Bits is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 (BUSL-1.1). See the LICENSE file for the complete terms.
Under BUSL-1.1 you may freely copy, modify, redistribute, and make production use of Bits, provided that you do not include Bits, or a substantial portion of its functionality, in a product or service offered to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in competition with Invetica Ltd’s paid version(s) of Bits.
Four years after the date a given version of Bits is first publicly distributed, that version becomes available to you under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later. This conversion is per-version and automatic.
BUSL gives Bits the protection AGPL does not: a time-limited non-compete on hosted services. AGPL only requires that you share your source if you modify Bits and run it as a service — it does not prevent a competitor from doing exactly that. BUSL preserves the copyleft endgame (each version converts to AGPL after four years) while restricting hosted competition during the protection window.
BUSL is not OSI-approved and is not “open source” under the OSI’s definition. It is source-available.
A commercial license is available for organisations that cannot comply with BUSL-1.1. A commercial license lifts both restrictions:
- The SaaS non-compete that applies before the Change Date
- The AGPL-style copyleft that applies on or after the Change Date
Typical reasons to buy:
- You want to offer Bits (or build a service substantially based on Bits) to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis
- You incorporate Bits into a proprietary product or service and cannot meet AGPL’s source-disclosure obligations
- Your legal or compliance posture requires terms that BUSL does not provide
Commercial licenses are negotiated individually. Contact jcf@bits.page to discuss your needs.
Versions of Bits distributed before the BUSL relicensing commit remain available under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later. Rights granted under prior licenses are not revoked by this change.