Open Source License Generator

Free

Generate a LICENSE file for MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL, and more, instantly.

Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.

MIT LicenseShort, permissive — anyone can use, modify, and distribute, as long as the copyright notice is kept.Apache License 2.0Permissive like MIT, plus an explicit patent grant and a requirement to document changes.GNU GPL v3.0Strong copyleft — derivative works must also be distributed under the GPL, with source made available.BSD 2-Clause LicenseMinimal permissive license, similar to MIT, without the "Simplified" naming restriction clause.BSD 3-Clause LicenseLike BSD 2-Clause, plus a clause preventing use of contributors' names to endorse derived products.ISC LicenseFunctionally equivalent to MIT, with simpler wording.Mozilla Public License 2.0Weak (file-level) copyleft — modified MPL files must stay MPL-licensed, but they can be combined with proprietary code.The UnlicenseA public-domain dedication — no copyright is asserted at all, so there's nothing to license.

YearFull name / organization

LICENSEFile name

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

How it works

Which license should I pick?

That depends on what you want to allow, and it's a decision with real legal implications, so this is general informational context, not a recommendation. Permissive licenses like MIT, ISC, and BSD put almost no restrictions on reuse. Apache 2.0 is similar but adds an explicit patent grant, which matters more for larger or corporate-backed projects. GPL is copyleft — anyone who distributes a derivative work must also share it under the GPL, source included. The Unlicense goes further and dedicates the work to the public domain, waiving copyright entirely. For anything beyond a personal or hobby project, consulting a lawyer or a resource like choosealicense.com is the right move — this tool doesn't provide legal advice.

Why do some licenses not ask for my name or the year?

MIT, ISC, and both BSD licenses use a "Copyright (c) [year] [name]" line that this tool fills in for you. Apache 2.0 and GPL v3's actual license text doesn't have that kind of substitution at all — their official text separately recommends attaching a short boilerplate notice to each source file's header, which is a different convention from the LICENSE file itself, so this tool doesn't force those two fields where they don't apply. The Unlicense is a public domain dedication with no copyright claim, so it doesn't need a name either.

Is the license text exactly official?

Yes — every license bundled here is the verbatim official text (cross-checked against the SPDX license list for accuracy), with only the officially-specified placeholder fields substituted. Nothing else is paraphrased, summarized, or reworded, since license text carries specific legal meaning.

Does this tool store or upload anything I enter?

No. Everything — your license choice, name, and year — stays in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, logged, or saved.

How it works

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