Meta Llama licensing

Meta Llama licensing is the set of license agreements under which Meta Platforms distributes its Llama large language models, including trained weights, inference and fine-tuning code, and documentation (collectively the “Llama Materials”). Each model generation has its own community license agreement with a stated release or effective date: Llama 2 (2023-07-18), Meta Llama 3 (2024-04-18), Llama 3.1 (2024-07-23), Llama 3.2 (2024-09-25), Llama 3.3 (2024-12-06) and Llama 4 (2025-04-05).^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} Every version grants a royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, copy, modify and create derivative works of the Llama Materials. That grant comes with three sets of conditions: a threshold of 700 million monthly active users, above which a separate license from Meta is needed; attribution and naming rules for anyone who redistributes; and an Acceptable Use Policy that the license incorporates by reference.^[6][11] For the general concepts, see Software license and License compliance.

The Open Source Initiative stated on 2025-02-18 that the Llama 3.x community licenses do not meet the Open Source Definition. It cited discrimination against persons or groups, restrictions on fields of endeavour, and the EU exclusion added in newer versions.^[12] Meta’s license texts call themselves “community license” agreements and do not describe themselves as open source licenses.^[6]

License families and versions

Each Llama generation is licensed under its own agreement, and the agreement names its own version. The grant of rights (Section 1.a) is worded the same in every version: “a non-exclusive, worldwide, non-transferable and royalty-free limited license” under Meta’s rights embodied in the Llama Materials.^[1][6] The clauses that practitioners compare across versions are:

Sources for the table: the six license texts^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} and the Acceptable Use Policies for Llama 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 4.^{[8][9][10][11]}

In every version the licensing entity is Meta Platforms Ireland Limited for licensees located in the EEA or Switzerland, and Meta Platforms, Inc. for everyone else. The agreement is accepted by clicking “I Accept” or by using or distributing any part of the Llama Materials.^[6] The Llama 4 text is also published on llama.com; at retrieval that address redirected to Meta’s developer site.^[7]

Conditions and thresholds

Monthly active users

Section 2 (“Additional Commercial Terms”) is the same in every version. If, on the version release date, the monthly active users of the products or services made available by or for the licensee or its affiliates were greater than 700 million in the preceding calendar month, the licensee must request a license from Meta, “which Meta may grant to you in its sole discretion”. Until Meta expressly grants those rights, the licensee may not exercise any rights under the agreement.^[1][6] The catalog records this as the Monthly active users metric and as one dated rule per version, for example Llama 4 and Llama 2.

Three points follow from the wording:

• The test is taken at a fixed moment: the calendar month before the release date of the version being licensed. The licenses do not say how monthly active users are counted.^[6]
• The count covers the licensee’s affiliates as well as the licensee.^[6]
• Section 2 does not apply to a party that receives Llama Materials from a licensee as part of an integrated end user product (Section 1.b.ii; rule).^[6]

Meta does not publish the terms or price of the license it may grant above the threshold.

Termination and litigation

The agreement lasts until it is terminated. Meta may terminate it if the licensee breaches any term, and the licensee must then delete and stop using the Llama Materials. If the licensee brings intellectual property litigation against Meta or any entity alleging that the Llama Materials or outputs infringe, every license under the agreement terminates on the date the claim is filed (rule). The agreements are governed by California law, with exclusive jurisdiction in California courts.^[6]

Acceptable use

Section 1.b.iv makes compliance with applicable laws, including trade compliance laws, and with the version’s Acceptable Use Policy a license condition. The policy is incorporated by reference (rule).^[6] The Llama 4 policy prohibits uses that:^[11]

• violate the law or others’ rights, for example illegal content, harassment, discrimination in essential services, unlicensed professional practice, collection of sensitive personal information without legal right, malware, or circumventing safety measures;
• present a risk of death or bodily harm, including military, warfare, nuclear and espionage applications, material subject to ITAR, weapons, illegal drugs, and operation of critical infrastructure or heavy machinery;
• intentionally deceive, including fraud, disinformation, spam, impersonation, and presenting Llama outputs as human-generated.

The policy also requires licensees to disclose any known dangers of their AI system to end users.^[11]

The Llama 3.2, 3.3 and 4 policies add a territorial clause. For multimodal models in those versions, the Section 1(a) rights are not granted to an individual domiciled in the European Union or to a company with its principal place of business there. The clause does not apply to end users of a product or service that incorporates those models (Llama 3.2 rule, Llama 4 rule).^[9][10][11] The Llama 3.1 policy has no such clause.^[8]

Redistribution and derivatives

Attribution

Starting with Llama 3.1, anyone who distributes or makes available the Llama Materials or derivative works, or a product or service (including another AI model) that contains them, must do two things. They must provide a copy of the agreement, and they must prominently display “Built with Llama” on a related website, user interface, blogpost, about page or product documentation (rule).^[3][6] Meta Llama 3 required the phrase “Built with Meta Llama 3” instead (rule).^[2] Llama 2 required only that a copy of the agreement be provided to third-party recipients (rule).^[1]

Every version also requires distributed copies to carry a “Notice” text file with a fixed attribution line. For Llama 4 that line is “Llama 4 is licensed under the Llama 4 Community License, Copyright © Meta Platforms, Inc. All Rights Reserved.” (rule).^[6]

Naming derivative models

From Llama 3.1 onward, a distributed AI model that was created, trained, fine-tuned or otherwise improved using the Llama Materials, or using their outputs, must have “Llama” at the beginning of its name (rule). Under Meta Llama 3 the prefix was “Llama 3”, and the obligation covered models built with the Llama Materials themselves; outputs were not mentioned (rule).^[2][3] No other trademark license is granted. Section 5.a licenses the “Llama” mark only as far as needed to meet the naming requirement, and use of the mark must follow Meta’s brand guidelines (rule).^[6]

Improving other models

Llama 2 and Meta Llama 3 prohibited using the Llama Materials or their outputs to improve any other large language model, apart from that Llama version and its derivatives (Llama 2 rule, Llama 3 rule).^[1][2] The Llama 3.1 through Llama 4 texts drop that clause. Instead, they apply the “Llama” naming requirement to any distributed model improved with Llama outputs.^[3][6]

Ownership

As between the licensee and Meta, the licensee owns the derivative works and modifications it makes, subject to Meta’s ownership of the Llama Materials and of derivatives made by or for Meta (rule).^[6]

Commercial API and plans

The community licenses are royalty-free, and none of the cited license texts contains a price list, a per-token meter or a per-seat plan.^[6] Commercial use is allowed under the community license below the monthly active user threshold, subject to the conditions above. The only commercial instrument the licenses name is the license a licensee must request above the threshold, and its terms are not published.^[1][6] For comparison with metered AI services, see Subscription and consumption licensing and the Mistral AI licensing article.

Out of scope

• Any hosted or API access to Llama models offered by Meta or third parties under separate service terms. This page covers only the community licenses for the model weights and code.
• Meta models, and Llama releases, other than the six license versions listed above.
• Meta’s brand guidelines, which the licenses reference but which are not a license document.
• How monthly active users are counted, and the terms of a license granted above the threshold. Neither is published.

Catalog rows

Catalog rows for this article, grouped by table.

• Metrics
  • Monthly active users
• Programs
  • Llama 2 Community License Agreement
  • Meta Llama 3 Community License Agreement
  • Llama 3.1 Community License Agreement
  • Llama 3.2 Community License Agreement
  • Llama 3.3 Community License Agreement
  • Llama 4 Community License Agreement
  • License from Meta above the monthly active user threshold
• Rules
  • Llama 2 monthly active user threshold (700 million)
  • Meta Llama 3 monthly active user threshold (700 million)
  • Llama 3.1 monthly active user threshold (700 million)
  • Llama 3.2 monthly active user threshold (700 million)
  • Llama 3.3 monthly active user threshold (700 million)
  • Llama 4 monthly active user threshold (700 million)
  • Meta Llama 3 attribution: “Built with Meta Llama 3”
  • Meta Llama 3 derivative model naming: “Llama 3” prefix
  • Llama 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 4 attribution: “Built with Llama”
  • Llama 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 4 derivative model naming: “Llama” prefix
  • Llama 4 Notice file attribution
  • Llama 2 redistribution: copy of the Agreement to third parties
  • Llama 2: no use to improve other large language models
  • Meta Llama 3: no use to improve other large language models
  • Integrated end user product recipients: Section 2 does not apply
  • Llama 4 Acceptable Use Policy incorporated by reference
  • Llama 3.2 multimodal models: Section 1(a) rights not granted in the EU
  • Llama 4 multimodal models: Section 1(a) rights not granted in the EU
  • Llama 4: no trademark license beyond the “Llama” name prefix
  • Llama 4: Licensee owns its derivative works
  • Llama 4: licenses terminate on IP litigation against Meta
• Evidence
  • Llama 2 Additional Commercial Terms: 700 million monthly active users
  • Meta Llama 3 Additional Commercial Terms: 700 million monthly active users
  • Llama 3.1 Additional Commercial Terms: 700 million monthly active users
  • Llama 3.2 Additional Commercial Terms: 700 million monthly active users
  • Llama 3.3 Additional Commercial Terms: 700 million monthly active users
  • Llama 4 Additional Commercial Terms: 700 million monthly active users
  • Meta Llama 3 §1.b.i: “Built with Meta Llama 3” and “Llama 3” name prefix
  • Llama 3.1 §1.b.i: “Built with Llama” and “Llama” name prefix
  • Llama 4 §1.b.i: “Built with Llama” and “Llama” name prefix
  • Llama 4 §1.b.iii: Notice file text
  • Llama 2 §1.b.i: copy of the Agreement to third parties
  • Llama 2 §1.b.v: no improving other large language models
  • Meta Llama 3 §1.b.v: no improving other large language models
  • Llama 4 §1.b.ii: integrated end user product
  • Llama 4 §1.b.iv: Acceptable Use Policy incorporated
  • Llama 3.2 Acceptable Use Policy: EU multimodal clause
  • Llama 4 Acceptable Use Policy: EU multimodal clause
  • Llama 4 §5.a: licence to use the “Llama” mark
  • Llama 4 §5.b: ownership of derivative works
  • Llama 4 §5.c: termination on IP litigation
• Sources
  • Llama 2 Community License Agreement (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Meta Llama 3 Community License Agreement (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 3.1 Community License Agreement (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 3.2 Community License Agreement (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 3.3 Community License Agreement (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 4 Community License Agreement (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 4 Community License Agreement (llama.com)
  • Llama 3.1 Acceptable Use Policy (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 3.2 Acceptable Use Policy (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 3.3 Acceptable Use Policy (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 4 Acceptable Use Policy (meta-llama GitHub)
  • Llama 4 Acceptable Use Policy (llama.com)