From Copyright to Copyleft, content licensing is when the content owner grants content intellectual property to third parties. So this content can be re-used in a specific and predefined way.
In the following table, we provide a comprehensive and complete comparison between the most commonly used types of content licenses.
For the complete guide about content licensing types and categories, please refer to our full article.
| License / Phrase / Term | Logo | Abbreviation | Similar / Related Licenses | Copy/Re-use Original Work (With Attribution) | Copy/Re-use Original Work (Without Attribution) | Modify Original Work (Keep Original License) | Modify Original Work (Modify License) | Commercial Usage (Original/Modified) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copyright |  | Copyright | All Rights Reserved |  Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed |
| All Rights Reserved |  | N/A | Copyright | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed |
| Some Rights Reserved | | N/A | Creative Commons |  As per license terms | As per license terms | As per license terms | As per license terms | As per license terms |
| Creative Commons (Attribution) |  | CC BY | Some Rights Reserved, Open License, Free License |  Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution |
| Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike) |  | CC BY-SA | Some Rights Reserved, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution |
| Creative Commons (Attribution-NoDerivs) |  | CC BY-ND | Some Rights Reserved, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution |
| Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial) |  | CC BY-NC | Some Rights Reserved, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution | Not Allowed |
| Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) |  | CC BY-NC-SA | Some Rights Reserved, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Not Allowed | Not Allowed |
| Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs) |  | CC BY-NC-ND | Some Rights Reserved, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed |
| Creative Commons CC0 (No Rights Reserved) |  | CC0 | Public Domain | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| Copyleft |  | Copyleft | CC BY-SA | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed |
| Weak Copyleft | | N/A | Copyleft | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed (as per how the work is derived) | Allowed |
| Strong Copyleft (Default copyleft license) | | N/A | Copyleft | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed |
| Public Domain (All Rights Granted) |  | PDM (Public Domain Mark) | CC0 | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| Open/Free License | | N/A | Creative Commons, Some Rights Reserved | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution |
| MIT License (Software License) | | N/A | Copyleft, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution |
| GNU General Public License (Software License) |  | GNU-GPL | Strong Copyleft License, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution + Keep the whole source code open | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution |
| GNU Lesser General Public License (Software License) |  | GNU-LGPL | GNU-GPL, Weak Copyleft License, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution + Keep only modified source code open | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution |
| GNU Free Documentation License (for any text-based work) |  | GNU-FDL GFDL | Copyleft, GPL | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution + For large quantities, Keep Source Code Open |
| BSD License (Software License) (please check license versions) |  | BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) | Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution |
| WTFPL Do What The F*** You Want To Public License |  | WTFPL | Public Domain, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| Unlicense |  | N/A | Public Domain | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| Mozilla Public License (please check license versions) |  | MPL | Weak Copyleft License, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Allowed + Attribution + Keep Source Code Open | Allowed + Attribution |
| Free Art License |  | FAL | Copyleft, Open License, Free License | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution |
| Open Database License (for databases) | | ODbL | Copyleft | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution |
| Open Game License (for games and their content / mechanics) | | OGL | Copyleft | Allowed | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution | Not Allowed | Allowed + Attribution |
| License / Phrase / Term | Logo | Abbreviation | Similar / Related Licenses | Copy/Re-use Original Work (With Attribution) | Copy/Re-use Original Work (Without Attribution) | Modify Original Work (Keep Original License) | Modify Original Work (Modify License) | Commercial Usage (Original/Modified) |
Notice: all mentioned details are provided for mere comparison and can’t be used as legal and other references. It is always the reader’s responsibility to check the official (and latest version) conditions for each license.