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Fair-code

Programming På svenska → Updated: 2026-11-02

An umbrella term for software that is free to use and read, but which only its authors may commercialise.

The label was coined in 2020 by Jan Oberhauser, founder of the automation tool n8n, who needed a name for what n8n was already doing. There are four criteria: free to use, source openly available, extensible by anyone, and commercially restricted by the authors. Fair-code is not a license but a banner over several, including the Commons Clause and n8n's own Sustainable Use License from 2022.

The difference from source available is mostly one of tone: the name is meant to sound like a question of fairness rather than a retreat from open source. Unlike Fair Source, there's no promise that the code converts to an open license after a few years. The restriction is open-ended.

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