Dockhand’s license summary was rewritten in its repository on October 3 to state its terms the way the Business Source License does: production use by or for a business, public body or other organization now requires a paid Commercial License, while home labs, personal use, non-profits, schools and non-commercial research stay free and development, testing, staging, CI/CD, evaluation, demos and training remain free for everyone including companies. Each released version converts to Apache 2.0 four years after publication instead of a single January 1, 2029 date, and offering Dockhand or a fork as a hosted or managed service still needs a separate agreement. A follow-up commit added an exemption for sole traders and self-employed people who run their own infrastructure without an employee, after the tightened terms drew attention in the self-hosting community.
Dockhand tightens source-available terms and requires commercial licenses for business use
Dockhand's license summary was rewritten in its repository on October 3 to state its terms the way the Business Source License does: production use by or for a business, public body or other organization now requires a paid Commercial License, while home labs, personal use, non-profits, schools and non-commercial research stay free and development, testing, staging, CI/CD, evaluation, demos and training remain free for everyone including companies. Each released version converts to Apache 2.0 four years after publication instead of a single January 1, 2029 date, and offering Dockhand or a fork as a hosted or managed service still needs a separate agreement. A follow-up commit added an exemption for sole traders and self-employed people who run their own infrastructure without an employee, after the tightened terms drew attention in the self-hosting community.
Source: Github