---
title: "dbatools is Now MIT Licensed!"
url: "https://dbatools.io/mit/"
tags: ["mit", "party"]
last_updated: "2025-10-29"
---

# dbatools is Now MIT Licensed!

Nearly two years ago, I wrote that as a open source [GPL-licensed project](https://choosealicense.com/licenses/gpl-3.0/), dbatools was free as in speech and free as in beer.

I chose the GNU GPL for nostalgic reasons and I also wanted companies who used dbatools to contribute back to the project. What I didn't realize was that licensing dbatools as GPL would hurt integration which ultimately impacts adoption. Permissive licenses like the [MIT](https://choosealicense.com/licenses/mit/) do not subject users to such restrictions.

Many of the tools we use on a daily basis, like VS Code and even [.NET](https://github.com/Microsoft/dotnet) are MIT licensed, and MIT is [the most popular license on GitHub](https://github.blog/open-source/git/open-source-license-usage-on-github-com/).

![](/images/img_5a9af637b5a66.png)

Considering this and our lessons-learned from dbatools, we released [dbachecks](https://dbachecks.io) under the MIT license. The reception at SQL Bits was *amazing*. A number of comments were made expressing thanks and optimism about our selection of the MIT license.

And, after speaking with a number of community members about the restrictive GPL license, it became clear that dbatools must also switch to MIT.

As of version [0.9.300](https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/dbatools/0.9.300), dbatools is now MIT licensed! If you would like to continue using the GPL version, please fork [v0.9.211](https://github.com/dataplat/dbatools/commit/ddd7b7a7f379534fa36dbef3ad84a89c4b7d13a4) and take it from there.

If your project appreciates this switch, please comment in the section below or [email us](https://dbatools.io/contact/) to let us know!