Commercial vs personal use

Short answer: use is commercial as soon as it is mainly meant to make money, directly or indirectly. Ads, products, client work, sponsored posts and company videos are commercial. A monetized YouTube channel usually counts too. When a license says “personal use only” or “non-commercial”, none of that is allowed.

The labels you will see

• Personal use only: for yourself, your family and friends. Not for anything public that promotes you, your business or someone else’s.
• Non-commercial (NC): public use is allowed, as long as it is not mainly aimed at money. A school project, a charity poster or a hobby blog without ads.
• Commercial use allowed: you may use it in work that makes money, within the other rules of the license.
• Editorial use only: only for news, reviews and education. Never for ads or products.

What counts as commercial

In general, all of these are commercial:

• Ads, promoted posts and commercials, online and offline.
• Company videos, presentations, websites and social media accounts of a business.
• Sponsored content and videos with affiliate links.
• Products you sell: merch, prints, games, apps, templates, courses, e-books.
• Work you do for a paying client, even if the client uses it internally.
• Music in a shop, restaurant, gym or at a paid event.
• Podcasts with ads or paid subscriptions.

The grey zone: monetized channels

Is a YouTube video with ads commercial? The Creative Commons NC licenses define non-commercial as “not primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation”. A monetized channel earns money from every video, so many makers and lawyers see that as commercial. Others say a small hobby channel is not “primarily” about money.

Our advice is simple: if you earn money with it, choose content that allows commercial use. There is so much of it that you do not need to take the risk. That is exactly why every source on NonCopyrighted shows a clear line for “monetized content” and “commercial use”.

Editorial use only

Stock sites often mark photos of famous people, events, brands or private buildings as “editorial use only”. The photographer has the rights to the photo, but not the permission of the people or brands in it. You may use such a photo to illustrate a news article or a review. You may not use it in an ad, on packaging or anywhere it looks like the person or brand supports you.

Selling products with free content

Even licenses that allow commercial use often forbid selling the work as it is. Printing a free Unsplash photo on a poster and selling it without any creative work of your own is usually not allowed. Using that photo as part of a book cover you designed usually is. For fonts, it is the other way around: you may use an OFL font on the products you sell, but not sell the font file itself.

For AI tools, the terms often depend on your plan. Several music and image generators only give you commercial rights on a paid plan. Read AI content and copyright.

Client work and agencies

When you make something for a client, the client will use it commercially. So the license has to allow commercial use, and it helps when the license may be passed on to the client. Tips:

• Keep a list of every piece of content you used, with source, license and download date.
• Give that list to your client with the final work.
• Avoid share alike (SA) content in client work: the client would have to release their video under the same free license.
• For paid music libraries, check if your license covers the client, or if the client needs its own license.

Quick check before you use something

1. Will this project make money, now or later? Then you need commercial use.
2. Will I edit it, or put music under a video? Then no ND.
3. Do I want to keep full control over my result? Then no SA.
4. Does the license ask for credit? Write it down right away.
5. Are there people, logos or artworks in it? Read The risks of free content.