Licenses you can actually read. Visit us at plainlicense.org.
Most software licenses are hard to read. They use long sentences, legal terms, and passive voice. Plain License rewrites popular licenses in clear, everyday language — so you can understand what you're agreeing to without a law degree.
We keep the legal meaning intact. We just say it plainly.
We take widely-used software and creative licenses and rewrite them so that anyone can read them. Our plain-language versions let you quickly see:
- What you can do with the work
- What you must do if you use or share it
- What you cannot do
We also compare each plain-language clause with the original legal text, so you can see exactly how we translated it.
| License | Type |
|---|---|
| Plain MIT | Permissive |
| Plain MPL 2.0 | Copyleft |
| Plain Elastic 2.0 | Source Available |
| Plain Unlicense | Public Domain |
More licenses are in progress. Want to suggest one? Open an issue.
| Project | What It Does |
|---|---|
| plainlicense | The plainlicense.org website — browse, compare, and download plain-language licenses |
| readscore | A Python library that scores text readability using nine proven formulas |
| plainr | A command-line tool for plain language checks — in development |
We welcome contributions — whether that's writing a new plain-language license, improving an existing one, fixing a bug, or improving the docs.
- Read the contributing guide to get started
- Browse open issues to find something to work on
- All license writing targets an 8th-grade reading level
Plain License rewrites are provided as-is. They are not legal advice. If you are choosing a license for your project, consider talking to a lawyer. We are not lawyers — just people who want licenses to be readable.