Licensing
Helm is currently distributed under a source-available, non-commercial license.
This page outlines the current licensing model and our plans for the future.
Current License (Pre-1.0)
Section titled “Current License (Pre-1.0)”Helm is free to use for personal, non-commercial purposes.
- Source Code: Publicly visible for transparency and evaluation.
- Personal Use: Permitted for individual users.
- Commercial Use: Not permitted at this time.
- Redistribution: Unmodified binaries may be redistributed for non-commercial use.
- Modification: Modification and reuse of source code is not permitted.
See the LICENSE file for the full legal text.
Third-Party Dependencies
Section titled “Third-Party Dependencies”Helm includes third-party dependencies that are governed by their own licenses.
Dependency license inventory and release obligations are tracked in:
Helm’s project license does not replace third-party license obligations.
Future Strategy (Post-1.0)
Section titled “Future Strategy (Post-1.0)”We intend to transition to a sustainable commercial model at or after version 1.0. The goal is to support ongoing development while maintaining transparency.
Planned Product Model
Section titled “Planned Product Model”We are designing Helm as two products:
- Helm (Consumer): Free + Pro feature-gated editions.
- Helm Business (Fleet): Separate binary for policy, compliance, and managed enterprise workflows.
Planned Distribution and Licensing Architecture (Future State)
Section titled “Planned Distribution and Licensing Architecture (Future State)”| Artifact | Product | Channel | Licensing Authority | Update Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helm (MAS build) | Helm (Consumer) | Mac App Store | App Store commerce/receipt model | Mac App Store |
| Helm (Developer ID build) | Helm (Consumer) | Direct DMG, Homebrew, MacPorts | Helm consumer entitlement model | Sparkle (direct channel) |
| Helm (Setapp build) | Helm (Consumer) | Setapp | Setapp subscription/license model | Setapp |
| Helm Business (Fleet build) | Helm Business | Enterprise PKG deployment | Offline org license files | Admin-controlled PKG/MDM rollout |
Channel rules:
- Sparkle is planned only for the direct Developer ID consumer build.
- Sparkle is not planned for MAS, Setapp, or Helm Business fleet builds.
- Update transport and licensing authority remain decoupled by channel.
- This architecture is planned and staged; it is not fully implemented yet.
Why not Open Source?
Section titled “Why not Open Source?”Helm is currently source-available to protect the project during its early development phase. We may explore open-source models (like Open Core) in the future, but our priority is building a sustainable, high-quality product.
Contributing
Section titled “Contributing”We welcome contributions! To ensure we can evolve the licensing model in the future, all contributors must sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA).
This agreement grants the project the necessary rights to relicense contributions as part of commercial or open-source releases.