3.1 MySQL licensing policy

The formal terms of the license for non-Microsoft operating systems such as Unix or OS/2 are specified in J The MySQL server license for non Microsoft operating systems. Basically, our licensing policy is as follows:

  • For normal internal use, MySQL generally costs nothing. You do not have to pay us if you do not want to.
  • A license is required if:
    • You sell the MySQL server directly or as a part of another product or service
    • You charge for installing and maintaining a MySQL server at some client site
    • You include MySQL in a distribution that is non redistributable and you charge for some part of that distribution
  • For circumstances under which a MySQL license is required, you need a license per machine that runs the mysqld server. However, a multiple-CPU machine counts as a single machine, and there is no restriction on the number of MySQL servers that run on one machine, or on the number of clients concurrently connected to a server running on that machine!
  • You do not need a license to include client code in commercial programs. The client access part of MySQL is in the public domain. The mysql command line client includes code from the readline library that is under the GNU Public License.
  • For customers who have purchased 10 licenses or a high enough level of support, we provide additional functionality. Currently, this means we provide the pack_isam utility for creating fast compressed read-only databases. (The server includes support for reading such databases but not the packing tool used to create them.) If support agreements generate sufficient revenue, we will probably release this tool under the same license as the MySQL server.
  • If your use of MySQL does not require a license, but you like MySQL and want to encourage further development, you are certainly welcome to purchase a license anyway.
  • If you use MySQL in a commercial context such that you profit by its use, we ask that you further the development of MySQL by purchasing some level of support. We feel that if MySQL helps your business, it is reasonable to ask that you help MySQL. (Otherwise, if you ask us support questions, you are not only using for free something into which we've put a lot a work, you're asking us to provide free support, too.)

For use under Microsoft operating systems (Win95/Win98/WinNT), you need a MySQL license after a trial period of 30 days, with the exception that licenses may be obtained upon request at no cost for educational use or for university- or government-sponsored research settings. K The MySQL license for Microsoft operating systems. A shareware version of MySQL-Win32 that you can try before buying is available at http://www.mysql.com/mysql_w32.htmy. After you have paid, you will get a password that will enable you to access the newest MySQL-Win32 version.

If you have any questions as to whether or not a license is required for your particular use of MySQL, please contact us. 3.5.2 Contact information.

If you require a MySQL license, the easiest way to pay for it is to use the license form at TcX's secure server at https://www.mysql.com/license.htmy. Other forms of payment are discussed in 3.5.1 Payment information.