License Text Generator

The License Text Generator is a free tool that lets you pick any popular open-source license (MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL v3, LGPL v3, AGPL v3, MPL 2.0, BSD 2-Clause, BSD 3-Clause, ISC, Unlicense, CC0, and Boost) and instantly generate the full license text with your author name and year filled in. You can copy the result to the clipboard or download it as a LICENSE file.

The tool supports twelve of the most widely used open-source licenses: MIT, Apache License 2.0, GNU GPL v3, GNU LGPL v3, GNU AGPL v3, Mozilla Public License 2.0, BSD 2-Clause, BSD 3-Clause, ISC, The Unlicense, Creative Commons Zero (CC0 1.0), and Boost Software License 1.0.

It depends on your goals. Use MIT, ISC, or BSD if you want maximum permissiveness with minimal conditions. Use Apache 2.0 if you also want an explicit patent grant. Choose GPL v3 if you want derivative works to remain open source. Use AGPL v3 if you also want SaaS deployments to release source. Use The Unlicense or CC0 if you want to dedicate your work to the public domain. When in doubt, MIT is the most popular choice for open-source projects.

Both are permissive licenses that allow commercial use, modification, and distribution. The key difference is that Apache 2.0 includes an explicit grant of patent rights from contributors, which provides additional legal protection for users. Apache 2.0 also requires contributors to document significant changes, while MIT does not.

Copyleft licenses (such as GPL, LGPL, AGPL, and MPL) require that derivative works be distributed under the same or a compatible license. This ensures that modifications to the original code remain open source. Permissive licenses (MIT, BSD, ISC, Apache) do not impose this requirement.

All licenses included in this tool allow commercial use. Even the public domain dedications (Unlicense and CC0) explicitly permit commercial use. However, copyleft licenses require you to share your changes under the same license if you distribute your software.

No. All processing is done entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server, and nothing is stored. Your author name, year, and project name only exist in your browser session.

Both aim to dedicate works to the public domain, but they differ in approach. The Unlicense uses a public domain dedication with a permissive fallback for jurisdictions that do not recognize public domain waivers. CC0 is a Creative Commons instrument that uses a broader legal approach covering copyright and neighboring rights internationally.

SPDX (Software Package Data Exchange) identifiers are standardized short strings that uniquely identify open-source licenses. For example, "MIT", "Apache-2.0", and "GPL-3.0" are SPDX identifiers. They are commonly used in package.json, SBOM files, and CI pipelines for automated license compliance checking.

Place the LICENSE file in the root directory of your repository. Most version control platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket automatically detect and display the license when the file is named LICENSE (or LICENSE.txt, LICENSE.md). This is the standard convention recognized by all major open-source communities and package registries.

It depends on the license and your preference. The MIT, BSD, and ISC licenses only require a single LICENSE file in your repository when distributing. GPL and AGPL recommend (and sometimes require) adding a short copyright notice at the top of each source file pointing to the full license text. Apache 2.0 also recommends per-file notices.

This tool is primarily designed for software licenses. If you are licensing creative works such as documentation, artwork, or media, consider using a Creative Commons license instead. The CC0 option in this tool is appropriate for dedicating any type of work to the public domain.