Spree Commerce Licensing: BSD-3-Clause Open Source with Commercial and Enterprise Options
Spree Commerce is a free, open-source commerce framework giving you full control and customizability. Since its creation in 2007, Spree has been one of the most trusted open-source commerce platforms, powering thousands of commerce applications worldwide.
This post is the definitive, up-to-date reference on Spree Commerce licensing as of 2026. It supersedes all previous licensing announcements.
Spree Commerce Licensing
- Spree core (spree/spree) is licensed under the permissive BSD-3-Clause license — free to use, modify, and distribute
- Spree ecosystem packages (starters, SDKs, CLI, payment integrations, extensions) are licensed under the MIT license
- Multi-Store module (spree_multi_store) is available under AGPLv3 (with source code disclosure) or under a Commercial License (privately)
- Enterprise Edition modules (B2B commerce, Multi-tenant commerce, Marketplace integrations) are available under an Enterprise License
Spree Core: BSD-3-Clause — Free and Open Source
The Spree Commerce core — the spree/spree repository — is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause license.
This is a permissive, OSI-approved license that allows you to freely use, modify, and distribute Spree in both personal and commercial projects.
This is the same license Spree was originally released under in 2007. It means you can build your commerce store, customize it to your needs, and deploy it anywhere — all without any licensing concerns.
What you can do with Spree under BSD-3-Clause
- Use Spree for any purpose — personal, commercial, internal, client projects
- Modify the source code freely
- Distribute your modified version
- Keep your modifications private
- Combine Spree with proprietary or other open-source software
Between September 2024 (version 4.10) and early 2026, Spree core was briefly licensed under a different open-source license. After listening to community feedback, we returned Spree core to its original BSD-3-Clause license to avoid confusion and remove any barriers to adoption.
Spree core is BSD-3-Clause. No other license applies to the core source code.
MIT-Licensed Ecosystem Packages
Beyond the core framework, Spree maintains a growing ecosystem of open-source packages, most of which are licensed under the permissive MIT license:
- spree-starter — Rails starter template (MIT)
- nextjs-starter-spree — Next.js storefront starter (MIT)
- spree_stripe — Stripe payment integration (MIT)
- spree_adyen — Adyen payment integration (MIT)
- spree_klaviyo — Klaviyo integration (MIT)
- spree_paypal_checkout — PayPal Checkout integration (MIT)
- spree_google_analytics — Google Analytics integration (MIT)
- spree_extension — Extension generator & tools (MIT)
- spree_dev_tools — Developer tools (MIT)
You can see all repositories and their licenses at github.com/spree.
Multi-Store Module: AGPL-3.0 with Commercial License Option
The spree_multi_store module — which enables running multiple storefronts from a single Spree installation — is open-source under the AGPL-3.0 license, an OSI-approved copyleft license.
You are free to use, modify, and distribute it, with the requirement that any changes you make are also released under AGPL-3.0 and are made available to the public.
If you’d like to keep your code changes private, a Commercial License is available. For details, contact us here: spreecommerce.org/get-started.
This does not affect single-store installations. If you’re running a single store (even a large, complex one), you don’t need the multi-store module at all.
Enterprise Edition
For organizations with complex requirements — B2B commerce, multi-tenant white-label platforms, or marketplace integrations — Spree offers an Enterprise Edition with dedicated modules and support:
Enterprise Edition Modules
- B2B commerce — Serve B2B buyers with customer-specific price lists, buyer organizations with approval workflows, and B2B-optimized checkout flows. Connect seamlessly to ERPs and procurement systems.
- Multi-tenant commerce — Launch a white-label commerce SaaS to host and manage hundreds of customer or reseller stores. Each tenant gets their own dashboard and storefront while you maintain central control over product catalogs, billing, fulfillment, and customer care.
- Marketplace integrations — Spree’s core marketplace functionality is open-source and included in the BSD-3-Clause core. The Enterprise module adds automated payment splitting, scheduled payouts, and integrations with leading commerce platforms to sync products, orders, and tracking at scale.
Each Enterprise module is licensed separately.
Enterprise Support & Security
The Enterprise Edition also includes access to dedicated support services and enterprise-grade security:
- Dedicated Success Manager and SLA-backed response times
- Group chat and email support with direct access to the engineering team
- Long-Term Support (LTS), priority fixes, and change requests
- 24/7 monitoring and response
- Security aligned with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 standards
- Encryption at-rest and in-transit, SSO, PCI DSS compliance, RBAC, and audit logging
For more information, visit spreecommerce.org/enterprise or book a meeting.
Licensing FAQ
Q: Is Spree Commerce free to use? Yes. Spree core is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and is completely free to use, modify, and distribute for any purpose.
Q: Can I use Spree for a client project or as an agency? Absolutely. The BSD-3-Clause license allows full commercial use, including building stores for clients.
Q: Can I use Spree to build a SaaS product? Yes, you can use Spree core (BSD-3-Clause) to build any product, including SaaS. If your SaaS requires multi-store capabilities via the spree_multi_store module, you’ll need a Commercial License. If you need marketplace, B2B, or multi-tenant capabilities, see the Enterprise Edition.
Q: What license do Spree extensions and integrations use? Most official Spree ecosystem packages use the MIT license. Check each repository on github.com/spree for specifics.
Q: Where can I find the LICENSE file? The LICENSE file is in the root of the spree/spree repository.
Summary
- Spree Commerce is and will remain a free, open-source commerce framework under the BSD-3-Clause license.
- The ecosystem of integrations and starters is MIT-licensed.
- For advanced multi-store, marketplace, B2B, and multi-tenant use cases, Commercial and Enterprise licenses are available.
Questions? Get in touch.
