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In 2002, Jahia designed a unique licensing model for its partners, software vendors and community. The model is based on the idea of fair sharing of cost, value and work, and incorporates principles from Open Source and Free Software. The model provides two major options: Jahia Enterprise Edition (Jahia EE) for commercial development and Jahia Community Edition (Jahia CE) for Free Software and Open Source (FOSS) development.

 

Jahia Enterprise Edition is the best option for Project Managers, Integrators and Software Vendors that need production guarantee and development support without code sharing obligations. Jahia EE only provides production qualified and enterprise-ready features. It is licensed on an annual subscription basis, and includes both maintenance and support services. Alternatively, Jahia EE is available under a perpetual license that is paid once and does not need to be renewed annually and excludes services.
Jahia CE is licensed free of charge and only supported by the Community (www.jahia.org). Jahia CE proposes cutting edge frameworks and early stage modules for maximum Research and Development knowledge sharing. Jahia CE is the best option for developers or authors of Free and Open Source Software applications who want to combine and distribute those applications with Jahia Community Edition.
With each version, the full source code for the software is included.
Additionally, Jahia uses its licensing model to foster innovation in the Jahia community.
With regards to Jahia EE, Jahia introduces the first guaranteed enterprise contribution program in the professionnal Open Source market. Jahia combines the dual licensing business model of Free and Open Source Software with a supported software contribution program that promotes giving back to the Jahia Community, through by the “Contribute or Pay” paradigm and the Jahia Sustainable Enterprise License.
These incentives allow users of both Jahia Enterprise and Community Editions to benefit from both parties contributions type and a constantly growing code-base. This option is the reason why Jahia calls its permissive commercial license the "Jahia Sustainable Enterprise License", and its overall licensing scheme "Sustainable Dual Licensing".
The idea can be simply stated as: request improvements and we'll maintain them at no cost within a standard subscription.
This agreement allows each party to use their core skills effectively and efficiently, while benefitting the entire community. With regards to Jahia CE, developers and users are also free to share their enhancements with each other under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2, which fosters for agile innovation within the community of Jahia users.

Let’s try to find out what Jahia software edition is best suited for what development or real life scenario.

Jahia Community Edition (CE) for Open Source Applications

Jahia CE is supported by Jahia Community (http://www.jahia.org) without SLA or guaranty. It includes proposes cutting edge frameworks and early stage modules for maximum Research and Development knowledge sharing related to Web Content Integration technologies for the Jahia Community.
The license used for CE is the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2, which is the most popular FOSS license.
For developers of FOSS applications under the GPL who wish to combine and distribute those applications with Jahia software, Jahia CE is the best option.

Note that the GPL requires that work derived from GPL licensed software also be licensed under GPL. GPL is clear about contributing back to the community, which is also the reason why Jahia's GPL'ed software is available for free.

Jahia Enterprise Edition (EE) for Commercial and Supported Applications

Jahia EE is tested on Enterprise environment and supported by Jahia. It includes production- and enterprise-ready features as well as access to source code.

OEMs, ISVs, VARs and other distributors as well as end users that combine and distribute commercially licensed software with Jahia software and do not wish to distribute the source code for the commercially licensed software under the GPL must license Jahia EE. The same applies to Jahia customers who want to enter a Service Level Agreement with Jahia to benefit from professional support.
Jahia EE is available under the Jahia Sustainable Enterprise License (JSEL) defined and issued by Jahia.
The JSEL allows commercial distributors and end users to make a choice: they can either share, or not, code enhancements for the commercially licensed software.
If they choose not to share, they will have to take care of maintenance issues of custom enhancements themselves or can enter a support agreement with Jahia or a Jahia partner.
If they choose to share, they will have benefits from the first guaranteed enterprise contribution program in the professional Open Source market as Jahia will maintain contributed code at no extra cost within the realm of an annual subscription.
Jahia EE is sold as an annual subscription, which includes maintenance services such as software issue fixes and production support. Annual Developer Subscription are also available for project developers and partners in charge of implementing Jahia technologies for their customers.
Alternate license and service agreements (such as perpetual licenses and individual service level agreements) are also available. Please contact us for details.

The following table provides an overview of the licensing options available:

 

	Jahia Community Edition	Jahia Enterprise Edition
Choice line	Try Jahia Community Edition if you are interested in using and / or contributing to the early stage of technology.	Jahia Enterprise Edition is the right choice if you are developing applications and services planned to go for production. It includes the latest table Jahia Software, patches, update and full production support.
License	General Public License (GPL)	Jahia Sustainable Enterprise License (JSEL) (with contribute or pay paradigm)
Benefits	Cutting edge frameworks and early stage modules for maximum research and Development knowledge sharing Releases include latest code evolution	Production qualified and enterprise ready featuresa and modules. Software updates, patch, service pack and migration Official and fully tested release for enterprise environment Certified template stack Full source code available Training
Support and Production patch	Supported by Jahia Community No patch, no service pack, no SLA	Vendor support by Jahia Unlimited production patches Unlimited production support SLA (depending on the subscription) Jahia certified worldwide Partners Network
Documentation	Online Specifications Jahiapedia	End user and administration guide Performance guide Template and Portlet Guide Customers and Partners Extranet
Usage Recommendation	Cutting edge development	Professional/supported IT environment availability requirements and professional business Requirements High-end and mission critical projects International and local Corporations, Institutions and Organizations

 

The following typical steps will be carried out for licensees of Jahia software available under the JSEL, i.e. Jahia EE, who want to contribute code and benefit from free maintenance support:
 

1. A customer or partner contacts Jahia to discuss a potential product enhancement that could be contributed.
2. Jahia will evaluate and estimate the work for the generic development of this new feature in terms of time and rates in order to integrate it into upcoming Jahia software releases.
3. The customer or partner will sign an agreement with Jahia (see below for details).
4. Jahia delivers the new feature as part of a future release of Jahia EE.

 

The above mentioned contract between Jahia and a JSEL licensee who wants to contribute, will state the following:

• The copyright  for contributed code will be assigned to Jahia, hence transferring all rights to Jahia who will from then onwards be fully liable for the added functionality.

• The licensee will get access to the full version of the entire new release that includes the new feature.

• The licensee will get the new release for free and will only pay the subscription price for maintenance and support when purchasing Jahia EE.

Jahia Software enhancement may come from the Jahia Community as from Jahia Enterprise customers. These incentives allow users of both Jahia EE and Jahia CE to benefit from both parties contributions and a constantly growing code-base. This option is the reason why Jahia calls its permissive commercial license the "Jahia Sustainable Enterprise License", and its overall licensing scheme "Sustainable Dual Licensing".

As a matter of fact, Jahia's Enterprise customers are using and expanding their Jahia deployment year after year
We decided to reward our best customers loyalty, and especially those who participated in the Annual Production Subscription for more than three years. Jahia considers this long-term commitment to the unlimited production of bug fixes, as a contribution to the software stability, year after year. After three years, the right of usage for the software used in production environment will become forever free (=perpetual), with the payment of the fourth year of Production Subscription of whatever the version of the software the customer is using at the time.
In other words, if the customer decides to stop its subscription payment, he will still be able to use the Jahia software in its production environment (of course, without all the benefits of the Production Subscription such as unlimited Production support).
This customer loyalty reward of perpetual right of usage is a unique feature in the market today.
 

There are various development and business benefits that Jahia’s unique and proven licensing regime offers, making it highly attractive for customers, partners and developers alike who use Jahia CE or EE:

• Accessible source code: The source code is accessible for all Jahia software editions. This ensures that nothing stops users from building custom solutions with any of the Jahia editions which may even be contributed back to the project community.

• Sustainable growth: Assigning the copyright for new contributions to Jahia ensures that the company can apply the “contribute or pay paradigm” to the new piece of code as well, be it for Jahia CE or EE.

• Indemnification: Assigning the copyright and all rights to Jahia protects the Jahia community from potential intellectual property (IP) claims. Jahia is the only copyright holder and the single point of contact for any copyright concerns. Furthermore, as a JSEL licensee of Jahia Software, Jahia will indemnify you against patent infringement lawsuits with respect to the terms of your JSEL.

• No double charging: Those who contributed based on the JSEL get the software of the next release and all subsequent releases that contain the contributed feature for free. This is fair, because it avoids commercial contributors getting charged twice: first for paying Jahia to develop and include the new feature and then for obtaining the new release including it. Unfortunately, double charging is the typical business practice for proprietary alternatives to Jahia. Contributors to Jahia EE only pay if they purchase or renew their support subscription which already includes Jahia software at no additional cost.

• No maintenance costs and risks: Any contribution that is being included in official future releases will be supported and maintained as part of Jahia's product offerings. This means that Jahia takes care of software issues fixes. Contributors benefit from reduced support and maintenance costs as well as risks they would face if they had not shared the code. If eligible for support and maintenance through a Jahia Standard Edition or Jahia Professional Edition subscription, software issues and security fixes will be applied as long as Jahia decides to keep those features as part of its product. Jahia could solely decide to replace the contributed feature by equivalent software providing the same functionality.

• Control development risks: Enterprises creating mission-critical custom solutions on top of Jahia EE can significantly lower development risks by having Jahia develop the generic functionality that forms the basis for a specific solution. The simple reason being that Jahia's expertise is unparalleled when it comes to enhancing its own software offerings.

• Continued enhancement of contributions: Contributors can benefit from other contributors who develop enhanced functionality on top of the original contribution. This is true for both Jahia CE as well as Jahia EE and across both software editions.

The Sustainable licensing model is a stable and well-balanced software development and business model for all members of Jahia's business ecosystem, leveraging the Open Source contribution model and best practices, but adapting to the actual needs of business application architecture developments with a software vendor approach.