Ask HN: How to license an OSS so that only commercial use is paid?

Re:Ask HN: How to license an OSS so that only commercial use... by wittystick on Tuesday February 27, 2024 @08:51PM (#39532917)

Have a look at the MongoDB license (SSPL) as an example of an almost open source license which doesn't really impact personal use, but impacts big service providers who would be required to release the entirety of their source code. You can provide a proprietary alternative for those.

If you dual-license you will require a contributor agreement that any contributor grants you the right to relicense their contributions.

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Re:Ask HN: How to license an OSS so that only commercial use... by ambigious7777 on Wednesday February 28, 2024 @08:36PM (#39545663)

I see that MongoDB has a license, which I'm assuming is similar to the AGPL. Since companies don't want to release all their code, they also provide a Enterprise edition, which probably is under a non-copyleft license. This edition is then paid, so they make money. This also requires all PR contributors to sign a relicensing agreement.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I'm understanding it currently.

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