License Comparison
CCBL vs Other Licenses
CCBL is designed to address modern challenges in open source licensing that traditional licenses don't cover.
Feature Comparison
Feature
CCBL
MIT
GPL
Apache 2.0
BSL
Free for personal use
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Free for commercial use
✗*
✓
✓
✓
✗*
AI training protection
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
Contributor rewards
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
Charity fund (1% donation)
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
Patent protection
✓
✗
✓
✓
✗
Trademark protection
✓
✗
✗
✓
✗
SaaS/cloud protection
✓
✗
✓**
✗
✗
* Commercial use requires license purchase or contribution
** GPL requires sharing source code for SaaS (AGPL)
Detailed Comparison
Personal Use
All major open source licenses allow free personal use. CCBL is no different - individuals can use, study, and modify CCBL-licensed software without any restrictions.
Commercial Use
- MIT/Apache/GPL: Free for commercial use
- CCBL/BSL: Commercial use requires either purchasing a license or becoming a contributor
AI Protection
- CCBL: Explicitly prohibits using the software to train AI models without permission
- Others: No AI-specific protections
Contributor Rewards
- CCBL: Contributors automatically receive permanent commercial licenses
- Others: No formal contributor reward mechanism
Why Choose CCBL?
Fair for Everyone
Individual developers can use it for free, while companies contribute fairly to support the project.
Sustainable
Provides funding for open source maintainers through commercial licensing.
Future-Proof
Protects against unauthorized AI training, addressing a growing concern in the AI era.
Community-Focused
1% of revenue goes back to support the open source ecosystem.
Use Cases
Choose CCBL if:
- You want to protect your code from unauthorized AI training
- You want to reward contributors with commercial licenses
- You want to generate revenue from commercial users while keeping it free for individuals
- You believe in giving back to the open source community
Choose MIT if:
- You want maximum adoption with no restrictions
- You don't need commercial licensing revenue
- AI protection is not a concern
Choose GPL if:
- You want to ensure derivative works remain open source
- You prioritize software freedom over commercial flexibility
Choose Apache 2.0 if:
- You need patent protection
- You want a permissive license with legal robustness