License Compliance Calculator

Assess open source licence obligations and compliance risk across dependencies.

About License Compliance Calculator

Copyleft obligations largely depend on whether software is distributed, which is why SaaS carries lower risk than shipping binaries. AGPL is the notable exception because network use counts as distribution. Unknown or unlicensed dependencies are the highest risk of all, because absence of a licence means no permission to use the code rather than permissive terms.

Formula

License Compliance

Risk = strong copyleft × 12 + weak copyleft × 3, scaled by distribution model, plus unknowns × 8

strong copyleft: GPL and AGPL, which can require releasing your own source
SaaS distinction: GPL obligations often do not trigger without distribution, but AGPL does

Worked example

With the default values below, License Compliance Calculator returns Compliance Risk Score of 100.0. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Permissive licences, MIT or Apacheminimum 0: 340
Weak copyleft, LGPL or MPLminimum 0: 18
Strong copyleft, GPL or AGPLminimum 0: 4
Unknown or unlicensedminimum 0: 7
Distribution modelone of SaaS, not distributed, Distributed binary, Open source: SaaS, not distributed

Results

Compliance Risk Score: 100.0 /100
Total Dependencies: 369
Dependencies Requiring Attribution: 362
High Risk Dependencies: 11
Risk Band: Unknown licences present — these must be resolved before release

Step by step

1Values used
2License Compliance
3Compliance Risk Score= 100.0 /100
4Total Dependencies= 369
5Dependencies Requiring Attribution= 362
6High Risk Dependencies= 11
7Risk Band= Unknown licences present — these must be resolved before release

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 1 decimal place, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
This is a screening heuristic and not legal advice. Open source licence obligations depend on the specific licence text, how the code is linked and how the software is distributed. Obtain qualified legal review before relying on any assessment.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

This is a screening heuristic and not legal advice. Open source licence obligations depend on the specific licence text, how the code is linked and how the software is distributed. Obtain qualified legal review before relying on any assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is License Compliance calculated?

Risk = strong copyleft × 12 + weak copyleft × 3, scaled by distribution model, plus unknowns × 8 Copyleft obligations largely depend on whether software is distributed, which is why SaaS carries lower risk than shipping binaries. AGPL is the notable exception because network use counts as distribution.

Why does License Compliance matter?

Unknown or unlicensed dependencies are the highest risk of all, because absence of a licence means no permission to use the code rather than permissive terms.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 5 inputs: Permissive licences, MIT or Apache, Weak copyleft, LGPL or MPL, Strong copyleft, GPL or AGPL, Unknown or unlicensed, Distribution model. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.