List of formerly open-source or free software

Last updated

This is a list of notable software packages which were published as free and open-source software, or into the public domain, but were made proprietary software, or otherwise switched to a license (including source-available licenses) that is not considered to be free and open source.

List of formerly open-source software
TitleOrig. free dateLicense change dateInitial free licenseNon-free license Forked replacementNotes
Akka 20092022 Apache-2.0 Business Source License [1] [2]
ArangoDB 20112023 Apache-2.0 Business Source License [3]
Aseprite 20012016 GPL-2.0 EULA that permits personal use but forbids redistribution [4] LibreSprite
CockroachDB 20152019 Apache-2.0 Business Source License [5]
Consul 20142023 [6] MPL-2.0 Business Source License [6]
Couchbase Server 20102021 Apache-2.0 Business Source License [7]
Couchbase Mobile 2022 [8] Apache-2.0 Business Source License [8]
Elasticsearch 20102021 Apache-2.0 "Elastic License" and Server Side Public License [9] [10] [11] OpenSearch Added AGPL v3.0 on 29 August 2024 [12]
Emby 20142018 GPL-2.0 Source code closed on December 8, 2018. [13] Jellyfin
FBReader 20132015 GPL-2.0-or-later Apparently the number of devs was limited, and they all agreed to relicense it.[ citation needed ]
LiveCode 20132021 [14] GPL-3.0-only proprietary [14] The Livecode company developed it, ran a Kickstarter campaign to GPL it, ran it for eight years open source, and then relicensed it back to proprietary, saying there were few other contributors, most were using the free GPL version, and they couldn't sustain the project. [14]
LiveJournal 19992014 GPL-2.0-or-later The source code was made private in 2014. Dreamwidth
MetaMask 20162020 MIT Custom proprietary "non-commercial use only" license. [15]
MongoDB 20092018 AGPL-3.0-only Server Side Public License [16] [17]
Nexuiz 20052012 GPL-2.0-or-later Game abandoned in favour of a commercial video game of the same name, which licensed the Nexuiz title but is not based on its engine. Xonotic [18]
OctoberCMS 20142021 MIT Cited the sustainability of its open source model as a factor. [19] Winter [20] [21]
OTRS 20012020 GPL-3.0-or-later Support for the Community Edition dropped on December 23, 2020, [22] Znuny
Paint.NET 20042007 MIT freeware license that prohibits modification or resale [23]
PyMOL 20002010 MIT-CMU [24] [25] [26] [27] [28]
Reddit 20082017 CPAL-1.0 Source code was made private in 2017, as the internal codebase had already diverged significantly from the public one.
Redis 20092024 BSD-3-Clause dual: custom license and Server Side Public License [29] Valkey [30] Added AGPL v3.0 on 1 May 2025. [31] Vadim Tkachenko (co-founder of Percona) doesn't expect this move to affect Valkey, as the de facto purpose of the AGPL "appears to be creating barriers for public cloud providers, which likely guarantees that major sponsors like Amazon and Google will continue to support Valkey." [32]
Sourcegraph 20132023 Apache-2.0 proprietary [33]
Terraform 20142023 [6] MPL-2.0 Business Source License [6] OpenTofu [34] HashiCorp founder considered the OpenTofu fork "tragic for open source innovation." [35]
Tux Racer 20002002 GPL-2.0-or-later Commercial expansion by original authors, also called Tux Racer. Extreme Tux Racer (formerly PlanetPenguin Racer)
Vagrant 20102023 [6] MIT Business Source License [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bonér, Jonas (2022-09-07). "Why We Are Changing the License for Akka". Lightbend. Archived from the original on 2022-10-03. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  2. ↑ Kunert, Paul (2022-09-08). "Open source biz sick of FOSS community exploitation overhauls software rights". The Register . Situation Publishing. Archived from the original on 2022-09-29. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  3. ↑ Carabine, Matt (2023-10-11). "Evolving ArangoDB's Licensing Model for a Sustainable Future". ArangoDB. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  4. ↑ Capello, David. "Aseprite - New source code license". www.aseprite.org. Archived from the original on 2017-06-23. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  5. ↑ Mattis, Peter; Darnell, Ben; Kimball, Spencer (2019-06-04). "Why we're relicensing CockroachDB". Cockroach Labs. Archived from the original on 2022-11-07. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dadgar, Armon (2023-08-10). "HashiCorp adopts Business Source License". HashiCorp. Archived from the original on 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  7. ↑ Anderson, Scott (2021-03-26). "Business Source License (BSL 1.1) Adopted by Couchbase". The Couchbase Blog. Couchbase, Inc. Archived from the original on 2023-08-22. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  8. 1 2 Anderson, Scott (2022-02-25). "Couchbase Mobile changes source code license to BSL 1.1". The Couchbase Blog. Couchbase, Inc. Archived from the original on 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  9. ↑ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "Elastic changes open-source license to monetize cloud-service use". ZDNet. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  10. ↑ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (2021-04-13). "OpenSearch: AWS rolls out its open source Elasticsearch fork". TechRepublic. Retrieved 2021-09-03.
  11. ↑ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "AWS, as predicted, is forking Elasticsearch". ZDNet. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
  12. ↑ "Elasticsearch is Open Source, Again". Elastic Blog. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
  13. ↑ "[Request] GPL Violation". Emby Community Blog. 2018-03-21. Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2017-08-19.
  14. 1 2 3 Anderson, Tim (2021-09-06). "Why we abandoned open source: LiveCode CEO on retreat despite successful kickstarter". The Independent . Archived from the original on 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2021-09-18.
  15. ↑ Dan Finlay (2020-08-20). "Evolving our License for the Next Wave of MetaMask Users". Consensys . Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  16. ↑ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. (2019-01-16). "MongoDB "open-source" Server Side Public License rejected". ZDNet. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
  17. ↑ "MongoDB's licensing changes led Red Hat to drop the database from the latest version of its server OS". GeekWire. 2019-01-16. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
  18. ↑ Larabel, Michael (2010-03-22). "Nexuiz Gets Forked, Turned Into Xonotic". Phoronix . Retrieved 2016-10-30.
  19. ↑ "October CMS Moves to Become a Paid Platform". October . 2021-04-12. Archived from the original on 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  20. ↑ Laurent, Pierre-Edouard (2021-10-16). "Meilleur CMS (2022) : le comparatif des gestionnaires de contenus pour créer un site web". Clubic.com (in French). Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  21. ↑ "We have forked October CMS". wintercms.com. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  22. ↑ "Attention! Security risk with OTRS 6!". OTRS. 2020-12-23. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  23. ↑ "A new license for Paint.NET v3.5". 2009-11-07. Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  24. ↑ now a custom license granting broad use, redistribution, and modification rights, but assigning copyright to any version to Schrodinger, LLC.
  25. ↑ "PyMOL | pymol.org". pymol.org. Retrieved 2021-11-07. Open-Source Philosophy
    PyMOL is a commercial product, but we make most of its source code freely available under a permissive license. The open source project is maintained by Schrödinger and ultimately funded by everyone who purchases a PyMOL license.
    Open source enables open science.
    This was the vision of the original PyMOL author Warren L. DeLano.
  26. ↑ "schrodinger/pymol-open-source". GitHub. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  27. ↑ "PyMOL Molecular Graphics System". SourceForge.
  28. ↑ "Open-Source PyMOL". Schrodinger, Inc. 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  29. ↑ Trollope, Rowan (2024-03-20). "Redis Adopts Dual Source-Available Licensing". Redis. Archived from the original on 2024-03-20. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
  30. ↑ "Linux Foundation Launches Open Source Valkey Community". Linux Foundation. 2024-03-28. Archived from the original on 2024-03-28. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  31. ↑ Trollope, Rowan (2025-05-01). "Redis is now available under the AGPLv3 open source license". Redis Blog. Redis Inc. Archived from the original on 2025-05-02. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  32. ↑ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (2025-05-02). "Redis returns to open source with AGPLv3 license but not everyone is happy". ZDNET . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2025-05-03. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  33. ↑ darkcrizt (2023-07-06). "Sourcegraph abandons open source in favor of a proprietary license". LinuxAddict (Linux Adictos). Archived from the original on 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  34. ↑ Miller, Ron (2023-09-20). "Terraform fork gets renamed OpenTofu, and joins Linux Foundation". TechCrunch . Yahoo! Inc. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  35. ↑ Fay, Joe (2023-10-16). "HashiCorp CEO predicts OSS-free Silicon Valley unless the open source model evolves". The Stack. Archived from the original on 2023-10-29. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
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