Licensing · Commercial use
Local LLMs you can use commercially
"Open" does not always mean "free to ship". Some local models are fully permissive, some carry a user cap or terms to accept, and a few are research-only. Here they are, grouped by what their license actually allows.
- Free to ship
- 90
- With conditions
- 37
- Non-commercial
- 8
Free to ship 90
Apache-2.0, MIT and similar. Commercial use, modification and redistribution, no user cap.
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro 1600BMIT
- GL GLM-5.2 744BMIT
- DeepSeek R1 671BMIT
- DeepSeek V3 671BMIT
- DeepSeek-R1-0528 671BMIT
- NE Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B-A55B 550BOpenMDW-1.1
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 480Bapache-2.0
- MI MiniMax-M1-80k 456BApache-2.0
- GL GLM-4.6 357BMIT
- DeepSeek-V4-Flash 284BMIT
- Qwen3 235B A22B 235BApache-2.0
- DO dots.llm1 142BMIT
- LA Laguna S 2.1 118BOpenMDW-1.1
- gpt-oss 120B 117BApache-2.0
- GL GLM-4.5-Air 106BMIT
- S Sarvam-105B 105BApache-2.0
- Mixtral 8x7B 46.7BApache-2.0
- SE Seed-OSS 36B Instruct 36Bapache-2.0
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 36BApache-2.0
- OR Ornith 1.0 35B 35BMIT
- Qwen-AgentWorld 35B-A3B 34.7BApache-2.0
- Yi Yi 1.5 34B 34BApache-2.0
- LA Laguna XS 2.1 33.4BOpenMDW-1.1
- Gemma 4 31B 32.7BApache-2.0
- Qwen2.5 32B 32BApache-2.0
- Qwen3 32B 32BApache-2.0
- DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 32B 32BMIT
- Qwen2.5 Coder 32B 32BApache-2.0
- Granite 4.0 H Small 32BApache-2.0
- GL GLM-4-32B-0414 32BMIT
- OL OLMo 2 32B Instruct 32BApache-2.0
- Granite 4.0 H Small 32BApache-2.0
- OL Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct 32BApache-2.0
- Qwen3 30B-A3B 30.5BApache-2.0
- Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B 30.5BApache-2.0
- NO North Mini Code 1.0 30.5BApache-2.0
- S Sarvam-30B 30BApache-2.0
- GL GLM-4.7-Flash 30BMIT
- Granite 4.1 30B 28.9BApache-2.0
- Qwen3.6 27B 27.8BApache-2.0
- Gemma 4 26B-A4B 26.5BApache-2.0
- Mistral Small 3 24B 24BApache-2.0
- S Sarvam-M 24B 24BApache-2.0
- Mistral Small 3.1 24B 24Bapache-2.0
- Magistral Small 24BApache-2.0
- Devstral Small 24BApache-2.0
- gpt-oss 20B 21BApache-2.0
- ER ERNIE 4.5 21B-A3B 21BApache-2.0
- DeepSeek-V2-Lite 16BDeepSeek License · DeepSeek Model License permits commercial use.
- Phi-4 14B 14BMIT
- Qwen2.5 14B 14BApache-2.0
- Qwen3 14B 14BApache-2.0
- DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B 14BMIT
- Qwen2.5 Coder 14B 14BApache-2.0
- Phi-4-reasoning 14BMIT
- Mistral Nemo 12B 12.2BApache-2.0
- Gemma 4 12B 12BApache-2.0
- FN Falcon3 10B 10BFalcon LLM License 2.0
- GL GLM-4-9B-0414 9BMIT
- OR Ornith 1.0 9B 9BMIT
- Granite 4.1 8B 8.8BApache-2.0
- Qwen2.5-VL 7B 8.29BApache-2.0
- DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B 8.19BMIT
- Qwen3 8B 8BApache-2.0
- DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama 8B 8BMIT
- Gemma 4 E4B 8BApache-2.0
- Mistral 7B 7BApache-2.0
- Qwen2.5 7B 7BApache-2.0
- DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 7B 7BMIT
- Qwen2.5 Coder 7B 7BApache-2.0
- Gemma 4 E2B 5.1BApache-2.0
- Qwen3 4B 4BApache-2.0
- Phi-3.5-mini 3.8B 3.82BMIT
- Phi-4-mini 3.8B 3.8BMIT
- Phi-4-mini-reasoning 3.8BMIT
- Qwen2.5-VL 3B 3.75BApache-2.0
- Granite 4.1 3B 3.4BApache-2.0
- SmolLM3 3B 3BApache-2.0
- Granite 3.1 2B 2.53BApache-2.0
- SmolLM2 1.7B 1.7BApache-2.0
- Qwen3 1.7B 1.7BApache-2.0
- Qwen2.5 1.5B 1.54BApache-2.0
- Qwen2.5 Coder 1.5B 1.54BApache-2.0
- MI MiniCPM-V 4.6 1.3BApache-2.0
- TL TinyLlama 1.1B 1.1BApache-2.0
- Qwen3 0.6B 0.6BApache-2.0
- Qwen2.5 0.5B 0.494BApache-2.0
- Qwen2.5 Coder 0.5B 0.494BApache-2.0
- SmolLM2 360M 0.362BApache-2.0
- SmolLM2 135M 0.135BApache-2.0
Free with conditions 37
Usable commercially, but with a caveat: a user cap, naming rules or a terms-of-use to accept.
- KI Kimi K2 Instruct 1000BModified MIT · Modified MIT; commercial use allowed below a large-user threshold.
- KI Kimi K2.6 1000BModified MIT · Modified MIT; commercial use allowed below a large-user threshold, attribution above it.
- KI Kimi K2.7 Code 1000BModified MIT · Modified MIT; commercial use allowed below a large-user threshold, attribution above it.
- MI MiniMax M3 428BMiniMax Community License · MiniMax Community License: free for most uses; very large deployments need a separate license.
- Llama 4 Maverick 400BLlama 4 Community License · Llama 4 Community License; commercial use allowed below Meta's user threshold.
- NE Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B 120Bnvidia-nemotron-open-model-license · NVIDIA Nemotron Open Model License; check the terms for commercial use.
- Llama 4 Scout 109BLlama 4 Community · Llama 4 Community License: free under 700M MAU, with use restrictions.
- HY Hunyuan-A13B-Instruct 80Btencent-hunyuan-community · Tencent Hunyuan Community License; restricted in the EU and above 100M MAU.
- Qwen2.5 72B 72BQwen License · Qwen License: free for commercial use under 100M monthly active users.
- Llama 3.3 70B 70BLlama 3.3 Community · Llama 3.3 Community License: free under 700M MAU.
- NE Llama-3.3-Nemotron-Super-49B-v1 49BNVIDIA Open Model License + Llama 3.3 Community License · NVIDIA Open Model + Llama 3.3 Community License; check the terms for commercial use.
- FN Falcon-H1-34B-Instruct 34Bfalcon-llm · Falcon LLM license; permissive but check the terms.
- NE Nemotron 3 Nano 30B-A3B 30Bnvidia-nemotron-open-model-license · NVIDIA Nemotron Open Model License; check the terms for commercial use.
- NE Nemotron Cascade 2 30B-A3B 30Bnvidia-open-model-license · NVIDIA Open Model License; check the terms for commercial use.
- Gemma 2 27B 27BGemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
- Gemma 3 27B 27BGemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
- LF LFM2 24B-A2B 24BLFM Open License v1.0 · LFM Open License: free under $10M revenue; larger companies need a commercial license.
- Gemma 3 12B 12BGemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
- Llama 3.2 Vision 11B 10.7BLlama 3.2 Community · Llama 3.2 Community License: free under 700M MAU.
- Gemma 2 9B 9BGemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
- GL GLM-4 9B 9BGLM-4 License · GLM-4 Model License: review terms for commercial use.
- NE Nemotron Nano 9B v2 9Bnvidia-open-model-license · NVIDIA Open Model License; check the terms for commercial use.
- LF LFM2.5 8B-A1B 8.3BLFM Open License v1.0 · LFM Open License: free under $10M revenue; larger companies need a commercial license.
- Llama 3.1 8B 8BLlama 3.1 Community · Llama 3.1 Community License: free under 700M MAU.
- Gemma 3n E4B 8Bgemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
- Gemma 3 4B 4BGemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
- NE Nemotron 3 Nano 4B 4Bnvidia-nemotron-open-model-license · NVIDIA Nemotron Open Model License; check the terms for commercial use.
- Llama 3.2 3B 3BLlama 3.2 Community · Llama 3.2 Community License: free under 700M MAU.
- Gemma 2 2B 2.61BGemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
- LF LFM2 1.2B 1.17BLFM Open License v1.0 · LFM Open License: free under $10M revenue; larger companies need a commercial license.
- LF LFM2.5 1.2B 1.17BLFM Open License v1.0 · LFM Open License: free under $10M revenue; larger companies need a commercial license.
- LF LFM2.5 1.2B Thinking 1.17BLFM Open License v1.0 · LFM Open License: free under $10M revenue; larger companies need a commercial license.
- Llama 3.2 1B 1BLlama 3.2 Community · Llama 3.2 Community License: free under 700M MAU.
- Gemma 3 1B 1BGemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
- LF LFM2 700M 0.742BLFM Open License v1.0 · LFM Open License: free under $10M revenue; larger companies need a commercial license.
- LF LFM2 350M 0.354BLFM Open License v1.0 · LFM Open License: free under $10M revenue; larger companies need a commercial license.
- Gemma 3 270M 0.27BGemma · Gemma Terms of Use apply to commercial use.
Non-commercial only 8
Research or personal use only under their licenses. Not for a product you sell.
- CR Command A 111Bcc-by-nc-4.0 · cc-by-nc-4.0: non-commercial use only.
- CR Command R 35B 35BCC-BY-NC-4.0 · CC BY-NC 4.0: non-commercial use only.
- EX EXAONE 4.0 32B 32BEXAONE AI Model License Agreement 1.2 - NC · EXAONE AI Model License Agreement 1.2 - NC: non-commercial / research use only.
- Qwen2.5 3B 3.09BQwen Research License · Qwen Research License: non-commercial use only.
- Qwen2.5 Coder 3B 3.09BQwen Research License · Qwen Research License: non-commercial use only.
- OP Apple OpenELM 3B 3Bapple-amlr · apple-amlr license; non-commercial / research use only.
- S Sarvam-1 2B 2BSarvam non-commercial · Non-commercial use only per the Sarvam license. Check the current HuggingFace model card for updates.
- OP Apple OpenELM 1.1B 1.1Bapple-amlr · apple-amlr license; non-commercial / research use only.
This is a plain-English summary to help you shortlist, not legal advice. Licenses change and have edge cases. Always confirm the current license on the model's HuggingFace page before you build on it.
FAQ
Can I use Llama models commercially?
Yes, with a condition. Llama models use Meta's community license, which is free for commercial use unless your product has more than 700 million monthly active users, at which point you must request a license from Meta. For almost everyone that cap never bites. Llama 4 adds further use restrictions on top of the cap, so check the Llama 4 Community License before shipping. This is why Llama sits in the conditional tier, not the fully permissive one.
What is the most permissive license for a local LLM?
Apache-2.0 and MIT are the cleanest: free for commercial use, modification and redistribution with no user cap. Most Qwen3 and Mistral models ship under Apache-2.0, and the DeepSeek-R1 distills ship under MIT, which is why they fill the permissive tier here.
Which local models can I not use commercially?
Command A, Command R 35B, EXAONE 4.0 32B, Qwen2.5 3B, Qwen2.5 Coder 3B, Apple OpenELM 3B, Sarvam-1 2B, Apple OpenELM 1.1B are non-commercial only. Their licenses (the Qwen Research License, the Sarvam non-commercial license, and CC BY-NC) restrict them to evaluation and personal projects, not a product you sell.
Is this legal advice?
No. This is a plain-English summary of each model's stated license to help you shortlist. Licenses change and terms have edge cases, so confirm the current license on the model's HuggingFace page before you ship.
Sources
- aider.chat
- github.com
- huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1
- huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-0528
- huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-0528/blob
- huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V3-0324
- huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4-Pro
- huggingface.co/teamblobfish
- huggingface.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-0528-GGUF
- huggingface.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-R1-GGUF
- huggingface.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-V3-0324-GGUF
- huggingface.co/unsloth/GLM-5.2-GGUF
- huggingface.co/zai-org
- ollama.com/library/deepseek-r1
- ollama.com/library/deepseek-r1/tags
- ollama.com/library/deepseek-v3
- ollama.com/library/deepseek-v3/tags
- z.ai
Licenses are summarized from each model's card, validated 2026-08-03. See methodology.