BSD 2-Clause License: The Simplified BSD License

BSD 2-Clause "Simplified" License

The BSD 2-Clause License is a simplified version of the original BSD license that removes the non-endorsement clause. It is one of the most minimal permissive licenses and is functionally almost identical to the MIT License.

Full Text

BSD 2-Clause License

Copyright (c) [year], [author]

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
   list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
   this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
   and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES...

Key Characteristics

Attribute	Value
SPDX Identifier	BSD-2-Clause
Type	Permissive
Patent Grant	No
Copyleft	No

BSD-2-Clause vs MIT

These two licenses are functionally equivalent. The differences are purely stylistic:

• MIT uses "permission is hereby granted" language
• BSD-2-Clause uses "redistribution and use... are permitted" language
• MIT mentions "sublicense" explicitly (redundant but traditional)
• BSD-2-Clause is structured as a numbered list of conditions

BSD-2-Clause vs BSD-3-Clause

The only difference is that BSD-3-Clause adds a third clause: "Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software." BSD-2-Clause drops this restriction.

When to Choose BSD-2-Clause

Choose BSD-2-Clause if you prefer the BSD-style wording over MIT, or if your project is in a community where BSD licenses are conventional (e.g., FreeBSD ecosystem, systems programming).