License

QoreDB is licensed under an Open Core model. The core of the application is under Apache 2.0 (a permissive open-source license), and a small set of advanced features is under the Business Source License 1.1 (BSL, source-available). This page is the practical reference; the Open Core model page explains the rationale.

At a glance

Both license files are at the root of the repository. Always read them as the source of truth; this page is a summary.

Apache 2.0: the Core

The core is free to use, modify, redistribute, and embed, including for commercial purposes. There are no royalties, no per-seat fees, no usage restrictions. The standard Apache obligations apply (preserve the copyright notice, document significant changes, don't use the project's trademarks without permission).

If you fork QoreDB to build a tool that doesn't compete with us commercially, the Apache license is all you need.

Business Source License 1.1: Premium

A small set of files is under BSL. The license is source-available with two important properties:

• Free for personal use and internal business use: you can read the code, build the app yourself, and use it in your team. There's no fee for simply using QoreDB Pro features inside your organization.
• Restriction on competing commercial offerings: you cannot take the BSL-licensed code and ship a commercial product that competes with QoreDB.
• Automatic conversion to Apache 2.0 after four years: each BSL release converts to Apache 2.0 four years after its release date. Today's Pro is tomorrow's Core.

This is the same model used by HashiCorp's Terraform and Vault, Sentry, CockroachDB, and other open-core projects.

What's in BSL today

The Premium (BSL) surface is grouped into these modules:

• AI Assistant
• Data Contracts
• Cross-database Federation
• Time Travel
• Advanced Notebook (chart, AI and contract cells)
• Advanced Export (XLSX and Parquet)
• Profiling
• Index Suggestions
• Schema Diff & migration generation
• Visual Data Diff
• ER diagram source

See the SPDX headers in each source file (and CLAUDE.md) for the authoritative, always-current list. New Pro features land under BSL over time; new features under Apache stay in Core.

SPDX header convention

Every source file in the repo (*.ts, *.tsx, *.rs) starts with a single-line SPDX header declaring its license:

Apache 2.0 (Core):

// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

BSL 1.1 (Premium):

// SPDX-License-Identifier: BUSL-1.1

Note: the SPDX identifier is BUSL-1.1, not BSL-1.1. This is the format the SPDX registry uses for the Business Source License.

The header is a contract: when you read a file, the header tells you which license applies. There is no ambiguity. If you contribute, follow the same convention; PR reviewers check it.

What you can do

When in doubt about a specific case, the LICENSE and LICENSE-BSL files have the legal text.

License activation for Pro

If you have a Pro license, activate it from Settings → License. The license unlocks the Premium features in your installation; the source code itself is the same regardless. Without a Pro license, Premium features are still visible in the menus but greeted by an upgrade prompt rather than running.

Pricing and what's included is at qoredb.com/pricing.

Where to go next

• Open Core model for the rationale and the longer-form explanation
• Contributing for the SPDX header convention in PRs
• Pricing for the Pro tier