licensing.qmd

---
title: "Licensing"
description: "Positron is licensed under Elastic License 2.0, a source-available license. Free for personal, academic, and commercial use with minimal restrictions."
---

Positron is licensed under the Elastic License 2.0, a source-available license. This license makes Positron available for free to everyone to use, build on, and extend for personal, academic, and commercial use. Its primary restriction is that you can't host Positron as a service to third parties without Posit's agreement. This restriction is necessary for us to build a sustainable business around Positron while also offering it free of charge to the community.

Posit remains committed to both free and open-source software, and we're releasing several components of Positron under the more permissive MIT license. These components include Positron's high-performance [R kernel and Language Server Protocol implementation](https://github.com/posit-dev/ark) and [R formatter](https://github.com/posit-dev/air).

Positron's license and third-party notices are available in your local Positron installation's `Resources/app` folder. The same information is available on our GitHub repository at [LICENSE.txt](https://github.com/posit-dev/positron/blob/main/LICENSE.txt) and [ThirdPartyNotices.txt](https://github.com/posit-dev/positron/blob/main/ThirdPartyNotices.txt)

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POSITRON - Copyright (C) 2022-2025 Posit Software, PBC. All rights reserved.

BEFORE DOWNLOADING OR USING POSITRON (THE "SOFTWARE"), YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY
READ THE FOLLOWING LICENSE AGREEMENT THAT APPLIES TO YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE.
DOWNLOADING OR USING POSITRON ESTABLISHES A BINDING AGREEMENT BETWEEN POSIT
SOFTWARE, PBC ("LICENSOR") AND YOU (INCLUDING YOUR COMPANY, IF APPLICABLE).
YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT IS REQUIRED AS A CONDITION TO
PROCEEDING WITH YOUR DOWNLOAD OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE.

## Elastic License 2.0

### Acceptance

By using the software, you agree to all of the terms and conditions below.


### Copyright License

The licensor grants you a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide,
non-sublicensable, non-transferable license to use, copy, distribute, make
available, and prepare derivative works of the software, in each case subject to
the limitations and conditions below.


### Limitations

You may not provide the software to third parties as a hosted or managed
service, where the service provides users with access to any substantial set of
the features or functionality of the software.

You may not move, change, disable, or circumvent the license key functionality
in the software, and you may not remove or obscure any functionality in the
software that is protected by the license key.

You may not alter, remove, or obscure any licensing, copyright, or other notices
of the licensor in the software. Any use of the licensor's trademarks is subject
to applicable law.


### Patents

The licensor grants you a license, under any patent claims the licensor can
license, or becomes able to license, to make, have made, use, sell, offer for
sale, import and have imported the software, in each case subject to the
limitations and conditions in this license. This license does not cover any
patent claims that you cause to be infringed by modifications or additions to
the software. If you or your company make any written claim that the software
infringes or contributes to infringement of any patent, your patent license for
the software granted under these terms ends immediately. If your company makes
such a claim, your patent license ends immediately for work on behalf of your
company.


### Notices

You must ensure that anyone who gets a copy of any part of the software from you
also gets a copy of these terms.

If you modify the software, you must include in any modified copies of the
software prominent notices stating that you have modified the software.


### No Other Rights

These terms do not imply any licenses other than those expressly granted in
these terms.


### Termination

If you use the software in violation of these terms, such use is not licensed,
and your licenses will automatically terminate. If the licensor provides you
with a notice of your violation, and you cease all violation of this license no
later than 30 days after you receive that notice, your licenses will be
reinstated retroactively. However, if you violate these terms after such
reinstatement, any additional violation of these terms will cause your licenses
to terminate automatically and permanently.


### No Liability

As far as the law allows, the software comes as is, without any warranty or
condition, and the licensor will not be liable to you for any damages arising
out of these terms or the use or nature of the software, under any kind of
legal claim.


### Definitions

The **licensor** is the entity offering these terms, and the 'software' is the
software the licensor makes available under these terms, including any portion
of it.

**you** refers to the individual or entity agreeing to these terms.

**your company** is any legal entity, sole proprietorship, or other kind of
organization that you work for, plus all organizations that have control over,
are under the control of, or are under common control with that
organization. 'control' means ownership of substantially all the assets of an
entity, or the power to direct its management and policies by vote, contract, or
otherwise. Control can be direct or indirect.

**your licenses** are all the licenses granted to you for the software under
these terms.

**use** means anything you do with the software requiring one of your licenses.

**trademark** means trademarks, service marks, and similar rights.

## Positron Education License Rider

**Education Exception to the Elastic License 2.0 Hosting Restriction (the “Education Exception”)**  

Notwithstanding the hosted service restriction in Positron’s Elastic 2.0 License above, you may provide the software to third parties as a hosted or managed service if, and only if, all of the following conditions are satisfied:

* **(a) Educational purpose**. The hosted service is operated solely for educational or instructional activities, including paid workshops, courses, and training programs (collectively, “educational programs”), provided that any fees charged for such educational programs are reasonable and customary and relate to the instruction itself and not to ongoing access to the software as a service.

* **(b) Limited access**. Access to the hosted service is restricted to enrolled students, course participants, or staff involved in the delivery or receipt of educational programming. Access cannot be provided to the general public.

* **(c) No production use**. The hosted service is used solely for learning, experimentation, and demonstration. The hosted service may not be used to support live commercial operations of any entity, or to process, store, or serve data in support of revenue-generating activities.

This Education Exception does not permit sublicensing, redistribution, or any use not expressly described above. All other terms of the Elastic Licence 2.0 continue to apply.