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<!doctype html>
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<title>Licensing — free AGPL-3.0 & commercial | MessageFoundry</title>
<meta name="description" content="MessageFoundry licensing: free and open source under AGPL-3.0, plus a low-cost commercial edition from MEFOR-ORG, a non-profit — in plain English.">
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<span class="eyebrow">Licensing</span>
<h1 style="max-width:22ch;margin-inline:auto">Open source — with a commercial option</h1>
<p class="lead">MessageFoundry is free and open source under the <b>GNU AGPL-3.0-or-later</b>. For most teams that just want to run it, there's nothing to buy and nothing to publish. Here's what the license actually asks of you — in plain English — and when a commercial license makes sense.</p>
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<div class="container prose">
<h2 class="vh">Licensing at a glance</h2>
<div class="callout">
<p><strong>The license itself is the source of truth.</strong> The official <a href="https://github.com/MEFORORG/MessageFoundry/blob/main/LICENSE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GNU AGPL-3.0-or-later license text</a> is the authoritative, legally governing document for MessageFoundry. Everything on this page is a plain-English summary to help you understand it — it carries no legal force, and if anything here differs from the license, <b>the license controls</b>.</p>
</div>
<div class="callout">
<h3 style="margin-top:0">The short version</h3>
<ul style="margin-bottom:0">
<li><b>Use it freely.</b> Read, run, and modify the source, in your own environment, at no cost.</li>
<li><b>Running it as-is, internally? Nothing to publish</b> beyond keeping the license notices.</li>
<li><b>Modify it and offer it as a service to outside parties</b> and the AGPL asks you to give those users your modified source.</li>
<li><b>Don't want those terms?</b> A low-cost commercial license — from a non-profit — removes them, and the fees go straight back into the project.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2>The open-source license (AGPL-3.0-or-later)</h2>
<p>MessageFoundry is released under the <b>GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 or later</b>. It's a recognized open-source license, and a strong <em>copyleft</em> one: you're free to use, study, modify, and share the software, on the condition that those same freedoms travel with it. The "<b>or later</b>" simply means you may also rely on any later version the Free Software Foundation publishes.</p>
<p>In practice, the code is fully available. You can self-host it, read every line, adapt it to your environment, and run as many interfaces as you like — with no per-interface fee and no license key.</p>
<h2>What the license asks in return</h2>
<p>Ordinary open-source copyleft (like the GPL) asks you to share your source only when you <em>distribute</em> the software — hand someone a copy. The AGPL adds one extra clause, <b>Section 13</b>, that also covers running modified software as a network service. It's the clause people mean when they say "AGPL." What it requires depends entirely on what you do:</p>
</div>
<div class="container" style="margin-top:34px">
<div class="grid grid-3">
<div class="card">
<h3>Run it unmodified</h3>
<p>Self-host MessageFoundry as released, for your own organization. <b>No source obligation</b> — you're not changing or redistributing anything. Just keep the license and copyright notices in place.</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Modify it & offer it as a service</h3>
<p>Change the source and <b>offer your modified version as a service to outside parties</b> over a network — that's the case AGPL §13 is about. You then have to give those external users access to your modified source. Running a changed copy purely for your own internal staff is a much lower bar.</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Redistribute or embed it</h3>
<p>Ship MessageFoundry inside a product, or host a derivative as a service for others. Standard copyleft applies — the combined work is <b>also AGPL</b> (offer the source), or you take a commercial license instead.</p>
</div>
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<div class="container prose" style="margin-top:34px">
<div class="callout">
<p style="margin:0"><b>What about the interface scripts you write?</b> Simply using MessageFoundry to author and run your own interfaces internally is fine under the AGPL.</p>
</div>
<div class="callout" style="margin-top:18px">
<p style="margin:0"><b>Trademarks aren't part of the code license.</b> The AGPL covers MessageFoundry's source code; the <b>MessageFoundry</b> name and word mark are trademarks of <b>MEFOR-ORG</b> and are not licensed under it.</p>
</div>
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</section>
<section class="section section--alt">
<div class="container grid grid-2" style="align-items:center">
<div>
<span class="eyebrow">Commercial edition</span>
<h2>A low-cost commercial license — when the AGPL doesn't fit</h2>
<p class="lead">Because the maintainer holds the copyright, the same software is also available under a second, commercial license — <b>dual licensing</b>. It's priced to be easy to say yes to: fees are deliberately low, and because MEFOR-ORG is a <b>non-profit</b>, they don't go to shareholders — they go straight back into building, securing, and maintaining the project.</p>
</div>
<ul class="feature-list">
<li><b>Modify and host without publishing</b> your changes to users.</li>
<li><b>Embed MessageFoundry in a proprietary product</b> you distribute or sell.</li>
<li><b>A formal commercial agreement</b> — when your legal or procurement team prefers paid terms or indemnification over a public license.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<section class="section">
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<div class="center" style="max-width:720px">
<span class="eyebrow">Where the money goes</span>
<h2>A non-profit, not a vendor</h2>
<p class="lead center">MEFOR-ORG, the non-profit behind MessageFoundry, has no margin to protect and no investors to pay back. We don't price the commercial license to maximize revenue — we price it to be a rounding error next to a legacy renewal, and every dollar is reinvested in development, security, and support.</p>
<p class="lead center">Saving health systems money is the whole point. The commercial license exists to keep the project sustainable, not to turn a profit.</p>
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<div class="center" style="margin-bottom:28px"><span class="eyebrow">FAQ</span><h2>Frequently asked questions</h2></div>
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<div class="faq-item"><h3>Is MessageFoundry free?</h3><p>Yes. The MessageFoundry engine is free and open source under AGPL-3.0-or-later. You can self-host it and run as many interfaces as you like, with no per-interface fee and no license key.</p></div>
<div class="faq-item"><h3>What does the AGPL require of me?</h3><p>If you run MessageFoundry as released for your own organization, there's no source obligation — just keep the license notices. The AGPL only asks you to share source if you modify the engine and offer your modified version as a network service to outside parties.</p></div>
<div class="faq-item"><h3>Is a commercial license available?</h3><p>Yes. A low-cost commercial license is available from the non-profit for teams that can't use copyleft terms — for example, embedding MessageFoundry in a proprietary product. Fees are deliberately low and reinvested in the project.</p></div>
<div class="faq-item"><h3>Do the interfaces I write fall under the AGPL?</h3><p>Authoring and running your own interface scripts internally is fine under the AGPL. The copyleft obligation is about modifying and redistributing the engine itself — not the routes and handlers you write and run in-house.</p></div>
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<h2>Read the fine print — or talk it through</h2>
<p class="lead center" style="color:var(--muted-dk)">The full, authoritative terms are in the license file. Commercial licensing is low-cost and quick to arrange — for that, or any question about how the AGPL applies to your situation, get in touch.</p>
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<a class="btn btn-primary" href="/contact.html">Ask about commercial licensing</a>
<a class="btn btn-ghost" href="https://github.com/MEFORORG/MessageFoundry/blob/main/LICENSE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the full license text ↗</a>
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<p class="center" style="max-width:70ch;margin:22px auto 0;color:var(--muted);font-size:.92rem">This page is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. The <a href="https://github.com/MEFORORG/MessageFoundry/blob/main/LICENSE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AGPL-3.0 text</a> is the authoritative source; for a real deployment decision, run it past your own legal or compliance team.</p>
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