Open Source License Picker

Why do I need an open source license?

By default, when you create software, it falls under exclusive copyright. This means nobody else has the right to use, modify, or distribute your code. If you publish code on GitHub or elsewhere without a license, it is not open source. Adding an open source license grants explicit permissions to others so they can use your work legally, while still protecting you from liability.

Choosing the right license

Open source licenses generally fall into two categories: Permissive and Copyleft.

• Permissive Licenses (e.g., MIT, Apache 2.0, BSD): These licenses place minimal restrictions on how the software can be used. They allow others to use, modify, and distribute your code, even in closed-source, commercial products. The MIT License is the most popular permissive license due to its simplicity.
• Copyleft Licenses (e.g., GPLv3): These licenses require that any derivative works or modifications must also be distributed under the same open source license. If someone builds a product using your GPL-licensed code and distributes it, they must also open source their product under the GPL.

How to apply a license to your project

Once you've selected a license and filled in your name and the current year, use the tool above to generate the license text. To apply it to your project:

1. Copy the generated text.
2. Create a new file in the root directory of your project named LICENSE or LICENSE.txt.
3. Paste the copied text into the file and save it.
4. Commit the file to your version control system (e.g., Git).

Many package managers (like npm, Composer, or Maven) also include a field in their configuration files (like package.json) where you should specify the license identifier (e.g., "license": "MIT").