/bash.git/tree/COPYING">Bash</a>, and <a href="https://git.gnome.org/browse/gimp/tree/COPYING">GIMP</a> use the GNU GPLv3. </p> </li> </ul> <h2> <span>{</span> What if none of these work for me? <span>}</span> </h2> <ul class="triptych see-more clearfix"> <li> <h3>My project isn鈥檛 software.</h3> <p> <a href="non-software/">There are licenses for that</a>. </p> </li> <li> <h3>I want more choices.</h3> <p> <a href="licenses/">More licenses are available</a>. </p> </li> <li> <h3>I don鈥檛 want to choose a license.</h3> <p> <a href="no-permission/">Here鈥檚 what happens if you don鈥檛</a>. </p> </li> </ul> <footer class="site-footer clearfix"> <nav> <a href="/about/">About</a> <a href="/terms-of-service/">Terms of Service</a> <a href="https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com/edit/gh-pages/index.html">Help improve this page</a> </nav> <p> The content of this site is licensed under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/"> Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>. </p> <div class="with-love"> Curated with 鉂わ笍 by <a href="https://github.com">GitHub, Inc.</a> and <a href="https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com">You!</a> </div> </footer> </div>  </body> </html>

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Choose an open source license | Choose a License