Sustainable License is the most liberal commercial license we could create. It balances the freedoms provided by open source software with monetization, allowing creators to earn money from their work and reinvest that back into their efforts to continue the development long term.
Do read the blog post explaining the reasoning behind Sustainable License.
If you are interested in using the license, please see the full copy of license and frequently asked questions in this repository.
An example of how the monetization module works in the Outserv repository. While Outserv uses Ethereum for billing, the license itself does not specify the billing mechanism. Stripe, or anything else is an equally good mechanism for charging usage.
Sustainable License ensures that the price is transparent and charges are fair to all. For the same usage, no one should be paying more than other. And that everyone gets the freedoms offered by the license -- freedom to use, modify, and commercialize the software -- without any discrimination.
While the license does not mandate it, it is important to the ethos of the license is that there be no hidden charges for more functionality (to be negotiated by some sales team), that's not already coded in the source. That would be in violation of "price is transparent to all".
If you were thinking of using an Open Source or a very liberal license for your project, but also wanted to monetize the project via the currently popular open source business models (enterprise features, hosting, etc.), then Sustainable License might be a great choice. Two things to consider:
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Licenses like SSPL, Elastic prohibit others from providing a hosted solution -- Sustainable License has no such restrictions. So, anyone can provide commercial hosted services around the software.
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All pricing is transparent and coded in the source -- which leaves zero room for a sales team to negotiate behind the scenes.
If these two are not an issue, then Sustainable License would be a great choice for you. And would give you the benefit of revenue from day 1.
If you were planning to not open source your project and make it a closed-source commercial project, then I'd recommend using Sustainable License. Sustainable License would allow you to still generate revenue from day 1. But, get the amazing benefits of an open and community driven development process, and a fair and transparent pricing for all.
Please use the GitHub Issues to ask any questions and make suggestions about the license.