Home›Generators›Developer Tools›Open Source License Generator

Open Source License Generator

Developer Tools

Generate a ready-to-use open source license file — MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL v3, BSD, or Unlicense. Enter your name and year, then copy the official license text.

Reviewed by the thecalcu.com team · Last updated July 12, 2026

What is a License?

An Open Source License Generator produces the official text of a software license, MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL v3, BSD, or the Unlicense, with your name and the current year inserted automatically. Choosing and correctly applying a license is one of the most overlooked steps when publishing code: without one, your repository defaults to "all rights reserved," meaning nobody else has any legal right to use, modify, or redistribute your code, even if it's publicly visible on GitHub.

This generator solves the practical side of that problem. Select the license that matches how you want others to be able to use your project, fill in your name and the year, and get the complete, accurate license text ready to save into your repository. It pairs naturally with the .gitignore Generator when setting up a new project's baseline files.

Why Use an Open Source License Generator?

Copy-pasting license text from an old project or an unofficial blog post risks subtle errors, a missing clause, an outdated version, or a placeholder that never got replaced with a real name. Getting a license file wrong can create genuine ambiguity about what rights you're actually granting to people who use your code.

This generator removes that risk by using the verified official text for each license and only substituting the fields the license itself is designed to have filled in. A developer open-sourcing their first project can be confident the LICENSE file they publish is legally sound, the same way using the Terms & Conditions Generator gives confidence when publishing a legal page for a website.

Who Should Use This Generator?

  • Developers publishing their first open source project who want a correct, properly formatted LICENSE file without researching legal templates.
  • Maintainers relicensing or adding a missing license to an existing public repository that currently has no LICENSE file.
  • Companies releasing internal tools publicly who need to choose between permissive (MIT, Apache 2.0) and copyleft (GPL) terms deliberately.
  • Students and hobbyists building portfolio projects on GitHub who want their work to be clearly reusable by others.
  • Technical writers and documentation maintainers preparing project scaffolding alongside tools like the Disclaimer Generator for other legal boilerplate.

What Insights Does the License Generator Give You?

Each license option produces a complete, ready-to-use text block, and the choice between them tells you exactly what rights you're granting:

  • MIT License, the shortest and most permissive option, allowing almost unrestricted reuse with minimal conditions.
  • Apache License 2.0, permissive like MIT but with an explicit patent grant and a requirement to document changes made to the code.
  • GNU GPL v3.0, a copyleft license requiring derivative works to also be released under the GPL, keeping the software and its descendants open.
  • BSD 3-Clause / BSD 2-Clause, permissive licenses similar to MIT, with BSD 3-Clause adding a restriction on using the author's name for promotion.
  • The Unlicense, dedicates the work to the public domain with no conditions at all.

Picking between these comes down to how much control you want to retain over how your code is reused, from the near-total freedom of the Unlicense to the reciprocal openness required by GPL.

How to use this License calculator

  1. Select your chosen license from the License dropdown.
  2. Enter your name (or your organisation's name) in the Copyright Holder Name field.
  3. Confirm or update the Year field.
  4. Read the generated License Text in the result panel.
  5. Copy the text and save it as a file named exactly LICENSE (no file extension) in your repository's root folder.
  6. Commit and push the file, GitHub and most other platforms will automatically detect and display the license.
Show formula & methodology ↓Show less ↑

Formula & Methodology

The generator does not compute anything, it inserts your name and year into the exact placeholders the official license text defines, leaving every other word of the license unchanged.

Before, with MIT selected and no details entered:
MIT License  Copyright (c) __YEAR__ __AUTHOR__ ...

After, with "2026" and "Asha Patel" entered:
MIT License  Copyright (c) 2026 Asha Patel  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy...

The rest of the license body, the permissions granted and the warranty disclaimer, comes directly from the license's official published text and is never altered.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an open source license generator?
An open source license generator produces the complete, official text of a license, such as MIT, Apache 2.0, or GPL v3, with your name and the year automatically filled in. Instead of copying license text from memory or an unofficial source, you get the verified text ready to save as a LICENSE file in your repository.
Which license should I choose for my project?
MIT and Apache 2.0 are the most permissive and widely used for open source projects, allowing almost any reuse including in proprietary software. GPL v3 is a copyleft license that requires derivative works to also be open-sourced under GPL, while the Unlicense places your work in the public domain with no restrictions at all.
What is the difference between MIT and Apache 2.0?
Both are permissive licenses allowing free reuse, modification, and distribution, but Apache 2.0 includes an explicit patent grant and requires stating changes made to the code, while MIT is shorter and simpler with no patent clause. Apache 2.0 is often preferred by larger projects and companies specifically because of its patent protection language.
What does copyleft mean in the GPL license?
Copyleft means that any software derived from or incorporating GPL-licensed code must also be released under the GPL, keeping it and all its derivatives free and open source. This is the key difference from permissive licenses like MIT or Apache 2.0, which allow proprietary derivative works.
Do I need to register my license with anyone?
No, open source licenses are self-applied. Simply save the generated text as a file named LICENSE (no file extension) in your repository's root folder, and your code is legally covered under that license as soon as you publish it.
Can I change the license of my project later?
You can change the license going forward for new contributions, but you generally need permission from every contributor to relicense code they've already contributed under the original license. This is why many projects choose their license carefully from the start.
What does the Unlicense actually do?
The Unlicense dedicates your software to the public domain, meaning you waive all copyright claims and anyone can use, modify, or sell it for any purpose without attribution. It's the most permissive option available, going further than even MIT or BSD licenses.
Is the generated license text legally official?
Yes, the text generated for each license option matches the official published text from the license's source (the Apache Software Foundation, the Free Software Foundation, the OSI, and similar bodies). No wording is altered beyond inserting your name and the year where the license itself specifies.
How do I add a license to an existing GitHub repository?
Generate your chosen license text, copy it, and save it as a file named LICENSE in your repository's root directory, then commit and push the file. GitHub will automatically detect and display the license on your repository's main page.
What's the difference between BSD 2-Clause and BSD 3-Clause?
BSD 3-Clause includes an additional clause prohibiting use of the copyright holder's name to promote derived products without permission, while BSD 2-Clause omits that restriction. Both are otherwise identical permissive licenses.
Also known as
MIT license generatorchoose a licenseopen source license textGPL license generatorApache 2.0 license generator