BSD 2-Clause License Generator

The BSD 2-Clause License explained

The BSD 2-Clause License — also called the Simplified BSD License or FreeBSD License — descends from the original Berkeley Software Distribution licenses written at UC Berkeley in the 1980s. It is a short, permissive open-source license that is both OSI-approved and classified by the FSF as a GPL-compatible free software license. In spirit it is almost identical to the MIT License, with slightly more formal legal phrasing.

The license imposes only two conditions: (1) redistributions of source code must retain the copyright notice, the list of conditions and the disclaimer; (2) redistributions in binary form must reproduce the notice in the documentation or other materials shipped with the distribution. It then ends with a strong WARRANTY DISCLAIMER that limits the author's liability.

Projects that use it

BSD 2-Clause is used by the FreeBSD project (system core), NetBSD, FreeRTOS and historically OpenSSL (dual-licensed with SSLeay) and Redis until version 7.4, when Redis switched to the more restrictive RSALv2/SSPL. It is also a common choice for academic research code and embedded firmware libraries.

BSD-2 vs BSD-3 vs MIT

• BSD-2 vs BSD-3 — BSD-3 adds a third "no-endorsement" clause: you cannot use the project or contributor names to endorse derivatives without written permission. Pick BSD-3 when trademark protection matters; pick BSD-2 when it does not.
• BSD-2 vs MIT — functionally equivalent. Some companies prefer BSD-2 because the wording reads as slightly more legalistic and explicitly separates source vs binary redistribution.
• BSD-2 vs Apache 2.0 — Apache 2.0 adds an explicit patent grant and a NOTICE file requirement; BSD-2 is silent on patents.

License creep and how to apply BSD-2

Many projects that started under BSD have migrated to more restrictive "source-available" licenses (Redis, MongoDB, Elastic, HashiCorp), citing exploitation by cloud providers. If you choose BSD-2 today, plan ahead: contributor license agreements (CLAs) make future re-licensing far easier. To apply it, add a LICENSE file at the repository root and include an SPDX header // SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause at the top of each source file.

FAQ

Can I sell software licensed under BSD-2? Yes. The license permits commercial use, modification and redistribution, including selling proprietary forks.

Can someone close-source a fork of my BSD-2 code? Yes — that is a defining feature of permissive licenses. The fork can be proprietary as long as the copyright notice is preserved.

Is BSD more popular than MIT? No. MIT dominates on GitHub; BSD is more common in the Unix/BSD systems world and parts of academia.

Does BSD-2 protect against patent claims? No. There is no explicit patent grant. If patents matter, prefer Apache 2.0.

Disclaimer. This generator produces a license template — it is not legal advice. For commercial products, dual-licensing or patent-heavy domains, consult an attorney.