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A simple, fair license for indie developers
“Free for everyone. Coffee money for billionaires.”
or
“If you’re above the threshold but would prefer not to pay, feel free to restructure your assets until you’re technically not.”
The Coffee License is a permissive open source license that asks mega-corporations to pay a small fee (default: $50) while keeping software completely free for everyone else.
You build amazing open source software. Companies worth hundreds of billions use it in production. You never even know they exist, get no acknowledgment, and definitely get no coffee money.
Coffee License = MIT License + Basic Courtesy
LICENSE-COFFEE.md (rename to LICENSE.md)LICENSE-COFFEE-COMMERCIAL.md (keep as-is)<year> → 2025<name> → Your Name<amount> → $500,000,000 (or your preferred threshold){email} → your.email@domain.com## License
This project is licensed under the Coffee License.
- **Free for personal/commercial use** (entities under $500M net worth)
- **$50 commercial license** for mega-corporations
- See [LICENSE.md](LICENSE.md) for details
Spoiler: Probably not you!
Projects using Coffee License:
You can adjust the threshold and fee for your needs:
Default: $500M threshold, $50 fee
Conservative: $1B threshold, $25 fee
Aggressive: $100M threshold, $100 fee
This isn’t a radical new concept - tiered pricing based on company size is already standard:
Coffee License just applies this proven model to open source licensing.
Coffee License doesn’t discriminate against persons or groups - it uses standard economic pricing based on objective, public criteria:
✅ Measurable threshold: Net worth is factual, not subjective
✅ Universal application: Same rules for everyone above the line
✅ Changeable status: Economic conditions can be restructured
✅ Industry standard: Ability-to-pay pricing is everywhere
If this were “discrimination,” then so would be:
• Student discounts
• Progressive taxation
• Enterprise software pricing
• Senior citizen discounts
• Volume pricing tiers
The choice is simple: Either ability-to-pay pricing is legitimate business practice, or half the economy is “discriminatory.”
Coffee License treats economic capacity the same way every other industry does - those with greater resources contribute proportionally to the systems they benefit from.
Q: How do companies actually pay? A: They email you for payment details. Keep it simple - PayPal, Stripe, whatever works.
Q: What if a company’s valuation is unclear? A: Use your best judgment. The goal is courtesy, not gotcha moments.
Q: Can I change the amounts? A: Absolutely! Customize the threshold and fee for your project.
LICENSE-COFFEE.md - The main license (free version)LICENSE-COFFEE-COMMERCIAL.md - Commercial versionWHY.md - Philosophy and reasoningSTAMPS.md - Stamps are copy-paste ready copyright notices that make using the Coffee License as simple as possible.LICENSE.txt - The cc0 License the entire repo is in.LICENSE-COFFEE.md → rename to LICENSE.mdLICENSE-COFFEE-COMMERCIAL.md after paymentSoftware should be free and accessible. But when mega-corporations benefit from community work, basic acknowledgment and a token contribution seem reasonable.
This isn’t about getting rich. It’s about:
Found a typo? Have suggestions? PRs welcome!
For legal questions, consult your lawyer (I’m just a developer with opinions).
This license text is released under CC0 (public domain). Use it however you want!
Made with ☕ by a developer who believes in acknowledgment