licensecompat

Open-source license compatibility checker

Select the licenses of the components you're combining and how you distribute the result. The verdict, the resulting work's license, and the obligations come from a reviewed dataset of 16 common licenses.

Component licenses

Select every license present in the components you're combining.

Distribution model

How the combined work reaches users. Obligations depend on this.

Select at least one license.

Popular checks

Is Apache-2.0 compatible with GPL-2.0-only? No
No. Apache-2.0's patent-termination and additional-restriction terms conflict with GPLv2. The single most-searched incompatibility.
Is MIT compatible with GPL-3.0-only? Yes
Yes. Permissive code can be pulled into a GPL work; the combined distributed work becomes GPL. One-way: you cannot pull GPL back into a permissive project and keep it permissive. Result license is the more restrictive of the inputs. You must satisfy every input license's notice and source-offer terms. Verify pairwise compatibility first.
Is GPL-2.0-only compatible with GPL-3.0-only? No
No. Different copyleft versions with no upgrade clause cannot be merged. Resolve by finding a 'GPL-2.0-or-later' variant of the dependency.
Is Apache-2.0 compatible with GPL-3.0-only? Yes
Yes. GPLv3 was written to accept Apache-2.0's patent terms. Combined work is GPLv3. Result license is the more restrictive of the inputs. You must satisfy every input license's notice and source-offer terms. Verify pairwise compatibility first.
Is Apache-2.0 compatible with GPL-2.0-or-later? It depends
It depends. Incompatible as GPLv2, but the 'or later' clause lets you upgrade the combined work to GPLv3, under which Apache-2.0 IS compatible. Result license is the more restrictive of the inputs. You must satisfy every input license's notice and source-offer terms. Verify pairwise compatibility first.
Is MIT compatible with Apache-2.0? Yes
Yes. Combine freely; retain all notices. Result can be relicensed (kept proprietary) downstream. Result license is the more restrictive of the inputs. You must satisfy every input license's notice and source-offer terms. Verify pairwise compatibility first.
Is MPL-2.0 compatible with GPL-3.0-only? Yes
Yes. Secondary-license mechanism covers GPLv3. Result license is the more restrictive of the inputs. You must satisfy every input license's notice and source-offer terms. Verify pairwise compatibility first.
Is LGPL-2.1 compatible with GPL-2.0-only? Yes
Yes. LGPL-2.1 can be relicensed up to GPLv2. Result license is the more restrictive of the inputs. You must satisfy every input license's notice and source-offer terms. Verify pairwise compatibility first.