Commercial Use Under BUSL, SSPL, RSALv2 and ELv2

“Can our engineering team use Redis 7.4 or Terraform 1.6 in production without paying license fees?” “Are we allowed to bundle CockroachDB inside an on-premises software appliance we ship to clients?”

These are the most common questions development and legal teams ask when evaluating source-available software. The answer depends strictly on how the software is deployed and monetized: whether for internal operational workloads, managed cloud services, or embedded redistribution.

1. Permissibility by Deployment Scenario

Scenario A: Internal Workloads & Proprietary Web Application Backends (Permitted)

The standard use case for most tech companies: deploying Redis 7.4+ on internal infrastructure (e.g., self-hosted EC2 instances) to store user sessions or power application caches, or utilizing Terraform 1.6+ to provision proprietary cloud architecture.

• Verdict: Permitted
• Reasoning: SSPL-1.0, BUSL-1.1, RSALv2, and Elastic-2.0 do not restrict using the software to support your company's own business operations (e.g., e-commerce, banking, or SaaS applications). You are not reselling Redis or Terraform itself as a commercial product.

Scenario B: Managed Cloud Services & DBaaS Offerings (Prohibited)

Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), hosting platforms, or MSPs that sell “Managed Redis Clusters” or “Automated Terraform CI/CD Workspaces” to external paying customers.

• Verdict: Strictly Prohibited without Commercial Agreement
• Reasoning:
  • SSPL-1.0 Section 13: Mandates public disclosure of the entire backend service infrastructure source code under SSPL.
  • BUSL-1.1 Additional Use Grant: Explicitly excludes offering the software as a competitive managed or hosted service.
  • RSALv2 & Elastic-2.0: Explicitly forbid providing the software's primary functionality to third parties as a hosted or managed service.

Scenario C: Embedded Appliance Distribution to Customer Premises (Restricted / Review Required)

Shipping a turnkey security platform, analytics appliance, or on-premises enterprise software package that embeds a database (e.g., CockroachDB, MongoDB) or secrets manager (Vault) within the installation.

• Verdict: Restricted — Case-by-case Legal Review Required
• Key Checkpoints: Does the end customer gain direct programmatic access to the underlying database engine, or is it strictly accessible through your proprietary application interfaces? For BUSL licenses, the specific "Additional Use Grant" text drafted by each vendor must be verified.

2. Comparative Matrix: Restrictive Clauses

3. Mitigation Strategies for Development Organizations

1. Pin Pre-Change Releases: Software versions published before the boundary release (e.g., Redis 7.2.4 or Terraform 1.5.5) remain governed forever by their original open source licenses. See our Version Pinning Guide.
2. Migrate to Neutral Community Forks: Consider switching to Linux Foundation-backed true open source forks such as Valkey, OpenTofu, and OpenSearch.
3. Procure Enterprise Commercial Licenses: If building commercial cloud services, negotiate official commercial distribution contracts directly with the copyright holders.

Check whether your infrastructure dependencies trigger commercial restrictions using our License Checker Tool.