Comparison of free software licenses

This is a comparison of published free software licenses.

General comparison

The following table compares various features of each license and is a general guide to the terms and conditions of each license.^[1]

Note that a "yes" in either of the last two columns (Link with code using a different license and Release changes under a different license) is not an absolute answer, there may still be restrictions in the license related to this action. You should review the specific license terms^[2] and refer to the reference table^[1] for more details regarding a "yes" in these columns.

License	Author	Latest version	Publication date	Link with code using a different license	Release changes under a different license
Academic Free License	Lawrence E. Rosen	3	2002	Yes	Yes
Affero GPL	Free Software Foundation	3	2007	No	No
Apache License	Apache Software Foundation	2.0	2004	Yes	Yes
Apple Public Source License	Apple Computer	2.0	2003August 6, 2003	Yes	No
Artistic License	Larry Wall	2.0	2000	Yes	With restrictions
Berkeley Database License	Oracle Corporation	?	2008February 7, 2008	No	No
BSD license	Regents of the University of California	?	?	Yes	Yes
Boost Software License	?	1.0	2003August 17, 2003	Yes	Yes
Common Development and Distribution License	Sun Microsystems	1.0	2004December 1, 2004	Yes	Yes
Code Project Open License	The Code Project	1.0	2007	Yes	No
Common Public License	IBM	1.0	2001May 2001	Yes	No
Cryptix General License	Cryptix Foundation	?	1995	Yes	Yes
Eclipse Public License	Eclipse Foundation	1.0	February 2004	Yes	No
Educational Community License	?	1.0	?	Yes	Yes
Eiffel Forum License	NICE	2	2002	Yes	Yes
EUPL	European Commission	1.1	2009January 2009	Yes	With an explicit compatibility list
Fair Licence	?	N/A	2004	Yes	Yes
GNU General Public License	Free Software Foundation	3.0	2007June 2007	No	No
GNU Lesser General Public License	Free Software Foundation	3.0	2007June 2007	Yes	No
Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement	Hacktivismo/Cult of the Dead Cow	?	2002November 26, 2002	?	?
IBM Public License	IBM	1.0	1999August 1999	Yes	Yes
Intel Open Source License	Intel Corporation	?	?	Yes	Yes
ISC license	Internet Systems Consortium	?	2003June 2003	Yes	Yes
LaTeX Project Public License	LaTeX project	1.3c	?	Yes	Yes
MIT license / X11 license	MIT	N/A1	1988	Yes	Yes
Mozilla Public License	Mozilla Foundation	1.1	?	Yes	Limited
Netscape Public License	Netscape	1.1	?	?	?
OPaC Free Public License	OPaC bright ideas	?	1998	No	No
Open Software License	Lawrence Rosen	3.0	2005	Yes	No
OpenSSL license	OpenSSL Project	?	?	?	?
PHP License	PHP Group	3.01	?	Yes	Yes
Python Software Foundation License	Python Software Foundation	2	?	Yes	Yes
Q Public License	Trolltech	?	?	No	No
Sun Industry Standards Source License	Sun Microsystems	?	?	Yes	No
Sun Public License	Sun Microsystems	?	?	Yes	No
Sybase Open Watcom Public License	?	?	?	Yes	No
W3C Software Notice and License	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
XCore Open Source License	XMOS	?	February 2011	Yes	Yes
XFree86 1.1 License	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
zlib/libpng license	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
Zope Public License	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
License	Author	Latest version	Publication date	Link with code from a different license	Release changes under a different license

Approvals

This table lists for each license what organizations from the free software community have approved it - be it as a "free software" or as an “open source” license - and how those organizations categorize it. Organizations usually approve specific versions of software licenses.

License and specific version	FSF approval[3]	Compatible with GPL	OSI approval[2]	Debian approval[4][5]	Fedora Project approval[6]
Academic Free License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
Affero GPL version 3	Yes	Yes2	Yes	Yes	?
Apache License version 1	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Apache License version 1.1	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Apache License version 2	Yes	Yes2	Yes	Yes	Yes
Apple Public Source License version 1.x	No	No	?	No	No
Apple Public Source License version 2.0	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Artistic License 1.0	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Clarified Artistic License (draft 2.0)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Artistic License 2.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Berkeley Database License	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
original BSD license	Yes	No	No[7]	No	Yes
modified BSD license	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Boost Software License	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes
Common Development and Distribution License	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Common Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
Creative Commons licenses (Tags: by & sa)	Yes	No	?	≥ v3.0 only[8]	Yes
Creative Commons licenses (Tags: nc & nd)	No	No	?	No[8]	by-nd only
Cryptix General License	Yes	Yes	No	?	Yes
Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License (WTFPL)	Yes4	Yes	No[9]	?	Yes
Eclipse Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
Educational Community License	Yes	Yes2	Yes	?	Yes
Eiffel Forum License version 2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fair Licence	?	Yes	Yes	?	?
GNU General Public License	Yes	Yes3	Yes3	Yes	Yes
GNU Lesser General Public License	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement	No	No	No	?	No
IBM Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
Intel Open Source License	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No
ISC license	Yes[10]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LaTeX Project Public License	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
Microsoft Reciprocal License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
MIT license	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mozilla Public License	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Netscape Public License	Yes	No	No	?	Yes
Open Software License	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
OpenSSL license	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
PHP License	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	v3.0/3.01 only, others are unknown
POV-Ray-License	No	No	No	No	?
Python Software Foundation License 2.0.1; 2.1.1 and newer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Q Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
Sun Industry Standards Source License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
Sun Public License	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes
Sybase Open Watcom Public License	?	?	Yes	?	No
W3C Software Notice and License	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
XFree86 1.1 License	Yes	Yes2	No	?	?
zlib/libpng license	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Zope Public License version 1.0	Yes	No	?	?	Yes
Zope Public License version 2.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes
License and specific version	FSF approval	Compatible with GPL	OSI approval	Debian approval	Fedora Project approval

Notes

• ^1 Was never revised.
• ^2 Compatible to version 3 of the GPL but not compatible to version 2.
• ^3 The original version of the Artistic License is defined as non-free because it is overly vague, not because the substance of the license. The FSF encourages projects to use the Clarified Artistic License instead.[1]
• ^4 Listed as WTFPL.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Rusin, Zack. "Open Source Licenses Comparison". http://developer.kde.org/documentation/licensing/licenses_summary.html. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Open Source Initiative. "The Approved Licenses". License Information. Open Source Initiative. http://www.opensource.org/licenses/. 
3. ^ Free Software Foundation. "Various Licenses and Comments about Them". Licenses. Free Software Foundation. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html. 
4. ^ Debian. "Debian - License information". Licenses. Debian. http://www.debian.org/legal/licenses/. 
5. ^ "The DFSG and Software Licenses". Debian wiki. http://wiki.debian.org/DFSGLicenses. 
6. ^ Fedora. "Licensing - FedoraProject". Licenses. Fedora Project. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing. 
7. ^ "BSDLicense". http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "DFSGLicenses". http://wiki.debian.org/DFSGLicenses. 
9. ^ "OSI Board Meeting Minutes, Wednesday, March 4, 2009". http://www.opensource.org/minutes20090304. 
10. ^ Free Software Foundation. "A Quick Guide to GPLv3". Licenses. Free Software Foundation. http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html#new-compatible-licenses. 

See also

Free software portal

• List of software licenses

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