What license does SAM 3 use?
SAM 3 is released under the SAM License (opens in a new tab), a custom license Meta published on November 19, 2025. SAM 3D Objects (opens in a new tab), released the same day, uses the same SAM License. It is not a standard open-source license like the Apache 2.0 license used by SAM and SAM 2, but it is royalty-free and allows commercial use.
Can I use SAM 3 commercially?
Yes. The SAM License gives you a worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, modify and distribute SAM 3, with no fee and no limit on users. You own the models and changes you build on top of it. The conditions are:
- Anyone you share SAM 3 or a model built on it with must receive a copy of the SAM License.
- No military or warfare, nuclear, espionage or weapons use, no ITAR-controlled work, and no use by sanctioned parties.
- No reverse engineering of the SAM materials.
- Research you publish using SAM 3 must credit it.
- If you sue Meta claiming the SAM materials infringe your intellectual property, your license ends.
- Meta can change the terms, and continuing to use SAM 3 counts as accepting the change.
Read the full SAM License before you ship. This page is a summary, not legal advice.
How is SAM 3 different from SAM 2?
SAM and SAM 2 use Apache 2.0, which has no restrictions on what you use the model for. SAM 3 moved to the SAM License, so if you are upgrading from SAM 2, check the use restrictions above against your project.
Use SAM 3 on Roboflow
Because the SAM License already allows commercial use, you don't need a separate commercial license from Roboflow. On Roboflow you can segment objects from a text prompt with SAM 3 in Workflows, track objects through video, label datasets with SAM 3 in Label Assist, and fine-tune SAM 3 on your own data (paid plans). Try SAM 3 (opens in a new tab) and SAM 3D Objects (opens in a new tab) on your own images in Playground.
To learn more about model licensing with Roboflow, see Roboflow Licensing.