SurfSense

license

Apache-2.0(OSI, everything outside the proprietary directory)+BSL-1.1(Business Source License 1.1 - surfsense_backend/app/proprietary)

source

public(github.com/MODSetter/SurfSense)

self-host

primary(Docker/Compose)

core-gated

ungated

The license is a two-part compound rather than the plain Apache-2.0 it is often taken for. The root LICENSE opens "Portions of this software are licensed as follows" and puts everything under surfsense_backend/app/proprietary/ under the Business Source License 1.1 defined in that directory's own LICENSE, with everything outside it under Apache-2.0. That directory is live rather than a stub - it holds the platform and web-crawler code that is the live-data connector surface the product now leads on. GitHub reads the split file as unclassified. The most restrictive part of a compound license sets the tier, and BSL-1.1 restricts competing use, so public source under it lands at source-available. You can read the whole tree, and the license's terms do not let you run the proprietary half in production. Nothing is withheld from the published source - the restricted directory ships inside it - and the project still says self-hosting stays free and open source, with self-hosted installs running with billing off.

• https://github.com/MODSetter/SurfSense/blob/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-06-17

  Apache License 2.0

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MODSetter/SurfSense/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-08-14

  Root LICENSE, read rather than assumed. 'Portions of this software are licensed as follows - All content that resides under the "surfsense_backend/app/proprietary/" directory of this repository is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 as defined in "surfsense_backend/app/proprietary/LICENSE". ... Content outside of the above-mentioned directory is available under the Apache License, Version 2.0', followed by the full Apache text. Two governing licenses, one repository.

• https://api.github.com/repos/MODSetter/SurfSense/contents/surfsense_backend/app/proprietary recorded 2026-08-14

  The BSL-covered directory exists and ships code - LICENSE, __init__.py, platforms/ and web_crawler/. It is the connector surface rather than a placeholder.

• https://github.com/MODSetter/SurfSense recorded 2026-08-14

  Repository page, 15,906 stars. GitHub records the license as spdxId NOASSERTION / 'Other', which is GitHub declining to classify the split LICENSE file. The page still reads 'self-hosting stays free and open source' and 'Self-hosted installs run with billing off', so nothing is withheld from the published tree for a paid tier.