# Modular: A New, Simpler License for MAX and Mojo

**URL:** <https://forum.modular.com/t/modular-a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo/1287>\
**Category:** Content\
**Tags:** blog\
**Created:** [April 23, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.modular.com/t/modular-a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo/1287 "2025-04-23T17:45:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Modular](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.modular.com/modular/32/17_2.png) [@Modular](https://forum.modular.com/u/Modular)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.modular.com/t/modular-a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo/1287/1 "2025-04-23T17:45:14Z")

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A New, Simpler License for MAX and Mojo

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://www.modular.com/blog/a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo](https://www.modular.com/blog/a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo)

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**Author:** ![user68842](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ee7513/32.png) [@user68842](https://forum.modular.com/u/user68842)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 12:31pm UTC](https://forum.modular.com/t/modular-a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo/1287/3 "2025-04-27T12:31:27Z")

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Where in the license does it say that mojo is free or that there is a clean split between Max and Mojo? From what I can tell the barrier between Max and Mojo is still blurred and Mojo has restrictions for some use cases.

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**Author:** ![clattner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.modular.com/clattner/32/201_2.png) [@clattner](https://forum.modular.com/u/clattner)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.modular.com/t/modular-a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo/1287/4 "2025-04-27T15:23:11Z")

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Mojo and MAX are under the same license, there is no distinction. You can think of MAX as being a set of libraries and tools built with and around Mojo.

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**Author:** ![liyaric465](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@liyaric465](https://forum.modular.com/u/liyaric465)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://forum.modular.com/t/modular-a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo/1287/5 "2025-04-29T20:36:16Z")

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There has been promises that Mojo would be open source, yet as time passes, the message gets more and more ambiguous (starting with the merge of MAX and Mojo into the same repo, now this blog post).

→ So YES or NO is Mojo going to be open source ? (under some proper open source license like MIT, Apache, etc.)

It is fine if you don’t want to open source it, but please have the decency to be clear about it so that we don’t waste time learning or building with Mojo.

I get that MAX is a commercial offering so it can be whatever, but as a general programming language we have to know what Mojo (not only the std lib but also the compiler) will be licensed under.

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**Author:** ![clattner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.modular.com/clattner/32/201_2.png) [@clattner](https://forum.modular.com/u/clattner)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 4:06am UTC](https://forum.modular.com/t/modular-a-new-simpler-license-for-max-and-mojo/1287/6 "2025-04-30T04:06:13Z")

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If this is important to you, I’d love for you to watch our [video from Thursday last week](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uul6hZ5NXC8) on updates coming soon. If this is something you’re passively interested in, then please just wait and see what happens.

If this is too complicated for you, then the answer is “yes”: we’re a fan of open source and community development.

-Chris