# Licensing overview

APEX is distributed under the **[APEX Source Available License 1.1](LICENSE)**, dated 24 September 2026. The root LICENSE is the canonical, self-contained license text. This overview explains it and does not add conditions.

## Free and paid use

| Tier | Applicable revenue or use | License fee |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | Internal production use up to and including EUR 2,000,000; qualifying non-commercial academic research and teaching regardless of revenue; up to 90 days of non-operational evaluation for all organizations | EUR 0 |
| Business | Internal use above EUR 2,000,000 and below EUR 10,000,000 | EUR 2,148 annually; EUR 179 monthly equivalent |
| Business Plus | Internal use from EUR 10,000,000 to below EUR 50,000,000 | EUR 4,308 annually; EUR 359 monthly equivalent |
| Custom | Revenue from EUR 50,000,000, or group-wide/multi-entity use, SaaS, OEM or White Label | Individual quotation |
| Perpetual alternative | Individually quoted by company size and agreed scope at purchase | From EUR 8,000 once |

Subscriptions run for twelve months and are paid annually in advance, plus applicable taxes. They do not automatically renew. Paid use requires a separately accepted Order; downloads, evaluation, revenue growth or continued unauthorized use do not create an automatic charge.

A perpetual purchase provides indefinite use and internal modification of the specified version within its agreed scope, including private forks. Later revenue growth causes no additional license fee, annual reassessment or compulsory tier change. Future versions, upgrades, additional entities and new types of use outside the purchased scope require a separate agreement.

Standard internal use covers one legal entity at all its own sites, with no user, installation, site, operation, planning-volume or run limit or related charge. Group revenue determines the applicable band. Integration, hosting, customization and support are separately quoted. AI model and provider costs are separate.

## Source and distribution rights

The license permits source inspection, modification, private forks, and limited public source forks and patches under the same license. Each recipient needs its own execution entitlement. Source access and compilation do not give an unlimited right to execute, including through tests.

Public executable releases, container images, third-party products and scheduling services require express distribution or Custom rights, subject to the license's contractor and mandatory-law provisions. Internal changes do not have to be published or contributed. Upstream contributions require separately agreed rights sufficient for the project's source and commercial licensing.

At subscription or evaluation expiry, further execution requires another entitlement. Compliant source collaboration and inactive archival retention may continue. Previously lawfully generated production plans remain usable; evaluation outputs remain restricted.

## Documents and status

- [LICENSE](LICENSE): operative public license text, including the complete revenue and commercial schedule in sections 13 and 14.
- [Pricing guide](app/docs/legal/pricing.md): readable summary of the same rules; the LICENSE and accepted Order control.
- [Legal document guide](app/docs/legal/README.md): document roles and the boundary between the public license and separately accepted agreements.

The public license identifies a Licensor by its authority as a copyright holder or authorized grantor. It does not invent a contracting entity or address. Commercial Orders must identify their actual legal parties. The license makes no choice of governing law or exclusive court; the relevant legal rules determine those matters unless a separate agreement validly provides otherwise.

This is **source available with revenue-based commercial terms**. It must not be described as OSI-approved open source. LICENSE section 11 supplies an as-is disclaimer and qualified defect exclusion for gratuitous use, defines responsibility for self-hosting and customer changes, and excludes liability for ordinary negligence outside material contractual obligations. For ordinarily negligent breaches of those obligations, damages are limited to foreseeable loss typical of the agreement. Express exceptions preserve liability for intent, gross negligence, personal injury, fraud, guarantees and mandatory law. Paid defect remedies are addressed separately. No legal review or audit is implied by the version number.

Third-party code, libraries and datasets retain their own licenses. Verify authority over the material actually distributed and comply with its notices and redistribution conditions. This license does not relicense third-party material.