Github Licences Details and Comparisons

Hanzla Baig · 2025-05-21T08:34:31Z

GitHub License Comparison Table License Name Permissions Restrictions Owner-Only Rights & Enforcement MIT License Allows use, copy, modification, distribution, sublicensing, and selling the software. Must include copyright and license notice in all copies. No warranty. Anyone can use/sell if license terms are followed. Violations can lead to legal action. GNU GPL (General Public License) Allows use, copy, modification, distribution, and selling . All users have the same rights. Must disclose source code; modified versions must also be GPL licensed. Same rights for all users; not owner-exclusive. Legal action possible if violated. Apache License 2.0 Allows commercial use, distribution, modification, sublicensing, and selling . Must include copyright, license text, NOTICE file; no trademark or warranty included. No owner-only restriction; any user can use commercially. Legal enforcement applicable. BSD License (3-Clause) Allows use, modification, distribution, and selling , even commercially. Must retain copyright and license notices. No exclusive owner rights; same rights for all. Legal action possible if violated. Creative Commons BY/SA Allows use, distribution, and commercial reuse (selling allowed); can modify. Attribution required; share-alike for modified versions. No owner-only restrictions; selling allowed if terms are respected. Creative Commons BY-NC / NC-SA Allows use, distribution, but not for commercial purposes (no selling). Commercial use is strictly prohibited ; attribution required; share-alike if modified. Only the owner may sell or license commercially; others are strictly restricted. No License (All Rights Reserved) Nobody is allowed to use, copy, distribute, modify, or sell the code. Everything is restricted unless the author grants explicit permission. Only the owner can sell, distribute, or clone. Legal protection is automatic. Legal Nature and GitHub Enforcement Open Source Licenses like MIT, Apache, BSD, and GPL are enforceable legal documents worldwide. If no license is provided in a GitHub repo, default copyright law applies — “All rights reserved.” GitHub does not enforce licenses , but violations can lead to DMCA takedowns or copyright lawsuits by the repository owner. Creative Commons NonCommercial (NC) licenses are the only widely-used ones that prohibit selling or commercial use by others — making them suitable when you want to restrict such usage.

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GitHub License Comparison Table

License Name	Permissions	Restrictions	Owner-Only Rights & Enforcement
MIT License	Allows use, copy, modification, distribution, sublicensing, and selling the software.	Must include copyright and license notice in all copies. No warranty.	Anyone can use/sell if license terms are followed. Violations can lead to legal action.
GNU GPL (General Public License)	Allows use, copy, modification, distribution, and selling. All users have the same rights.	Must disclose source code; modified versions must also be GPL licensed.	Same rights for all users; not owner-exclusive. Legal action possible if violated.
Apache License 2.0	Allows commercial use, distribution, modification, sublicensing, and selling.	Must include copyright, license text, NOTICE file; no trademark or warranty included.	No owner-only restriction; any user can use commercially. Legal enforcement applicable.
BSD License (3-Clause)	Allows use, modification, distribution, and selling, even commercially.	Must retain copyright and license notices.	No exclusive owner rights; same rights for all. Legal action possible if violated.
Creative Commons BY/SA	Allows use, distribution, and commercial reuse (selling allowed); can modify.	Attribution required; share-alike for modified versions.	No owner-only restrictions; selling allowed if terms are respected.
Creative Commons BY-NC / NC-SA	Allows use, distribution, but not for commercial purposes (no selling).	Commercial use is strictly prohibited; attribution required; share-alike if modified.	Only the owner may sell or license commercially; others are strictly restricted.
No License (All Rights Reserved)	Nobody is allowed to use, copy, distribute, modify, or sell the code.	Everything is restricted unless the author grants explicit permission.	Only the owner can sell, distribute, or clone. Legal protection is automatic.

Legal Nature and GitHub Enforcement

Open Source Licenses like MIT, Apache, BSD, and GPL are enforceable legal documents worldwide.
If no license is provided in a GitHub repo, default copyright law applies — “All rights reserved.”
GitHub does not enforce licenses, but violations can lead to DMCA takedowns or copyright lawsuits by the repository owner.
Creative Commons NonCommercial (NC) licenses are the only widely-used ones that prohibit selling or commercial use by others — making them suitable when you want to restrict such usage.

Top comments (2)

Stephen Akugbe • May 21

This is awesome, thanks for breaking down the permission and restrictions of Github licenses like this

AquaScript Team • Jul 13

Thanks