--- layout: default class: home hide_breadcrumbs: true title: Choose an open source license permalink: / --- <p>An open source license protects contributors and users. Businesses and savvy developers won’t 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’re contributing to or depending on. Your project will fit right in. </p> <p> If you have a dependency that doesn’t 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, including to make and distribute closed source versions. </p> <p> {% include using-sentence.html license-id="mit" %} </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> to distribute closed source versions. </p> <p> {% include using-sentence.html license-id="gpl-3.0" %} </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’t 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’t want to choose a license.</h3> <p> <a href="no-permission/">Here’s what happens if you don’t</a>. </p> </li> </ul>