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Open-source Ecommerce
January 30, 2025

Open Source eCommerce Transparency: A Deep Dive into Spree Commerce’s Licensing

At Spree Commerce, we understand the importance of maintaining clarity and compliance when it comes to open source licensing. This blog post outlines our commitment to using OSI-approved licenses and explains why this matters for our customers that contractually require listing all open-source components used in their open-source eCommerce projects.

Why Open Source Licensing Matters?

Open source software, while freely available for use and modification, is still protected by copyright law. The authors of open source software maintain their copyright while choosing to share their work under specific licenses that grant certain freedoms to users. These licenses, however, come with their own sets of requirements and obligations that users must follow.

To simplify the software procurement process and provide clarity for businesses, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) has established a formal approval process for open source licenses.

Licenses that have passed this rigorous review process earn the right to use the “Open Source Initiative Approved License” mark, providing organizations with confidence in their licensing choices. This certification has become a standard requirement in many enterprise software contracts and procurement processes.

Understanding OSI-Approved Licenses

OSI-approved licenses:

Using OSI-approved licenses provides several benefits:

Legal Clarity

Community Trust

Business Confidence

Spree Commerce’s License Usage

Spree Commerce employs a well-structured dual licensing approach to serve both community users and enterprise customers:

Community Edition (AGPLv3)

Spree Commerce open-source is available under AGPLv3 license also known as AGPL-3.0.

The GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPL-3.0) is a copyleft license designed to ensure that the software remains free and open. Here are the key points:

  1. Free for Most Uses: You can freely use, modify, and distribute Spree for your own eCommerce sites or those you build for clients, without any new obligations.
  2. Source Code Availability: The AGPL-3.0 requires that the source code be made available to users who interact with the software over a network. However, this primarily affects SaaS (Software as a Service) providers, multi-tenant platforms or cloud service providers.
  3. SaaS Providers: If you’re using Spree as part of a SaaS or multi-tenant or white-label offering where multiple clients interact with your modified version of Spree over a network, you are required to make your source code available under the AGPL-3.0 license.
  4. Contributions Back to the Community: This license encourages SaaS providers who benefit from Spree open-source to contribute their improvements back to the community, fostering a more collaborative and robust ecosystem.
  5. Commercial License Option: For SaaS businesses that prefer not to share their modifications and keep their source code private, we offer a commercial license option.
  6. Compatibility: AGPL-3.0 is compatible with many other open-source licenses, allowing for integration with a wide range of other open-source software.

If you’d like to use Spree Commerce open-source without the AGPL-3.0 restrictions, e.g., for a SaaS or a cloud-based business, please talk to us about obtaining a Commercial License. 

For more information about the Commercial License (CL), please contact us through the Spree website.

Enterprise Edition (Proprietary)

While Spree Community Edition thrives under open-source licensing, our Enterprise Edition takes a different approach. It’s a proprietary, source-available solution designed specifically for large and medium businesses that need more than what open-source offerings can provide.

Proprietary Licensing Model

The Enterprise Edition is available under an enterprise commercial license that offers:

Why Choose a Proprietary Solution?

For enterprises with complex requirements, a proprietary solution often makes more business sense:

Enterprise-Grade Features

Our Enterprise Edition extends beyond the Community Edition with:

Complex Business Solutions

Professional Services

Scalability

Integration with Enterprise Systems

The proprietary nature of Enterprise Edition allows us to include pre-built integrations with common enterprise systems:

Compliance and Documentation

For enterprises requiring detailed licensing documentation, our Enterprise Edition provides:

License Selection Guide

To help determine which license best suits your needs:

Choose Community Edition (AGPL-3.0) when:

Choose Enterprise Edition (Proprietary) when:

Open Source Licensing in Software Development Contracts

Software development contracts, particularly in enterprise environments, often require a comprehensive list of all open source components. Here’s why:

Risk Management

Due Diligence

Compliance Requirements

Best Practices in License Management

To maintain clear licensing compliance, we follow these best practices:

Regular Auditing

Clear Documentation

Dependency Management

Our Commitment to Transparency

Spree Commerce maintains a comprehensive record of all open source components and their licenses. This information is:

For detailed information about specific components and their licenses, customers can access our documentation or contact our support team.

Conclusion

Understanding and properly managing open source licenses is crucial for modern software development. At Spree Commerce, we’re committed to maintaining clear licensing practices and using OSI-approved licenses to provide our customers with the security and flexibility they need.

For more information about our licensing or to request detailed component information, please contact our support team.

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Written by: Michal Faber Spree Evangelist. Co-founder and CEO of Vendo.

Mike is a Spree Evangelist, promoting the platform's features and keeping the community updated on its roadmap. Mike is also a co-founder and CEO of Vendo, a major Spree contributor and provider of its Enterprise Edition, getting you more features, more security, more integrations so you can go live faster and get all the latest improvements first.

Let's use Spree to build exactly what your business needs

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