Top Open Source licenses in 2024

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2024-12-23 22:00:06

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) serves as the premier resource for millions of visitors seeking essential information about OSI-Approved licenses. The enriched license pages go beyond basic descriptions, incorporating relevant metadata to provide deeper insights and better support for Open Source users, developers, and organizations.

The most popular licenses include the MIT license, BSD licenses (3-clause and 2-clause), Apache 2.0 license, and GNU General Public license (2.0 and 3.0). These licenses continue to lead the way as the go-to choices for countless Open Source projects worldwide, reflecting their widespread adoption and versatility.

Here’s the top 20 OSI-Approved licenses most frequently sought out by our community in 2024 based on number of pageviews.

In 2025, we plan to further enhance these license pages with even more features, insights, and user-focused improvements. Whether you’re a seasoned developer, a project maintainer, or just beginning your Open Source journey, these resources will continue to evolve to meet your needs. If you are interested in supporting our work, please consider donating to or sponsoring the OSI.