Differences between the Apache, GPL and MIT software licenses

This article explains the differences between the Apache 2.0, GNU General Public

License (GPL) 3.0, and MIT software licenses.

This article is purely informational, and is not intended to serve as legal

advice or analysis.

Visit copyleft.org for a more in-depth guide on copyleft licenses.

Copyleft license guide

What is a copyleft license?

Copyleft licenses require that derivative works of the software are released

under the same license. The GNU General Public License is a copyleft license.

Apache and MIT are not copyleft licenses.

This means that GPL-licensed software may include software which allows

relicensing, as long as the licenses are otherwise compatible. Non-GPL-licensed

software may never include GPL-licensed software without relicensing the project

under GPL.

One example of license incompatibility is between Apache 2.0 and GPL 1.0/2.0,

due to the handling of patent rights. See copyleft.org for more information.

Explicit Patent Licensing

License summary

Apache 2.0

The Apache 2.0 license is fairly simple. Users are permitted to do anything with

the software, as long as the original copyright notice and license notice is

retained. Changes made to the original software must also be documented.

Apache 2.0

GNU General Public License (GPL) 3.0

The General Public License requires that the source code of the application or

library is made available to users. It also ensures that users have a right to

modify and distribute the source code.

While it is possible to commercialize GPL-licensed software, users are permitted

to modify and redistribute copies of the software. This license is therefore an

ideal choice for developers who wish to discourage commercialization.

GPL 3.0

MIT

The MIT license is simple. Users are permitted to do anything with the software,

as long as the original copyright notice and license notice is retained.

LICENSE text

The license of a project is typically specified in a file named LICENSE.

Apache 2.0

Copyright [YYYY] [name of copyright owner]

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

GNU General Public License (GPL) 3.0

Copyright (c) [YYYY] [name of copyright owner]

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

MIT

Copyright (c) [YYYY] [name of copyright owner]

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.

Differences between the Apache, GPL and MIT software licenses was published on 2020-12-07

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