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// How-to · Choose tools and avoid pitfalls

Can I use this open-source AI tool commercially? Reading licences

“Source available” is not the same as “open-source licence”. Many popular AI tools use licences with extra conditions, such as restricting hosted SaaS use or requiring branding to stay.

verified 2026-10-102 official sources

Scenario: Choose tools and avoid pitfalls →

Symptoms

  • Legal asks whether a tool can be used in a commercial product
  • The licence changed after an update

Common causes

  • Being downloadable from GitHub was taken to mean free for any commercial use

How to fix

  1. Read the LICENSE file at the repository root, not just the label in GitHub’s sidebar
  2. Tell four groups apart: OSI-approved licences (MIT, Apache-2.0…), source-available licences with restrictions (e.g. n8n’s Sustainable Use License), open-source licences with added conditions (e.g. Dify’s additional terms) and commercial licences
  3. Watch for licence changes by checking the commit history of the LICENSE file
  4. When in doubt follow your legal team; licences marked “to be verified” in our profiles have not been checked one by one

Notes

  • This page is not legal advice

Official references

Compiled from official documentation and public discussions on 2026-10-10; not yet reproduced in our own environment. Follow the official docs if they differ.

Data updated: Problems & errors