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What open‑source licenses work best for badge firmware and hardware files?

What Open‑Source Licenses Work Best for Badge Firmware and Hardware Files?

When releasing electronic badge projects — both firmware and hardware designs — it's important to pick the right open-source license to protect your intentions while encouraging reuse and collaboration.

Here’s what we recommend:

📂 Firmware (Software Code)

For badge firmware (Arduino sketches, PlatformIO projects, etc.), the best open-source licenses are:

  • MIT License
  • Simple, permissive, and widely recognized.
  • Allows others to reuse, modify, and redistribute your code as long as they include the original license and copyright.

  • Great for encouraging innovation with minimal restrictions.

  • Apache 2.0 License

  • Also very permissive, but adds extra protection against patent claims.

  • A good choice if you want clear legal terms and you’re concerned about corporate or commercial use.

  • GPLv3 (General Public License)

  • Strong copyleft license.
  • Requires any derivative works to also be released as open source under GPL.
  • Choose this if you want to ensure that any modified versions stay open source.

Badge Pirates Recommendation:
We typically use MIT License for firmware to maximize reuse and keep it simple for both individuals and commercial users.

🛠️ Hardware Files (Schematics, PCB Designs, 3D Models)

For hardware designs, the best open-source licenses are:

  • CERN Open Hardware License (OHL) v2
  • Specifically designed for hardware projects.
  • Allows modification and redistribution under clear terms, similar to open-source software licenses.

  • Versions:

    • CERN OHL-P (Permissive) — very open, like MIT.
    • CERN OHL-W (Weakly Reciprocal) — modified hardware designs must be shared under the same license.
    • CERN OHL-S (Strongly Reciprocal) — stricter, everything derived must stay open.

  • TAPR Open Hardware License

  • An earlier hardware-specific license.
  • A bit older, but still sometimes used in electronics communities.

Badge Pirates Recommendation:
We recommend using CERN OHL-P for hardware when you want to be friendly and encourage remixing, or CERN OHL-W if you want modified versions to remain open.

⚡ Quick Summary

Type Best License(s) Why
Firmware (Code) MIT or Apache 2.0 Simple, permissive, encourages reuse
Hardware Files CERN OHL-P or CERN OHL-W Hardware-specific protections, remixable

Pro Tip:
Always include a LICENSE file in your GitHub repo or project folder, and clearly note the license choice inside your documentation and readme!