Familiar collaboration. A different destination for fees.
Purpose Source adds a published licence fee for large companies to public software, and a public record of where the fees go.
Purpose Source is source-available, not open source. Its licence includes a coverage condition for larger organisations. The comparison below describes that model.
What it shares with open source
The chosen licence governs each permission; the summaries show the practical differences.
| Feature | Open source | Purpose Source licence |
|---|---|---|
| Read and learn from public code | Yes | Yes |
| Fork, modify and redistribute | Yes, under the chosen licence | Yes, under the coverage condition |
| Issues, pull requests and shared development | Yes | Yes |
| Contributors keep their copyright | Yes, unless separately agreed otherwise | Yes; no assignment required |
| Project team controls its roadmap and releases | Yes | Yes |
| Your own software keeps its licence | Depends on the licence and how works are combined | No copyleft or source-disclosure requirement |
| Use without a fee at any organisation size | Yes | Free below both thresholds; larger users need coverage |
| Permissive Apache-2.0 terms | When the project uses Apache-2.0 | Each release converts after four years |
Free use applies to individuals acting for themselves, and to organisations below both the headcount and revenue thresholds. The condition covers the Purpose Source component; it does not require a surrounding application to adopt the same licence.
What Purpose Source adds
A route from software use to charity
Purpose Fees support listed recipients working in health, education, poverty relief, humanitarian aid, animal welfare, the environment and research.
A small change for project teams
Adoption needs one canonical LICENSE file and the rights to apply it. No Association account, application or ongoing reporting is required.
The Association handles the administration
The shared model brings payment handling, recipient checks, public records and capped running costs together. Project teams do not need to run a charity programme.
A lasting record for companies
Project and Pass coverage follows published scopes. Covered versions published by the term end remain covered permanently.
A voice in where help goes
Administrators and contributors can choose among the seven categories or leave their share to the Association. The board decides finally; contributor choices begin in a recording-only trial.
Other projects can fund good causes too. Here, that destination is part of the shared model, with published costs and transfers and no distributable private profit.
A few things to choose deliberately
- Coverage for larger users. They need an Entitlement, waiver or other recorded permission for covered use. Buying coverage funds public-benefit recipients; it does not pay the project's maintainers.
- Your project's requirements. Check existing contributor rights, licence compatibility and the policies of the employers or distribution channels involved. There is no blanket package-registry exclusion.
- A new licence, still in development. The final text and review remain ahead. One shared text simplifies comparison across projects; each organisation still makes its own approval decision.
You can leave at any time for future releases, using a licence you have the right to apply. There is no exit fee or minimum term. Earlier releases, vested coverage and their conversion dates stay intact.
A question about your project?
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