Toolsvana→Developer Tools→License Generator

License Generator

Generate open source license files for your projects

Choose License

Configuration

Year

MIT License

A short, permissive license. Allows commercial use, modification, distribution, and private use.

Permissions

Commercial useModificationDistributionPrivate use

Conditions

License and copyright notice

Limitations

No liabilityNo warranty

Generated License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 [Your Name]

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.

Free Open Source License Generator

Our free open source license generator helps you create properly formatted LICENSE files for your software projects in seconds. Choose from nine popular licenses — MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL v3, LGPL v3, BSD 2-Clause, BSD 3-Clause, ISC, MPL 2.0, and The Unlicense — each with automatic copyright holder and year insertion.

Choosing the right open source license is one of the most important decisions when publishing a project. Your license determines how others can use, modify, and distribute your code. This tool displays a clear breakdown of permissions, conditions, and limitations for each license so you can make an informed choice without reading pages of legal text.

Once you have selected your license and entered your details, you can copy the full text to your clipboard or download it as a LICENSE file ready to drop into your repository. Everything runs in your browser with no data sent to any server.

Key Features

Nine popular open source licenses: MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL v3, LGPL v3, BSD 2-Clause, BSD 3-Clause, ISC, MPL 2.0, and The Unlicense
Automatic copyright holder name and year insertion
Visual comparison of permissions (commercial use, modification, distribution, patent rights)
Clear display of conditions (copyright notice, state changes, same license)
Highlighted limitations (no liability, no warranty, no trademark use)
One-click copy to clipboard for quick pasting into your repo
Download as a LICENSE file ready for version control
Real-time preview of the generated license text
Clean three-column layout for easy browsing and comparison
Fully client-side — no data sent to any server

How to Use the License Generator

Browse licenses: Click through the license list on the left to see each license's description, permissions, conditions, and limitations.
Select your license: Choose the license that best fits your project's goals and community expectations.
Enter your details: Type your name or organization in the Copyright Holder field and verify the year.
Review the output: Read through the generated license text in the preview panel to confirm it looks correct.
Copy or download: Click "Copy" to copy the text to your clipboard, or "Download" to save it as a LICENSE file.

Use Cases

New open source projects: Quickly add a license when creating a new GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket repository.
Existing unlicensed projects: Add a proper license to legacy code that was published without one.
Library & package publishing: Include the correct license when publishing to npm, PyPI, crates.io, or other registries.
Corporate open source: Choose a license that aligns with your company's IP policy before open-sourcing internal tools.
Educational projects: Pick a permissive license for class projects and student portfolios.
Documentation & templates: Generate license text for documentation repositories and project templates.
License comparison: Use the permissions, conditions, and limitations display to compare licenses side by side before committing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this tool free?

Yes, the license generator is completely free with no usage limits and no account required.

Is my data secure?

All processing happens locally in your browser. Your copyright holder name and year are never sent to any server.

Which license should I choose?

For maximum flexibility, MIT or ISC are popular choices. If you want patent protection, choose Apache 2.0. If you want derivative works to remain open source, GPL v3 is the standard copyleft license. The Unlicense dedicates your work to the public domain.

What is the difference between permissive and copyleft licenses?

Permissive licenses (MIT, BSD, ISC, Apache) allow others to use your code in proprietary projects. Copyleft licenses (GPL, LGPL) require that derivative works also be distributed under the same open source license.

Where should I put the LICENSE file?

Place the downloaded LICENSE file in the root directory of your project repository. Most platforms like GitHub and npm automatically detect and display it.

Can I change my license later?

Yes, as the copyright holder you can re-license your code at any time. However, code already distributed under the previous license remains covered by that license for those recipients.

Tips & Best Practices

Always include a license: Code without a license is not open source by default — others cannot legally use it.
Match community expectations: Use the license that is standard in your ecosystem (e.g., MIT for JavaScript, Apache 2.0 for Java).
Add a license header to source files: Some licenses (Apache 2.0, GPL) recommend adding a short notice at the top of each source file.
Check dependency compatibility: Ensure your chosen license is compatible with the licenses of your project's dependencies.
Use SPDX identifiers: Reference your license by its SPDX identifier (e.g., MIT, Apache-2.0) in package.json or setup.py for automated tooling.