Why Elastic Switched Elasticsearch to SSPL – The Battle Between Cloud Providers and Open Source

As the year ends, many workers write self‑praising summaries, often inflating their contributions by cherry‑picking project metrics they never actually helped achieve.

This behavior contributes to a culture of "copy‑and‑paste" results, enabling cloud service providers to exploit open‑source projects without contributing back, which in turn weakens open‑source commercial models.

Earlier we discussed how cloud providers are killing open‑source business models; see that article for background.

On January 15, Elastic announced a license change for Elasticsearch and Kibana, moving from Apache 2.0 to SSPL and the Elastic License, specifically targeting unscrupulous cloud providers.

Although the shift from Apache 2.0 to SSPL/Elastic License changes some source code, it does not affect most users of the free version, Elastic’s own cloud customers, or self‑managed software users; the only ones impacted are cloud service providers.

SSPL allows unrestricted use and modification of the code, but requires that if the product is offered as a service, the provider must publish all modifications and the source code under SSPL.

This restriction prevents cloud providers from offering Elasticsearch/Kibana as a service without contributing back, protecting Elastic’s interests and encouraging continued investment in free products.

Elastic’s CEO Shay Banon explained that cloud providers have long integrated free open‑source software into their offerings without paying, causing customers to abandon paid versions and cutting off revenue for open‑source companies.

For years, cloud providers have freely incorporated open‑source software into their cloud products and offered them to customers, a practice often called “free‑riding,” which has led many customers to abandon paid versions of open‑source vendors, depriving those vendors of income.

Before Elastic, several open‑source companies (Redis, MongoDB, OpenCV, Google) made similar license changes; Elastic’s move mirrors MongoDB’s experience.

In October 2018, MongoDB switched its license from GNU AGPLv3 to SSPL. Despite some user backlash, MongoDB remains healthy, with its stock rising from under $100 to over $360 per share, serving as a model for other open‑source firms.

SSPL, originally created by MongoDB, is a copyleft license based on GPLv3 that permits free use, modification, and redistribution, but mandates that any service offering the software must also release the source of all modifications under SSPL.

Because SSPL is not OSI‑approved, Elastic clarifies that it does not label the products as “open source” but rather as “free and open.”

The article concludes by questioning whether SSPL is merely a reaction to cloud providers’ free‑riding and invites readers to share experiences of having their work taken without credit and to voice their opinion on Elastic’s actions.