Software License Generator - Open Source Licenses

Generate open source licenses for your software projects. MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL, BSD, and more. Customize with your name and year. Free download.

Choose License

License Type *

MIT License: Permissive, allows commercial use, modification, distribution. Requires attribution. Simple and popular.

Copyright Information

Year *

Project Name (optional)

Email (optional, for some licenses)

License Comparison

License	Commercial	Modify	Copyleft
MIT	Yes	Yes	No
Apache 2.0	Yes	Yes	No
GPL v3	Yes	Yes	Yes
LGPL v3	Yes	Yes	Weak
BSD	Yes	Yes	No
Unlicense	Yes	Yes	No

LICENSE

Select a license and click Generate to create your license file.

How to Use

Save as LICENSE or LICENSE.txt in your project root
Add license badge to README: ![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)
For GPL, add license header to each source file

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Frequently Asked Questions

A software license is a legal document that specifies how others can use, modify, and distribute your code. Without a license, your code is under exclusive copyright by default - others cannot legally use it.

MIT is most permissive and popular for general use. Apache 2.0 adds patent protection. GPL requires derivative works to also be open source. BSD is similar to MIT. Choose based on how you want your code used.

MIT is a permissive license allowing commercial use, modification, distribution, and private use. It requires only attribution. It's simple, short, and widely used by projects like jQuery, Rails, and React.

Apache 2.0 is permissive like MIT but includes explicit patent grant and protection. It's used by Android, Kubernetes, and many enterprise projects. Good for projects that might involve patents.

GPL (GNU General Public License) is a copyleft license requiring derivative works to also be GPL-licensed. GPLv3 adds protections against patent claims and tivoization. Used by Linux, WordPress, and GIMP.

Copyleft licenses (like GPL, LGPL, AGPL) require derivative works to be distributed under the same license. This ensures modifications remain open source. In contrast, permissive licenses (MIT, Apache) allow relicensing.

Yes. MIT, Apache, and BSD licenses all permit commercial use. You just need to include the license and copyright notice. GPL also allows commercial use but requires keeping derivatives open source.

LGPL (Lesser GPL) allows linking to proprietary software without requiring the proprietary code to be open source. It's commonly used for libraries. GPL requires all linked code to also be GPL.

For individual projects, often not necessary. For larger projects, CLAs help clarify contribution terms and may allow relicensing. Projects like Apache require CLAs for contributions.

Create a LICENSE or LICENSE.txt file in your project root with the full license text. Also add a license notice to your README. For some licenses, add a header comment to each source file.

Choose License

Copyright Information

License Comparison

LICENSE

How to Use

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