Inquiry Regarding GSAP Licensing for WordPress Plugin Development

[Mijan]

Dear GreenSock Team,

 

I hope you are doing well. I'm reaching out to seek clarification regarding the licensing requirements for using GSAP in WordPress plugin development.

I'm currently in the process of developing two WordPress plugins: one free and the other a paid version. While the free plugin will only utilize the free version of GSAP for certain features, the paid version may incorporate additional GSAP features for enhanced functionality.
 

I understand that the free version of GSAP  is free to use for both personal and commercial projects, provided that we comply with the terms of the license. However, I'd like to confirm whether there are any restrictions or considerations when using the free version of GSAP in a plugin that is distributed to multiple users, even if it's only for certain features in the paid version.
 

Furthermore, I'm considering the potential need for a Business License if the paid version of the plugin relies on GSAP features to a significant extent. Could you please guide whether a Business License is necessary in this scenario? Additionally, I'd like to understand what would happen after the one-year term of the Business License expires.

I want to ensure that I'm using GSAP in compliance with its licensing terms and appreciate any insights or advice you can offer on this matter.


Thank you very much for your time and assistance. I look forward to your response.

Best regards,
Mijanur Rahman

[Rodrigo]

Hi @Mijan and welcome to the GSAP Forums!

 

A commercial license is needed if one or more of these conditions are met:

1. Do you have multiple developers that need access to the bonus plugins like SplitText, ScrollSmoother, MorphSVG, etc.?
2. Does your GSAP-enhanced website/game/product require the user to pay a fee to use? (like Netflix.com)
3. Are you selling a GSAP-enhanced product to multiple end users? (like a website template, theme or game, Webflow cloneable, etc.)
4. Are you using GSAP in a theme/game/app with optional paid features/upgrades?

In your particular case the fourth condition is met since users would have to pay to install and use a plugin that relies on GSAP features. Is worth noticing that this is not a case of how many GSAP features the plugin uses. So you would need a Business license.

 

Our entire licensing model is based on the honor system and a simple number-of-developers pricing structure. You don't need to enter some API key for every site you use it on or anything like that. It's very simple, and we fully recognize that. We also trust that most people want to do the right thing and honor the work of other developers. We aim to treat others the way we'd want to be treated and we believe that if we serve well, the market will recognize and reward that by joining Club GSAP eventually.

8 hours ago, Mijan said:

Additionally, I'd like to understand what would happen after the one-year term of the Business License expires.

If your membership expires, nothing will change. We don’t inject “phone home” scripts to verify your license status. Functionality doesn’t suddenly stop upon expiration. Inspect the code for yourself if you’d like to verify (that’s why we provide the raw source code). As mentioned before we use the honor system, so after your license expires we expect for you to renew it and keep selling your plugins , If you don't renew your subscription you won't have access to the latest updates after your license expires.

 

Hopefully this clear things up. Let us know if you have further question on this subject.

Happy Tweening!