dotCMS Business Source License
Build, Test, and Innovate - Free dotCMS Access
Everything’s included, from APIs to our powerful visual editor — just spin it up and start building.
Why teams like BSL
What is the Business Source License (BSL)?
The Business Source License (BSL) is a “source‑available” license that balances open development with commercial sustainability. You can read, modify, and redistribute the code with some limits on production use; after a defined Change Date, the code automatically converts to an OSI open‑source license (dotCMS uses GPLv3).
With dotCMS BSL 1.1, all built-in features ship for everyone — no “community vs enterprise” split. Our BSL model is designed to maximize openness and adoption while keeping dotCMS sustainable for the long term. After a set period, BSL code re‑licenses to GPLv3 — so today’s source‑available is tomorrow’s open source.
Key Terms, at a Glance
What is the dotCMS BSL?
GET STARTED
Download and Use the dotCMS BSL Today
Spin up dotCMS locally, kick the tires with your full stack, and build something real — free for small teams and non‑production use. When you’re ready for scaled production or managed cloud, we’ll be here to help.
Download & run locally
Download & run locally
Grab the current release and spin up a local instance in minutes via Docker (docker compose up). Your instance will come up at http://localhost:8082.
Follow the docs
Follow the docs
Visit the developer docs for installation, APIs (REST/GraphQL), SDKs, and tutorials.
Join the community forum
Join the community forum
Ask questions, share tips, and find help from other builders and the dotCMS team. There’s also a Job Board if you need an experienced dotCMS developer.
Ready for production at scale?
Ready for production at scale?
If you’re a large enterprise or plan to host dotCMS as a service, let’s talk licensing and deployment options.
Where compliance meets innovation
Success stories from teams building what’s next
Real teams. Real outcomes. Explore how organizations modernized their digital stacks, reduced operational load, and delivered better customer experiences with dotCMS.
dotCMS Helps CarFinance 247 Speed Into the Modern Era
CarFinance 247 is one of the largest car finance brokers in the UK. With dotCMS’ help, they updated their outdated website and made it easier for marketers to update content without getting developer assistance.
Before dotCMS, we were wasting a small team of developers on website maintenance. With dotCMS Cloud, we have completely freed up our development team and no longer have to worry about bandwidth, security, upgrades and patches-- dotCMS takes care of all that.