Roboflow Licensing

What is a commercial model license, and do I need one?

Computer vision models, like all software, are distributed under licenses which dictate how that model may be used. Some models have restrictive licensing which makes them difficult or impossible to use in a commercial context.

Take the AGPL-3.0 license as an example. Many popular models like YOLOv8 and YOLOv11 are distributed under this license. AGPL-3.0 requires the user to open-source any code changes they make (including the code of any other projects that connect directly to the model). While this structure often works for hobby and research projects, it may not be a great fit for commercial use.

For businesses, the default way to use a model distributed under AGPL-3.0 (or similar restrictive) licenses is to purchase a commercial license. A commercial license is a separate license which gives end users the right to use the model without an obligation to open-source related code changes.

Commercial licenses are needed in cases where:

1. A model with restrictive licensing is the best technical solution, and;
2. You are commercially unwilling or legally unable to open-source related code.

Commercial licenses are not needed in cases where:

1. A model with permissible licensing (like MIT or Apache 2.0) is the best technical solution, or;
2. You are willing and able to open-source your code.

Roboflow Commercial Licensing

Uncertainty around licensing can delay or stop a project.

To add confidence and simplify the licensing process, Roboflow plans include commercial licenses for the models listed below on this page. Additionally, we often utilize open source models that do not require separate licensing for commercial use.

The commercial licenses included in your plan are restricted to cover specific deployment methods based on the plan that you choose.

Models with Included Commercial Licenses

Roboflow provides commercial licenses for the following models that would otherwise have restrictive licensing. This is a comprehensive list of models with included commercial licensing, but it is not a comprehensive list of models you can use with Roboflow as the community and Roboflow team are adding more models regularly. Do not hesitate to reach out with questions for your commercial project.

Commercial License Included

The following models are normally distributed under restrictive licenses. By using these models with a Roboflow plan, you are provided with s a commercial license to use them in the deployment methods associated with the plan you have chosen (listed above). You will continue to be covered by this commercial license as long as you maintain your plan.

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Default Permissive Licenses

The following models are distributed under permissive licenses and therefore do not require a commercial license to use.

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