Legal documents

User License

Depending on the type of your legal status and entity, you are granted a different type of permission to use Voyager for your project.

Individuals and small companies (as further defined) are allowed to use Voyager to observe, debug, and understand running systems for free (even in a commercial setting), while a company license is required for for-profit organizations of a certain size. This two-tier system is designed to ensure funding for this project while still allowing the source code to be publicly available and the program to be free for most. Read below for the exact terms of use.

Free License

Eligibility

You are eligible to use Voyager for free (for the allowed use cases specified below) if you are:

  • an individual,
  • a for-profit organization with up to 10 employees (understood as a small company; for the avoidance of doubt, the term ‘employees’ covers also your part-time employees and contractors), or
  • a non-profit or not-for-profit organization.

Notwithstanding the foregoing and regardless of your size and status, you can use Voyager for free if so explicitly permitted in the terms and conditions of payment, or if you are still evaluating whether Voyager is a good fit, and are not yet using it in a commercial way (with the free evaluation period limited to 90 days from the day you cease to be eligible for the Free License).

Company License

You are required to obtain a Company License to use Voyager if you are not within the group of entities eligible for a Free License. This license will enable you to use Voyager for the allowed use cases specified below, and additionally to access a prioritized support scheme.

Visit https://voyager.swmansion.com/ for pricing, the exact terms and conditions of payment, and to purchase a license.

Allowed use cases

Permission is hereby granted:

  • free of charge, to any person eligible for the Free License, to use the software non-commercially or commercially to observe, debug, and understand running systems, and to modify the software to their own liking for an internal use, with the purpose of fulfilling their custom use case or to contribute bug fixes or improvements back to Voyager
  • according to the price agreed upon per the pricing list accepted at the moment of Company License purchase, to any person who has purchased it, to use the software non-commercially or commercially to observe, debug, and understand running systems, and to modify the software to their own liking for an internal use, with the purpose of fulfilling their custom use case or to contribute bug fixes or improvements back to Voyager

Disallowed use cases

It is not allowed in any case nor per any license tier to copy or modify Voyager’s code for the purpose of selling, renting, licensing, relicensing, or sublicensing your own derivative of Voyager.

It is also not allowed to make Voyager (in whole, in part, or in modified form) available to third parties as a hosted, managed, or “as-a-Service” offering (e.g. SaaS, PaaS, or a cloud service), where the functionality of the software — or a substantial part of it — forms the core of the offered product or service, whether provided for a fee or free of charge.

For the avoidance of doubt, the foregoing restriction shall not apply to the use of Voyager to perform consulting, advisory, implementation, or professional services for a third party, including but not limited to analyzing, configuring, optimizing, or improving such party’s own infrastructure or systems, provided that: (i) Voyager is used solely by your own personnel as an internal working tool to deliver such services; (ii) you do not grant such third party, or any of its personnel or systems, direct or indirect access to Voyager (whether via login credentials, API access, embedding, or otherwise); (iii) Voyager itself, or any of its underlying functionality, is not resold, sublicensed, hosted for, or made available to said third party as a standalone product or service; and (iv) the deliverable provided to the third party consists of the results, output, work product, recommendations, or configured infrastructure produced with the assistance of Voyager, and not Voyager or access to it.

Warranty notice

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 non-infringement. In no event shall the author 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.

FAQ

Is Voyager open source?

No. Voyager's source code is publicly available (source-available), but it is not open source under the OSI definition. Its use is governed by the Voyager License, which includes conditions not found in OSI-approved licenses.

Why is Voyager free for some and paid for others?

The code is openly available, and individuals and small companies use it for free. To fund ongoing development and maintenance, larger for-profit organizations — those best able to afford it — pay for a Company License. This keeps the project maintained, updated, and healthy for everyone.

What's the difference between the free and paid version?

Functionally, nothing. It's the same program with the same code. A Company License is not a different product — it grants the right to use Voyager commercially above a certain company size, plus prioritized support scheme.

Who can use Voyager for free?

You are eligible for the Free License if you are:

  • an individual (including for commercial use),
  • a for-profit organization with up to 10 employees, or
  • a non-profit or not-for-profit organization.

You can also use Voyager for free while still evaluating whether it's a good fit and not yet using it commercially, regardless of your size.

How do you count company size?

The 10-employee threshold counts everyone working for your organization, including part-time employees and contractors.

We're an agency/consultancy and use Voyager to diagnose our clients' production systems. Can we do it?

You can use Voyager as an internal working tool to deliver consulting or professional services to a client (e.g. analyzing or optimizing their infrastructure), provided that:

  • only your own personnel use Voyager,
  • the client gets no direct or indirect access to it,
  • Voyager itself is not resold, hosted for, or made available to the client, and
  • what you deliver is the results and work product, not Voyager or access to it.

Whether you need a Company License depends on your own company size, not the client's.

Can we fork the repo and open pull requests?

Yes. You may create public forks and modify the code to prepare contributions (pull requests) back to Voyager. What's not allowed is maintaining a fork as a separate, competing product, or selling/sublicensing your own derivative.

Can we modify Voyager for our own needs?

Yes, you may modify the code for internal use to fit your own use case. You may not sell, rent, license, or sublicense a derivative of Voyager, nor offer it as a hosted or "as-a-Service" product.

Can we try it first?

Yes. You can use Voyager for free while evaluating it, regardless of company size. Once you're no longer eligible for the Free License, the free evaluation period lasts 90 days — after that, if you're a for-profit organization above the size threshold and using Voyager commercially, you'll need a Company License.

How do we buy a Company License?

Visit https://voyager.swmansion.com/ for pricing, terms, and to purchase a license.

What if we grow past the size threshold while using Voyager?

Once you cease to be eligible for the Free License, you have a 90-day period during which you can continue using Voyager for free — giving you time to obtain a Company License. You won't be in breach overnight.