Licensing
Earth Care Network follows an open-core model inspired by Ghost and n8n: the regenerative directory + Growth OS / CRM core outside backend/enterprise/ is forkable under AGPLv3; commercial white-label resale and agency features require a separate license.
This page mirrors the tree rule in docs/licensing.md. It is not legal advice. Dual-license, CLA, trademark policy for forks, and AGPL §13 offer wording are counsel-gated.
Deployment modes
- Self-hosted Community — AGPLv3 core (directory, Growth OS / CRM, MCP, Context Packs, metering, Membership billing catalog) you can run on your own infrastructure with BYOK. No white-label. The web app and the page editor are being opened up (see Open source); the API is not public yet.
- Hosted membership — the plans and their prices are on the public Plans page, and your own plan is in Settings. Workspace and Cloud are separate products. Billing code is AGPL; paying ECN for hosted membership is the operator relationship, under the Terms of Service.
- White-label agency — domain-gated branding on verified hostnames with an active agency licence, priced per agreement (contact sales). Distinct from Membership — not a settings toggle.
Commercial boundary
Code under backend/enterprise/ and enterprise/LICENSE_COMMERCIAL is not covered by AGPL. You may not operate branded ECN cloud resale or white-label hosting without a commercial agreement. Roadmap items named in commercial scope (ad exchange / ROAS, SSO/SAML, data-licensing API) are not marketed for V4.0.
Trademarks
"Earth Care Network", the Jaguar mascot, and ECN logos remain trademarks. You may fork AGPL code; you may not use ECN trademarks to imply official endorsement unless authorized. White-label partners may replace branding on authorized domains under license. Public trademark policy text for forks is counsel-gated.
Contributor agreement
Contributions to AGPL trees use a Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) sign-off today. A formal CLA is not required unless counsel adopts one — see GOVERNANCE.md.
Changed 29 September 2026: this page used to say plan prices are never shown on a public page. They are on the Plans page, so that sentence was corrected. Nothing else changed.
Changed 5 October 2026: the link to docs/licensing.md pointed at a private repository, and the deployment modes said the code was public. Both now point to the Open source page, which says what is public today.