Why We’re Moving to a Source Available License

ScyllaDB is transitioning its ScyllaDB Enterprise product from a closed source to a source available license starting with the 2025.1 release, while maintaining the final open-source ScyllaDB OSS AGPL 6.2 release. This change is intended to unify the release streams, simplify development, and offer a more complete core product by incorporating previously peripheral functionalities into the main database, such as backup and restore, which eliminates the need for external management tools. The shift aims to enhance product manageability and functionality while offering a free tier of ScyllaDB Enterprise to the community, featuring capabilities like higher throughput, lower latency, and improved storage utilization. Despite potential concerns from open-source users, ScyllaDB believes this decision will allow the company to serve its customers better, streamline its development process, and continue advancing towards important milestones like Raft integration, tablet elasticity, and tiered storage.