--- layout: default class: home hide_breadcrumbs: true title: Choosing an open source license doesn’t need to be scary permalink: / ---

{ Which of the following best describes your situation? }

I want it simple and permissive.

The MIT License is a permissive license that is short and to the point. It lets people do anything they want with your code as long as they provide attribution back to you and don’t hold you liable.

jQuery, Rails and .NET Core use the MIT License.
I’m concerned about patents.

The Apache License 2.0 is a permissive license similar to the MIT License, but also provides an express grant of patent rights from contributors to users.

Apache, Swift, and Android use the Apache License 2.0.
I care about sharing improvements.

The GNU GPLv3 is a copyleft license that requires anyone who distributes your code or a derivative work to make the source available under the same terms, and also provides an express grant of patent rights from contributors to users.

Bash, GIMP, and Privacy Badger use the GNU GPLv3.

{ What if none of these work for me? }