In a move eagerly anticipated by the tech community, Elasticsearch, a leading analytics engine that enables you to store, search, and analyze big volumes of data quickly and in near real-time, along with Kibana, has officially reclaimed its status as open-source software.
Shay Banon, founder and CEO of Elastic, expressed his exhilaration:
“It is hard to express how happy this statement makes me. I’m literally jumping up and down with excitement. Open source is in my DNA, and in Elastic’s DNA. Being able to call Elasticsearch Open Source again is pure joy.”
Elastic has announced that it will add the Affero General Public License (AGPL) as a licensing option alongside ELv2 and Server Side Public License (SSPL). This inclusion is significant as AGPL is approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI), eliminating any ambiguity about Elastic’s commitment to the open-source model.
The backstory to this shift is a saga of resilience and strategic adaptation. About three years ago, Elastic changed its licensing model due to conflicts with Amazon Web Services and market confusion caused by competing products.
This led to Elastic opting for a proprietary license, which, while effective in the short term, diverged from its open-source ethos. However, this move was calculated and aimed at preserving the integrity and trajectory of their products.
Banon reflects on this period:
“It was a painful decision but necessary. And now, three years later, our partnership with AWS is stronger, and the market confusion has largely resolved.”
Adding AGPL as a licensing option is not meant to replace the existing ones but to complement them, offering users more flexibility. Elastic’s broad licensing spectrum now caters to a diverse user base, from those who prefer the more permissive ELv2 to those requiring the robustness of SSPL.
In other words, carry on for those already using and enjoying Elasticsearch; nothing has changed. For others, the option to choose AGPL is now available.
For more information, visit the official announcement.
