Replacing a paid tool with open-source software removes a license fee and adds a license to follow. The terms are short and mostly about notices and sharing changes. This is a plain-English summary of the five you will meet, read from the Choose a License project.
Move and replace · guide 2 of 7 · Reviewed Oct 25, 2026
Summaries follow the Choose a License pages on the checked date. They describe the licenses in general; the text of the license in the repository is what governs.
Running an unmodified copy for your own team asks very little of you under any of these. The obligations start when you change the code and offer it to others, including customers using it over the web. That is the line to check before anyone customizes anything.
Open source also has a cost that never shows in a license: someone has to patch it. Count the server, the backups, the updates and the person who owns them. The savings we report net those out.
We only name a project as open source when its repository's license resolves to a single standard id, and we show that id and the date we checked it. Projects with mixed or custom terms are not offered as open source. Before we run anything for you, you will see the license and what it asks of you in writing.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned.