Informational only. Not legal advice. Read more.
SPDX · BSD-3-Clause Open source » OSI-approved » FSF-libre » SPDX-listed

BSD 3-Clause License

A short permissive license that additionally forbids using the author's name to endorse derived works.

Nickname: BSD Steward: Historic (UC Berkeley) Copyleft: None (permissive) First published: 1999 SPDX page ↗ Official ↗

BSD 3-Clause is a short, permissive license that adds one constraint MIT does not: you cannot use the names of the original authors or contributors to endorse or promote products derived from the software without specific written permission.

In practice, the rules are nearly identical to MIT. Choose BSD-3-Clause if the no-endorsement clause is important to you or your project has historical BSD heritage.

How to apply

Add a LICENSE file with the full BSD 3-Clause text at the root of your project, filling in the copyright owner and year.

Permissions

  • Commercial use
    The licensed material and derivatives may be used for commercial purposes.
  • Modification
    The licensed material may be modified.
  • Distribution
    The licensed material may be distributed.
  • Private use
    The licensed material may be used and modified in private.

Conditions

  • License and copyright notice
    Include a copy of the license and copyright notice with the material.

Limitations

  • Liability
    This license includes a limitation of liability.
  • Warranty
    This license explicitly states that it does NOT provide any warranty.
Full license text
BSD 3-Clause License

Copyright (c) [year], [fullname]
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
   list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
   this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
   and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its
   contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
   this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Raw text also available at /license-texts/BSD-3-Clause.txt — handy for curl.

Similar licenses

Upgrade path

If you find this license too limited, these are common next steps:

Notable users

  • Go
  • FreeBSD
  • NetBSD
  • Django
Notice

Informational only

Nothing on yourlicense.ca is legal advice. Confirm with a lawyer before you license anything that matters.

Read the disclaimer →