The Fredoscale License highlights a critical tension in software economics:
How does a solo developer audit the revenue of a private startup in a foreign jurisdiction? The cost of compliance and enforcement would bankrupt the licensor long before the license fees arrive.
The key differentiator is . The BSL (used by companies like MariaDB and Sentry) converts from proprietary to open after a few years. The Fredoscale License never converts. It remains perpetually locked to the size of the user organization. Part 4: Potential Implementation (A Code Sample) A hypothetical FPL-1.0 (Fredoscale Public License) might include a header like this in the source code: Fredoscale License
Thus, the Fredoscale License introduces a dynamic cost structure: Part 2: The Core Tenets of the Fredoscale License Unlike binary licenses (free vs. proprietary), the Fredoscale License operates on a sliding scale. While multiple variants exist in the wild (v0.1 to v1.2), the following four pillars are consistent across most definitions. 1. The "Hobbyist Exemption" Under the Fredoscale License, any individual, non-commercial entity, or commercial entity earning less than a specific revenue threshold (commonly $1 million USD annually or less than 10 employees) may use the software free of charge. This includes modification, redistribution, and even sublicensing, provided the original license terms are maintained downstream. 2. The "Growth Trigger" Once an organization exceeds the defined threshold, the license automatically converts. The software is no longer free. The organization must negotiate a commercial license with the copyright holder. This trigger is typically based on gross annual revenue or user count, audited annually by the licensee. 3. The Fair Source Clause The Fredoscale License explicitly forbids the "Cloud Hostage" scenario. A large provider (e.g., a hypothetical "MegaHost") cannot take the Fredoscale-licensed code, run it as a managed service, and contribute nothing back. If a company offers the software as a service (SaaS) to paying customers, that company is considered to be "at scale," even if their internal revenue is low. 4. Vestigial Open Source Rights For those below the threshold, the code remains Open Source (OSD-compliant). For those above the threshold, the source code is still available (Source Available), but the rights to modify and run it in production are explicitly tied to a paid subscription. Part 3: How It Compares to Existing Licenses To appreciate the Fredoscale License, place it on the spectrum of existing legal instruments.
The core problem the Fredoscale License attempts to solve is the "Scale Penalty." Under traditional open-source licenses, a solo developer and a multi-billion-dollar SaaS company enjoy the same rights to use, modify, and redistribute a piece of free software. The Fredoscale License posits that this is an unfair equilibrium. The Fredoscale License highlights a critical tension in
Heartbleed (OpenSSL) proved that volunteer maintenance fails. The Fredoscale License forces profitable users to become paying customers, generating a revenue stream for the maintainers.
| Feature | MIT License | GPL v3 | Business Source License (BSL) | | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Cost for Hobbyist | Free | Free | Free (often with time delay) | Free | | Cost for FAANG | Free | Free | Paid after X years | Paid immediately | | Copyleft | No | Yes | No | Hybrid | | Cloud Hosting Allowed | Yes | No (AGPL) | No | Conditionally (Paid) | | Complexity | Low | Medium | High | Very High | The BSL (used by companies like MariaDB and
As soon as a company hits the scale threshold, they have the source code and the right (under the hobbyist term they originally used) to fork the last free version. The large company simply maintains its own fork, pays nothing, and never upgrades. Part 7: The Verdict – Is the Fredoscale License the Future? As of 2025, the Fredoscale License does not appear in the SPDX License List. It is a theoretical construct—a thought experiment in "fair source" licensing. However, its principles are already appearing in hybrid licenses like the Fair Source License (FSL) or the Functional Source License (FSL) .