ZANACMS Docs

ZANACMS License FAQ

This FAQ explains the practical meaning of the ZANACMS Community License. The license text in ZANACMS license is the authoritative text.

Is ZANACMS open source?

No. ZANACMS is source-available software. The source code is visible, but commercial use is restricted and requires a commercial site license.

Can I use ZANACMS for a private website?

Yes. Private websites and personal projects are free of charge.

Can I use ZANACMS for a school or educational project?

Yes. Educational use is free of charge.

Can a non-commercial organisation use ZANACMS for free?

Yes, as long as the website is not primarily used for commercial services, paid client work, business promotion, sales, marketing or other revenue-generating activities.

Can a registered non-profit association use ZANACMS for free?

Yes. Registered non-profit associations, for example e.V., and charitable organisations, for example NPO, may use ZANACMS free of charge, provided the website is not primarily used for commercial services, paid client work, business promotion, sales, marketing or other revenue-generating activities.

Having members, donations, public funding or a small operating budget does not by itself make the use commercial.

Do I need a license for a company website?

Yes. A company or business website requires a commercial site license. Please see https://axmann.eu/zcmspricing.php for more information.

Do I need a license for a website of a self-employed professional?

Yes. Websites for self-employed professionals require a commercial site license when they are used for professional or business purposes.

Do I need a license for a client website?

Yes. One commercial site license is required per productive client website.

May an agency or freelancer test ZANACMS locally?

Yes. Local development, testing and evaluation are free of charge. A commercial site license is required when ZANACMS is used for paid client work or for a productive commercial website.

What is a productive website?

A productive website is a public or internal live website used for a real person, organisation, business, client or project.

Do local development or staging installations need their own license?

No. Local development, testing and staging installations for the same website do not require an additional license.

Does one license cover multiple languages?

Yes. One website may include multiple languages.

Does one license cover multiple pages?

Yes. Normal subpages of the same website are covered by the same license.

Does one license cover multiple domains?

Only if the domains are aliases or redirects for the same website. Separate websites, separate client projects and separate independently operated domains require separate licenses.

Does one license cover updates?

Yes, for all releases within the same major version, for example all 2.x releases. A new commercial site license is required for a new major version.

Is support included?

No. Support, maintenance, custom work and hosting are not included unless agreed separately.

Can support or maintenance be bought separately?

Yes. Support contracts, maintenance contracts, small content updates, custom development or relaunch work can be agreed separately.

Can I modify ZANACMS?

Yes, for your own permitted use under the license.

Can I distribute my modified version?

No, not without separate written permission. Modified versions may not be sold, sublicensed, rebranded or offered as a competing CMS product.

No. Copyright, author and license notices must remain in the ZANACMS source code and distribution files.

Does the commercial license replace third-party licenses?

No. Bundled third-party components, libraries, fonts and assets remain under their own original licenses. External design packages that you download and install separately, for example HTML5 UP or WordPress-based designs, also remain under their own upstream licenses. See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

What if I am unsure whether my use case is commercial?

Please contact the author before using ZANACMS productively.