FAQ on Software Licensing

We changed the Apache 2.0-licensed source code of Elasticsearch and Kibana to be dual licensed under SSPL 1.0 and the Elastic License 2.0 (ELv2), giving users the choice of which of the two licenses to apply. Our default distribution continued to be made available under the Elastic License 2.0 as it had been for nearly the last three years, and we no longer produce an Apache 2.0 distribution.

We are adding AGPLv3, an OSI approved Open Source license, as an option for the free portions of the source code of Elasticsearch and Kibana that is currently available under the Elastic License 2.0 (ELv2) and SSPL 1.0. With this change, this source code will be available under SSPL 1.0, AGPLv3, and the Elastic License v2, giving users the choice of which license to apply when accessing and using the source code.

We believe in the ethos of Open Source and the clarity that Open Source licensing brings to the rights our community have with the source code, so we’re excited to be bringing back an OSI approved Open Source license to Elasticsearch and Kibana.

In 2021, we made the hard decision to move the Open Source portions of Elasticsearch and Kibana source code to non-OSI approved software licenses - SSPL and Elastic License v2, as a way to reduce the risk of market confusion. Over the last 3 years, the change has been successful in mitigating the risks, our innovations since that date have been extensive and material for differentiation, performance, and feature enhancement, and we now feel comfortable adding AGPL as an option alongside SSPL. Read our announcement blog for more background.

The Elastic License 2.0 applies to our distribution and the source code for the free and paid features of Elasticsearch and Kibana. Our goal with ELv2 is to be as permissive as possible, while protecting our products and brand against abuse. See this dedicated FAQ for additional details on ELv2.

If you download and use our default distribution of Elasticsearch and Kibana, nothing changes for you. Our default distribution continues to be free and open under the Elastic License 2.0, as it has been for nearly the last three years. If you build applications on top of Elasticsearch, nothing changes for you. Our client libraries continue to be licensed under Apache 2.0. If you use plugins on top of Elasticsearch or Kibana, nothing changes for you.

Thank you! You can continue to contribute to Elasticsearch and Kibana as you always have, whether that code is under SSPL, AGPL or the Elastic License. To learn more about how to contribute, see our contributor guide.

Customers and partners using our products in Elastic Cloud or under a self-managed subscription are not affected by this change.

If you are using our distributions - nothing changes for you. You may freely use Elasticsearch inside your SaaS or self-managed application, and redistribute it with your application, as long as you’re following the limitations in ELv2. See this dedicated FAQ for the full license text and additional details on ELv2.

When you are using the source code, you can choose which set of terms and conditions will best meet your needs. Each source file header clearly articulates which licenses may be applied (ELv2, SSPL, and soon AGPLv3), and our license.txt file explains how we have laid out the source code to make it straightforward to understand your options.

If you are using our distributions - nothing changes for you. Our default distribution will continue to be published under the ELv2 as it has been for more than three years, so if you are not using the source code directly, this does not affect you.

When you are using the source code, you can choose which set of terms and conditions will best meet your needs. Each source file header clearly articulates which licenses may be applied (ELv2, SSPL, and soon AGPLv3), and our license.txt file explains how we have laid out the source code to make it straightforward to understand your options.

We want to provide choice to our customers so we decided not to remove any of the existing source code licensing options. The majority of our users and customers use our distributions under the Elastic License 2.0, while others are comfortable accessing and using the source code under SSPL or the Elastic License 2.0. While these are fine, we’ve chosen to add the AGPL as another option for folks who prefer the clarity and certainty inherent in a well known, OSI approved Open Source license.

SSPL is a source-available license originally created by MongoDB, who set out to craft a license that embodied the ideals of open source, allowing free and unrestricted use, modification, and redistribution, with the simple requirement that if you provide the product as a service to others, you must also publicly release any modifications as well as the source code of your management layers under SSPL.

For more information, MongoDB has a good FAQ. We found and thought it would be helpful to share the following blogs written by lawyers:

https://www.coss.community/coss/sspl-re-takes-the-stage-in-2021-2koa

https://writing.kemitchell.com/2021/01/20/Righteous-Expedient-Wrong.html

AGPLv3 is an OSI-approved Open Source license, which allows free and unrestricted use, modification, and redistribution of the source code, with the simple requirement that you make any modifications to the source code itself and any derivative works available under the same license.

This source code license change should not affect you — you can use our default distribution or develop applications on top of it for free, under the Elastic License. This source-available license does not contain any copyleft provisions and the default functionality is free of charge. For a specific example, you can see our response to a question around this at Magento.

This change only affects the source code — our releases will continue to be free and open under the Elastic License. The 2021 change, where we moved from Apache 2.0 to introduce SSPL and Elastic License 2.0, was applied shortly before the release of 7.11. The 2024 change, where we added AGPLv3 alongside SSPL, is expected to take place before the 8.16 release is generally available.

No, we are only making this licensing change to Elasticsearch and Kibana — no other products will be impacted.

Yes! The AGPLv3 is an OSI approved Open Source license, which will apply to a significant portion of the source code of Elasticsearch and Kibana. Read more about it in our announcement blog.

Our commitments to the principles of open source have not changed at all — we always have and always will value transparency, collaboration, and community. Beyond Elasticsearch and Kibana, many of our products and projects continue to be under Apache 2.0, including our client libraries, Beats, Logstash, as well as standards like Elastic Common Schema. We will also continue to contribute to other open source projects, like Apache Lucene, OTel and other projects as we have always done.

Public cloud providers will need to comply with SSPL, AGPLv3 or the Elastic License if they wish to provide a version of Elasticsearch and Kibana that is released after this change.

This change does not affect how you use client libraries to access Elasticsearch. Our client libraries remain licensed under Apache 2.0.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at [email protected].

This change does not affect how you build or license plugins to Elasticsearch or Kibana. For the avoidance of doubt, building a plugin to be used in Elasticsearch or Kibana does not constitute a derivative work, and will not have any impact on how you license the source code of your plugin.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at [email protected].

It doesn’t. We have positive and strong commercial relationships with these public cloud providers, and will continue to partner with them going forward. Elastic Cloud is available on Microsoft, Google, and AWS, and in all three cases, we are part of their marketplace ecosystems. These relationships are not affected.

We partner closely with AWS on our listing of Elastic Cloud in the AWS Marketplace, and continue to invest in that relationship to make Elastic Cloud the best hosted Elasticsearch and Kibana experience on AWS. We even received the 2023 AWS Rising Star Partner of the Year Award! Similarly, we have built strong relationships with Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, to ensure Elastic Cloud is the best way to use Elasticsearch.

If your application is not a hosted or managed service, you may not be affected at all. If you would like clarification or have additional questions, please reach out to us at [email protected].

We want to encourage folks to make plugins for Kibana. You can continue to build plugins for Kibana that use EUI or Elastic Charts. If you have additional questions, please reach out to us at [email protected].

• August 29, 2024: Large update to the FAQ to reflect the introduction of AGPL as a source code licensing option.
• December 21, 2021: Updated details on new Java API Client
• June 7, 2021: Added two questions on EUI and Elastic Charts licensing
• February 2, 2021: Several changes throughout to reflect updates to the Elastic License v2 (ELv2).
• January 26, 2021: Expand response to "What is SSPL and how does it work?" for additional clarity.
• January 18, 2021: Merge "I embed a modified version of Elasticsearch and/or Kibana …" and "I build an application that embeds and redistributes Elasticsearch …" questions to clarify and drive consistency.
• January 17, 2021: Publish "I build an application that embeds and redistributes Elasticsearch …" question for additional context. Publish "What kind of use constitutes "offering the product as a service" under SSPL?" question and response.
• January 15, 2021: Publish "Why are you offering a dual license strategy?", "I build a SaaS application using Elasticsearch as the backend…", and "How does this change impact your relationship with AWS?" questions and responses.