CommunityCAD
Choosing a license
What each license on CommunityCAD allows, in plain words.
A license tells people what they're allowed to do with your model. On CommunityCAD, you choose the license and you keep your copyright. This page explains each option in plain words. It isn't legal advice; each license's full text is what counts.
The options#
| License | Others may use, change and share it | Must credit you | Changes must use the same license | Commercial use | Typical for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CC0 (public domain) | Yes | No | No | Yes | Giving it away completely |
| CC BY 4.0 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Models and designs you want widely reused |
| CC BY-SA 4.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designs where improvements must stay open |
| MIT | Yes | Yes (keep the notice) | No | Yes | Code and simple hardware |
| BSD 3-Clause | Yes | Yes (keep the notice) | No | Yes | Like MIT, plus your name can't be used to promote derivatives |
| Apache 2.0 | Yes | Yes (keep the notice, note changes) | No | Yes | Like MIT, with an explicit patent grant |
| GPL v3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Software and firmware that must stay open |
| Custom | What your LICENSE file says | — | — | — | Anything else, for example a non-commercial license |
| No license | No (all rights reserved) | — | — | — | Look, but don't reuse |
"Commercial use" includes selling prints or parts made from the model.
Which should I pick?#
- Want people to make, remix and share it, with credit? CC BY 4.0.
- And want improvements to stay open too? CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Don't need credit at all? CC0.
- Don't want people selling it? Choose Custom and upload a non-commercial license, such as CC BY-NC 4.0 or CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (copy the license text into a
LICENSEfile). - Software, firmware or code in the project? MIT, Apache 2.0 or GPL v3 are standard for code.
How licenses work on CommunityCAD#
- Choose at upload, from the list or with Custom (upload your own
LICENSEfile). - A LICENSE file in your ZIP overrides the choice in the form, and we detect its type automatically.
- For the standard licenses, we generate the license text with your name as the copyright holder.
- The license is shown in the model's sidebar, and its full text in the Files tab.
- The license can't be changed after upload yet. Choose carefully; to change it, email contact@communitycad.dev.
Things licenses can't undo#
- Open licenses can't be withdrawn for copies already made. If someone downloaded your model under CC BY, they can keep using it under CC BY even if you later delete it or change the license.
- Only license what's yours. If your model includes someone else's work, follow their license (it may require you to use the same one) and credit them in your README.
Models with no license#
"No license" means all rights reserved. Under the Terms of Service, people may download it and make it for their own personal, non-commercial use, but they may not share, sell or publish it or anything made from it without your permission.
Using someone else's model#
Check the license before you use a model, especially before you share a remix or sell anything made from it. Credit the creator the way the license asks, usually their name and a link to the model page.
Imported models#
Models imported from public GitHub repositories keep the license from their repository, and are credited to their original author with a link to the source. See Companies and imported models.