INDEPENDENT . BUYER SIDE
Open Source License Risk Consultant
An open source license risk consultant maps what you run, names the components that have quietly changed terms, and tells you plainly what the exposure costs. We work only from the buyer side. We take no vendor fees and resell no software, so the recommendation reflects your risk and not someone else's quota.
A wave of widely used projects has changed license in the last few years. HashiCorp moved Terraform, Vault, Consul, Nomad, and Packer to the Business Source License as of August 2023. Redis moved to a dual model with the Server Side Public License as of March 2024. Elasticsearch and Kibana moved to the Server Side Public License and the Elastic License as of 2021. MongoDB moved to the Server Side Public License in 2018. Each change created production exposure that most enterprises never mapped. A consultant who knows these license families closes that gap.
What an open source license risk consultant brings
The value is fluency and independence. The consultant knows the difference between the Business Source License, the Server Side Public License, and the GNU AGPL cold, and can tell you which of the three is sitting in your build and what each one demands. Just as important, the consultant carries no incentive to sell you a license or a migration. The job is to size your exposure honestly and recommend the cheapest defensible path, even when that path is to do nothing yet.
Source available is not open source. The Server Side Public License and the Business Source License are not approved by the Open Source Initiative, and their restrictions can apply to software you are already running. A consultant names that distinction for every affected component so no one on your side treats a source available dependency as if it were permissive.
How an engagement works
Most engagements begin with an open source license risk assessment, which maps every dependency and the current license state of each one. From there the consultant scopes only what your exposure warrants. If a relicensed component sits on a revenue path, the next step is a focused exposure review. If a commercial license is unavoidable, the consultant gives you the usage baseline to negotiate from your own numbers. If the issue is process, governance work closes the gap so the next change is caught at intake rather than in an audit.
The work is read only on your systems. We do not need write access to produce the map, and the output is built to be shared with engineering, security, procurement, and the board. You can see the full set of engagements on the open source license risk services page, and the broader context on the open source license risk pillar.
Why independence matters
When the firm advising you also resells the software, the advice bends toward the sale. We do not resell anything. We are paid only by the buyer, which is the whole point. The recommendation you receive is the one that serves your risk position, whether that is a fork to OpenTofu or Valkey, a negotiated commercial license, a targeted dependency removal, or simply better governance. You can read more on why our independence matters.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions buyers ask.
What does an open source license risk consultant do?
An open source license risk consultant maps the open source you run, names the components whose license has changed, quantifies the exposure, and recommends a path to contain it. The work is independent and buyer side, so the advice reflects your risk rather than a vendor sales target.
When should we bring in a consultant?
Bring in a consultant when a project you depend on relicenses, when a vendor or auditor raises a question, ahead of a deal, or when you simply cannot say with confidence what licenses govern your production software. Earlier is cheaper than later.
Do you only cover HashiCorp, Redis, and Elastic?
No. Those are the most prominent relicensing events, but the consultant reviews your full dependency tree across every license family, including permissive, copyleft, and source available licenses such as the Business Source License and the Server Side Public License.
Is this legal advice?
No. This is commercial and licensing risk advisory, not legal advice. For interpretation of license terms and compliance questions, we recommend you engage your own counsel.
CONTAINMENT
Talk to an open source license risk consultant.
A confidential open source license risk assessment. Independent, buyer side, paid only by you.
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