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| 1 | +Today marks a pivotal moment in the journey of EMQX! We're excited to announce a significant evolution: starting with version 5.9, we are unifying our Community and Enterprise editions into a single, powerful **EMQX Platform**. Concurrently, this unified platform will adopt the **Business Source License (BSL) 1.1**. |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +This strategic move is driven by our commitment to accelerating innovation **at the intersection of MQTT and AI.** We envision MQTT as the essential nervous system connecting the physical world to artificial intelligence, and this change positions EMQX to lead that future. |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +## **Recap: The Dual-Edition Model (Community & Enterprise)** |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +For years, EMQX has operated under a dual-license model with two distinct editions: |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +- **EMQX Community Edition:** Licensed under the permissive **Apache License 2.0**, it became a widely embraced open-source MQTT broker used by developers and organizations worldwide for a vast range of projects. |
| 10 | +- **EMQX Enterprise Edition:** Built upon the Community core, it offered advanced features for commercial deployments, including enhanced data processing, data integration, enterprise security (like SSO, RBAC), advanced clustering, and dedicated support. |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +## **Why This Evolution? Fostering Innovation and Community** |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +While the dual-edition model served us well—with EMQX Enterprise earning the trust of over **1,000** global customers—it presented long-term challenges hindering our innovation pace: |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +- **Development Complexity:** Managing two separate codebases and licensing models consumed significant resources, slowing down innovation and release cycles across the board. |
| 17 | +- **Community Limitations:** Community users lacked access to powerful, production-ready features already available in Enterprise (like advanced data integrations and reliability enhancements), often forcing them to reinvent the wheel. |
| 18 | +- **Accelerating the Vision:** To fully realize the potential of “MQTT + AI”, we need to consolidate our efforts and resources for maximum impact. |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +Moving to a unified platform under BSL allows us to: |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +- **Streamline Development:** Focusing all engineering efforts on a single codebase means faster feature delivery, quicker bug fixes, and more robust releases for everyone. |
| 23 | +- **Boost Investment:** Provides a sustainable model to significantly increase our investment in core MQTT technology and the development of cutting-edge AI integrations. |
| 24 | +- **Preserve Openness:** BSL remains a source-available license. You can still view, modify, and redistribute the code freely under its terms, maintaining transparency. |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | +## **Understanding the Business Source License (BSL 1.1)** |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +Pioneered by companies like MariaDB and embraced by others in the open-source ecosystem, the BSL 1.1 is a source-available license tailored for today's software landscape. Key aspects include: |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +- **Source Code Access:** Grants rights to freely view, download, modify, and compile the source code. |
| 31 | +- **Free Usage:** Allows free usage, including production, under specific conditions (see below). |
| 32 | +- **Commercial Restriction:** Typically limits the right to offer the software commercially as a managed service or embed it directly in a competing product. |
| 33 | +- **Open Source Conversion:** Automatically converts to a true open-source license (Apache 2.0 in our case) after a predefined time period. |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +BSL represents a modern approach, balancing the transparency and collaborative benefits of open source with the need for a sustainable business model to support long-term investment and innovation, especially in the fast-moving cloud and AI era. |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +## **What This Means For You: Benefits Across the Ecosystem** |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +This transition brings significant benefits to all EMQX users: |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +- **For Our Community Users:** This is a major upgrade! You now gain access to the *full suite* of EMQX features, including previously Enterprise-exclusive capabilities like advanced data integration (50+ connectors), enhanced security (SSO, RBAC), the visual Flow Designer, and more, directly within the core platform. The primary difference lies in the licensing terms for specific production scenarios.. |
| 42 | +- **For Our Enterprise Customers:** By consolidating our efforts and streamlining our development pipeline, you’ll receive **new features, enhancements, and updates** faster. This model directly fuels the accelerated innovation, dedicated support, and robust reliability essential for your mission-critical deployments. |
| 43 | + |
| 44 | +## **How the BSL License Model Works for EMQX v5.9+** |
| 45 | + |
| 46 | +We’ve structured the new license to remain flexible and accessible for a wide range of users. Here’s a breakdown of the usage grants under BSL 1.1 for EMQX version 5.9 and later: |
| 47 | + |
| 48 | +**Free Usage Under BSL:** |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +You can use the unified EMQX Platform (v5.9+) for free under the following conditions: |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +- **Single-Node Production Use:** Running EMQX on a single node instance in production environments is permitted, provided you’re not offering EMQX itself as a commercial hosted service or embedding it directly within a commercial product you sell. |
| 53 | +- **Educational & Non-Profit Use:** Accredited academic institutions and registered non-profit organizations can use EMQX in production without node restrictions, provided the usage is non-commercial and does not involve providing EMQX as a service. *(Please refer to the full license text for precise definitions)* |
| 54 | +- **All Non-Production Use:** You can use EMQX v5.9.0+ freely for development, testing, and non-production purposes. |
| 55 | + |
| 56 | +**Commercial License Requirement:** |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +A commercial EMQX license (available by contacting our sales team) is required if your production use case involves any of the following: |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | +- **Multi-Node Clustering Deployments:** Running EMQX in a cluster (two or more nodes) for production workloads. |
| 61 | +- **Commercial** **SaaS or Hosted Offerings:** Offering EMQX, or a service directly based on EMQX, as part of a commercial hosted service to third parties. |
| 62 | +- **Commercial Product Embedding/Distribution:** Embedding EMQX within a software or hardware product that is sold or commercially distributed to end-users. |
| 63 | + |
| 64 | +*For complete terms and conditions, please refer to the official BSL 1.1 license text accompanying EMQX 5.9 and later versions.* |
| 65 | + |
| 66 | +## **One Unified Platform, Four Editions for Every Need** |
| 67 | + |
| 68 | +With the unification, the core EMQX Platform **forms the foundation** for all our offerings. We deliver this platform with flexible deployment and management options, tailored for our entire user base, through **four distinct editions:** |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | +- **EMQX Serverless:** A multi-tenant, pay-as-you-go MQTT service that auto-scales. Ideal for rapid development, prototyping, and smaller applications, with a generous free tier to get started quickly. |
| 71 | +- **EMQX Dedicated:** A fully managed, dedicated EMQX cluster on major public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP). Offers guaranteed resources, enhanced security, predictable pricing, and is suitable for business-critical applications. |
| 72 | +- **EMQX BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud):** A dedicated EMQX cluster deployed within your own public cloud account (AWS, Azure, GCP), managed by the EMQ team. Combines managed service convenience with maximum data control and security compliance. |
| 73 | +- **EMQX Enterprise (Self-Hosted):** The self-hosted software package licensed under BSL 1.1 (requiring a commercial license for multi-node production, SaaS, or embedding). Provides maximum deployment flexibility on your own hardware, private cloud, or public cloud platforms. |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +## **Looking Ahead: The Future is MQTT + AI** |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +We believe that MQTT is the cornerstone technology for connecting the physical world to artificial intelligence. This move to a unified platform under BSL is a crucial step, enabling significant investment in this vision, building the “MQTT + AI” platform needed to power the next generation of intelligent applications, from connected vehicles to industrial automation and beyond. |
| 78 | + |
| 79 | +We are excited about this new chapter and committed to supporting our community and customers through this transition. We believe this change will lead to a unified, more innovative, and more capable EMQX Platform for everyone. |
| 80 | + |
| 81 | +## **Get Involved & Learn More** |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +- Have questions? Join the discussion on our [community forum](https://github.com/emqx/emqx/discussions) or check out our [FAQ page](https://www.emqx.com/en/content/license-faq). |
| 84 | +- Explore the unified EMQX Platform features on our [product page](https://www.emqx.com/en/platform). |
| 85 | +- Ready to discuss commercial licensing? Contact us [here](https://www.emqx.com/en/contact). |
| 86 | + |
| 87 | +Thank you for being an essential part of the EMQX journey. |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | + |
| 91 | +<section class="promotion"> |
| 92 | + <div> |
| 93 | + Talk to an Expert |
| 94 | + </div> |
| 95 | + <a href="https://www.emqx.com/en/contact?product=solutions" class="button is-gradient">Contact Us →</a> |
| 96 | +</section> |
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