MIT License
PermissiveSPDX identifier:
MITOSI ✓Data updated Sep 26, 2026In plain words
Do almost anything with the code. Keep the copyright and license notice. No warranty.
Analogy: Like leaving a free book in a café: take it, copy it, sell it, just keep the author's name on the cover.
Pros
- + Short and widely understood
- + Easiest license for companies to adopt
- + Compatible with almost every other license
Cons
- - No patent grant
- - Anyone can build a closed-source or hosted competitor
Well-known projects using it
25 well-known projects in our map use this license.
- AngularFrontend framework · Google
- AstroFrontend framework · The Astro Technology Company
- BunLanguage and runtime · Oven
- DeepSeek-R1AI model · DeepSeek
- DenoLanguage and runtime · Deno Land
- DuckDBDatabase · DuckDB Foundation
- GitLab Community EditionDevOps · GitLab
- JenkinsDevOps · CD Foundation
- jQueryFrontend framework · OpenJS Foundation
- LangChainAI model · LangChain
- llama.cppAI model · ggml-org
- MeilisearchDatabase · Meili
- memchr (Rust crate)Developer tools · Andrew GallantAlso offered under: Unlicense
- Next.jsFrontend framework · Vercel
- Node.jsLanguage and runtime · OpenJS Foundation
- OllamaAI model · Ollama
- Phi-3AI model · Microsoft
- ReactFrontend framework · MetaSwitched to it on Sep 22, 2017
- ripgrepDeveloper tools · Andrew GallantAlso offered under: Unlicense
- RustLanguage and runtime · Rust FoundationAlso offered under: Apache-2.0
- SvelteFrontend framework · Svelte contributors
- Tailwind CSSFrontend framework · Tailwind Labs
- Visual Studio Code (Code - OSS)Developer tools · Microsoft
- Vue.jsFrontend framework · Evan You
- xsvDeveloper tools · Andrew GallantAlso offered under: Unlicense
Projects that moved away from it
- Sep 27, 2021Airbyte→ ELv2
- Oct 19, 2020Plausible Analytics→ AGPL-3.0
Permissions
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Private use
Conditions
- Keep copyright notice
Limitations
- No liability
- No warranty
Extreme scenarios · Code licenses
- A1AllowedA cloud vendor sells your project as a managed service
- A2AllowedSomeone forks it and distributes a closed-source competitor
- A3AllowedEmbedded in a closed-source SaaS backend (not distributed)
- A4AllowedLinked into a closed-source app or firmware and distributed
- A5Not addressedSomeone promotes a modified version with your name or trademark
- A6AllowedSomeone sells unmodified copies
- B1Not addressedA user sues you for patent infringement and keeps using the code
- B2Not addressedA contributor asserts patents on their contributed code
- B3Not addressedA cross-border dispute: governing law and venue
- C1With conditionsYou later relicense or sell commercial licenses (contributors signed no CLA)New versions can change; old ones stay
- C2AllowedYour code is merged into a GPL-3.0 project
- C3Blocked by licenseYou use a GPL-3.0 dependency and still ship under this license
- C4AllowedThe project is abandoned and someone forks it to continue
- C5Blocked by licenseYou want to block only big companies or competitors
- C6Not addressedKey code was written by an employee and the employer objects
- D1Blocked by licenseSomeone removes copyright or attribution notices
- D2AllowedSomeone modifies files without marking the changes
- D3AllowedInternal modification, no distribution and no external service
- D4AllowedUsed for military, surveillance or other uses you object to
- D5Not addressedUsed by a sanctioned entity
- D6Not addressedYour code is used to train an AI model
Worst-case radar
- 1Stops free-riding0
- 2Stops closed forks0
- 3Patent protection0
- 4Adoption friction0
- 5Hard to relicense50
Computed from the scenario matrix. Higher means more of that property, not "better".
Extreme scenarios · Model and data licenses
- E1AllowedWeights are used for military, surveillance or disinformation
- E2AllowedDistillation, or training other models on its outputs
- E3AllowedA hyperscale company uses it commercially
- E4AllowedFine-tuned, renamed and released as closed weights
- E5AllowedA dataset is used commercially and redistributed
- E6Blocked by licenseYou want to allow research use only
Worst-case radar
- 1Misuse control0
- 2Derivative control0
- 3Commercial control0
- 4Adoption friction0
Computed from the scenario matrix. Higher means more of that property, not "better".
Compare with…
- Apache-2.0
- Apache-2.0+LLVM
- BSD-2
- BSD-3
- Boost-1.0
- ISC
- MIT-0
- MulanPSL-2.0
- PostgreSQL
- Unicode-3.0
- Unlicense
- UPL-1.0
- Zlib
- APSL-2.0
- Artistic-2.0
- CDDL-1.0
- EPL-1.0
- EPL-2.0
- GPL-2.0+CPE
- LGPL-2.1
- LGPL-3.0
- LPPL-1.3c
- MPL-2.0
- Perl-5
- GPL-2.0
- GPL-3.0
- AGPL-3.0
- BSL-1.1
- Confluent CL
- ELv2
- FSL-1.1
- RSALv2
- SSPL-1.0
- Baichuan 2
- BLOOM RAIL 1.0
- ChatGLM License
- DeepSeek License
- Falcon License 2.0
- FLUX.1-dev NC
- Gemma
- Hunyuan Community
- Llama
- Mistral Research
- NVIDIA Open Model
- OpenRAIL-M
- Stability Community
- Qwen License
- CC BY 4.0
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- CC0
- CDLA-Permissive-1.0
- Etalab-2.0
- GFDL-1.3
- ODbL-1.0
- ODC-By-1.0
- OFL-1.1
- OGL-UK-3.0
Official text
Only the official text is legally binding. We do not translate license texts.
https://spdx.org/licenses/MIT.html
MIT License
MIT License
Copyright (c) <year> <copyright holders>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and
associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial
portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO
EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE
USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.