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Updated Jul 2025

License Details

The FreeRTOS kernel and other FreeRTOS libraries are distributed for free under the MIT open source licenseexternal_link (SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT). The FreeRTOS kernel license comparison table below contains answers to common license questions. Some demo projects also include third-party libraries that may use an open sourcelicense other than MIT.

MIT open source license text

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

 

Optional FreeRTOS commercial licensing

From our strategic partner WITTENSTEIN high integrity systemsexternal_link.

  • OPENRTOS™external_link is a commercially licensed version of the FreeRTOS kernel that includes indemnification and dedicated support. FreeRTOS and OPENRTOS share the same code base. OPENRTOS is provided under license from AWS by WITTENSTEIN high integrity systems - an AWS strategic partner.

  • SAFERTOS™external_link is a derivative version of the FreeRTOS kernel that has been analyzed, documented and tested to meet the stringent requirements of industrial (IEC 61508 SIL 3), medical (IEC 62304 and FDA 510(K)) automotive (ISO 26262) and other international safety standards. SAFERTOS includes independently audited safety life cycle documentation artifacts. SAFERTOS is provided by WITTENSTEIN high integrity systems - an AWS strategic partner.

FreeRTOS kernel license comparison

FreeRTOS kernel MIT licenseOPENRTOSexternal_link Commercial license
Is it free?YesNo
Can I use it in a commercial application?YesYes
Is it royalty free?YesYes
Is a warranty provided?NoYes
Can I receive professional technical support on a commercial basis?YesYes
Is legal protection provided?NoYes, IP infringement protection is provided
Do I have to open source my application code that makes use of the FreeRTOS services?NoNo
Do I have to open source my changes to the FreeRTOS kernel?NoNo
Do I have to document that my product uses FreeRTOS?NoNo
Do I have to offer to provide the FreeRTOS code to users of my application?NoNo