Most popular open source licenses worldwide in 2021

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Release date

January 2022

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2021

Supplementary notes

Based on information collected from the WhiteSource database, which includes more than 4 million open source packages and 130 million open source files covering over 200 programming languages.

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Leading open source licenses worldwide 2021

Published by Statista Research Department, Nov 28, 2025
The most popular open source license in the WhiteSource global database in 2021 was Apache 2.0. This license allows users to distribute, modify, or use software for their own purposes, as long as the user complies with the specified license terms. WhiteSource is a platform that automates open source security, compliance, and reporting processes.
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* For commercial use only

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For single users
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Always free
Access limited to Free Statistics. Premium Statistics are not included.
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