Licensing in the Fordima Ecosystem
Everything built within the Fordima ecosystem is released under one of two licenses. They share one core philosophy: people should be free to use our software, and the work behind it should stay protected.
Fordima Inc. is the parent company. Its subsidiaries, such as FomaDev, build and publish the software. The licenses belong to Fordima, ensuring every project follows the exact same clear rules.
Fordima Public License
Our license for open, collaborative software. Used by the majority of our tools, engines, and libraries.
- Free for commercial use: No fee, royalty, or registration required.
- Open contributions: Fork, inspect, and submit pull requests anytime.
- Freedom to integrate: Freely build parts of the code into internal tools.
- Protected from direct resale: Paid license required to resell the code or run a competing cloud SaaS.
Fordima Commercial License
Our license for paid commercial editions and desktop graphical tools like Kiva Studio Pro.
- Free evaluation: Install, test locally, and evaluate in staging without fees.
- Production deployment: Deploy on client servers and commercial infrastructure.
- Professional support: Guaranteed updates and dedicated vendor assistance.
- Funds open ecosystem: Commercial editions finance maintainers of free FPL tools.
How the two work together
A single product can use both: an FPL core that everyone can use and improve, and an FCL edition with advanced features for businesses that need them.
| Dimension | FPL (Open / Core) | FCL (Commercial) |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Open, collaborative software | Paid, commercial software |
| Cost | Free, including for businesses | Paid for production use |
| Source code | Public, open to contributions | Available for evaluation only |
| Contributions | Welcome via pull request | Not applicable |
| Competing products | Require a paid license | Not permitted |
Fordima Public License (FPL)
The FPL is our license for open, collaborative software. Most of our projects use it.
What it is. The source code is public and free to use. It is source-available: you can read it, learn from it and contribute to it, while a few specific uses stay reserved, to protect the project.
What it gives you.
- Free use, including in business. Individuals, students and companies can use FPL software at no cost, including in commercial products and projects that earn money. No fee, no royalty, no registration.
- Open contributions. You can fork a project, improve it and send your work back through a pull request. Contributions are welcome and make the project better for everyone.
- Freedom to integrate. You can build parts of the code into your own systems and tools.
What it reserves. A paid license is required only when the code is used to create a similar or competing product, to keep a private copy to build the same thing, to resell the source code, or to offer a paid hosted version of it. Permanent forks made to bypass the official project are not allowed.
Why it matters. It keeps our tools accessible to everyone, from a student learning in Kinshasa to a large company shipping a product, while making sure that the people who build and maintain a project are not simply copied and replaced by a competitor using their own code. That protection is what lets us keep publishing, improving and supporting open software.
Fordima Commercial License (FCL)
The FCL is our license for paid software. It covers the commercial editions of our products, such as Pro and Cloud versions.
What it is. The source may be available for evaluation, but the software is not open source. You buy the right touse it; you do not buy the code itself.
What it gives you.
- Free evaluation. You can install and test the software locally or in staging, without paying and without a license key, to check that it fits your needs.
- Production rights. A paid license lets you run the software in production: in a deployed website, a live API or a service for your own clients, according to the plan you chose.
- Professional support and updates for the duration of your plan.
What it reserves. The software cannot be resold, redistributed, sublicensed or used to build a competing product. License keys cannot be shared.
Why it matters. Paid products fund the full ecosystem: the commercial editions pay for the time spent on the free ones. They also give businesses a clear contract, with defined rights, support and responsibilities, and that is what they need to rely on software in production.
Commercial Agreements & Custom Licensing
To obtain an enterprise commercial agreement, discuss SLA support plans, or request custom licensing terms, contact the management team at Fordima Inc.