Elastic NV—Elastic returned Elasticsearch to open source by adding AGPLv3 as a licensing option
In September 2024, Elastic added the OSI-approved AGPLv3 license as an option alongside SSPL and Elastic License for Elasticsearch and Kibana, effectively returning to open-source licensing. However, developers who had migrated to alternatives after the 2021 license change largely did not return, with community trust having been damaged by the original switch.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source Licensing Integrity | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.443 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Elastic added AGPLv3 as open-source licensing option for Elasticsearch and Kibana in September 2024
Elastic added OSI-approved AGPLv3 alongside SSPL and Elastic License for Elasticsearch and Kibana, effectively returning to open source. Community trust had been damaged by the 2021 switch, and many developers did not return.