Licensing

In short

Docustay's server and app code is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 or later (AGPL-3.0). The pieces you put inside your own software are licensed under the MIT licence. If you want to embed, white-label or resell Docustay, or keep a private fork without publishing it, you can buy a commercial licence. Docustay is a product of GLRS LLC.

This page explains the licences in plain words. It is general information, not legal advice, and the licence texts themselves are what apply.

Three ways to use Docustay

1. Hosted by us. Cloud Free is $0 with 15 documents a month, and Cloud Pro is $39 a month for the whole workspace with unlimited users, or $25 a month for the founders price described in the Terms. There is no code to license: you use the service under the Terms.
2. Run it yourself under the AGPL-3.0. Self-host Community is free. Self-host Pro is $160 a year per install, for use in your own business only, and unlocks the Pro items on your server. It is not for embedding in a product or reselling.
3. A commercial licence, from about $3,000 a year and quoted for your volume, for embedding, white-labelling, reselling, or keeping a private fork without publishing your changes. Contact us and choose “Licensing”.

What the AGPL-3.0 asks of you

You may run, study, change and share the code. If you change the code and let other people use your changed version over a network, you must offer those people the source of your version under the same licence. If you run the code unchanged for your own business, there is nothing to publish. If you share the code, you pass on the same rights. The AGPL-3.0 text in the file LICENSE is the authority; this paragraph is a summary.

What stays MIT, and why

These pieces run inside your own application, so they are MIT, which asks almost nothing of you: the JavaScript SDK (@docustay/sdk), the Python SDK (docustay), the <docustay-sign> element and its React, Vue and Angular wrappers, the MCP server, the Claude Code plugin and the agent skills, and the OpenAPI file.

The line between the two, in plain words

A customer who calls the Docustay API over HTTP, or uses the SDKs, is not making a derivative work of the server, and their software does not become AGPL. A customer who copies or modifies server code and lets other people use it over a network is, and the AGPL applies to that code. Showing the Docustay signing page inside your site in a frame is using a service, not copying code.

Self-host Pro

A Pro licence key is $160 a year per install. It is for use in the buyer's own business. It does not cover embedding Docustay in something you sell or offer to others, white-labelling, resale or a private fork: those need a commercial licence. The key is checked by the install, keeps working for up to 30 days if our server cannot be reached, and is a commercial honour system, not copy protection.

The name “Docustay”

“Docustay” and the Docustay logo are marks of GLRS LLC. The AGPL-3.0 and MIT licences give you the right to use the code, not the name or the logo. You may say that your product works with Docustay or uses the Docustay API. If you fork the code, choose your own name and logo. A commercial licence can include permission to use the name. This is a plain-language note about how the name is treated, not a claim of registration.

Contributing

People who send changes keep their copyright and give GLRS LLC a licence to use the change under any licence, including a commercial one. That is what lets us offer a commercial licence next to the open one. The short agreement is in the file CONTRIBUTOR-AGREEMENT.md.

Third-party software

Docustay includes other people's software under its own licences, all of them compatible with the AGPL-3.0. They are listed on the third-party notices page.