Script licences explained: what you may legally resell
The licence, not the code, decides what business you are allowed to run. A regular marketplace licence covers one end product that you or one client uses, and explicitly forbids operating the software as a service that other people pay to access — which is precisely the business most buyers of “SaaS source code” intend to start. This page sets out what each licence type permits, in plain terms, and what to get in writing before money moves.
Written by ZoopCoder, who build and sell one of the packages described below — that bias is declared in full further down this page.
Quick answers
Can I resell a script I bought?
Not under a standard regular licence. It grants you one end product for your own or one client’s use, and forbids both redistributing the code and charging other people to use the running software. Reselling requires an extended, white-label or explicit SaaS licence — in writing, on the invoice.
What is the difference between a regular and an extended licence?
Charging end users. A regular licence covers an end product that is free to use; an extended licence covers one where users are charged. Neither, by default, lets you distribute the source itself or run one deployment as a multi-customer service — that is a separate SaaS or white-label grant.
Does open source let me sell the software?
Usually yes for MIT, Apache 2.0 and BSD, with attribution kept. Copyleft licences are where people get caught: GPL obliges you to release your modified source to anyone you distribute the software to, and AGPL extends that obligation to users who merely access it over a network — which covers most SaaS.
The one decision that matters: who pays whom to use the software
Every licence question resolves to one thing — who is paying, and for what. Work out which row below describes your plan before you shop, because the licence you need changes the price bracket you should be looking in and rules out entire sources.
| What you plan to do | Licence you need | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Run it for your own business; nobody pays to use it | Regular / single end product | $40–$120 |
| Run it for your own business and charge your users | Extended | Often 5–20× the regular price |
| Deliver it once to one client | Regular, with the licence transferred to the client | $40–$120 per client |
| Host one deployment and sell subscriptions to many customers | SaaS / multi-tenant grant | Negotiated; commonly $200–$1,500 |
| Rebrand it and sell copies under your own name | White-label / reseller / developer | Negotiated; usually the top tier |
Two traps in that table. First, buying several regular licences does not add up to a SaaS licence — the restriction is on the mode of operation, not the count. Second, “you get the full source code” is a statement about delivery, not about rights: you can hold every file and still be forbidden from selling access to what it runs.
The clauses to read before you pay
Six clauses do nearly all the damage. Find each one in the licence text — not the sales page — and if a clause is absent, ask for it to be added in writing before you buy.
- Scope of use. How many end products, domains or installations the fee covers, and whether staging and development copies count against that number.
- Charging end users. Whether the people using the running software may be charged. This is the regular/extended line on most marketplaces.
- Service operation. Whether one installation may serve multiple unrelated customers. This is the clause that decides whether you can run a SaaS, and it is frequently silent — silence favours the seller.
- Redistribution. Whether you may hand the code, modified or not, to anyone else. Almost always no, unless you bought a reseller tier.
- Attribution and branding. Whether a “powered by” credit must remain, and what removing it costs.
- Updates, support window and termination. How long updates are included, and what happens to your right to keep running the software if the licence ends.
Keep the evidence. A licence PDF, the invoice naming the tier, and the seller’s written answer to “may I run this as a multi-tenant SaaS for paying customers?” are what you will need if the question is ever raised, and gathering them costs nothing at purchase time.
What the wrong licence actually costs
The risk is rarely a lawsuit. It is disruption at the worst possible moment — typically once you have customers.
| Failure | What usually happens | Practical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Running a regular licence as a SaaS | Takedown request from the vendor or marketplace, sometimes to your host | Emergency migration with live customers on the platform |
| Using a nulled or cracked copy | No updates, no security patches, and injected code in a meaningful share of copies | Compromised customer data; the cheapest way to end a business |
| Missing AGPL obligations | Source-disclosure demand covering your modifications | Publishing work you assumed was proprietary |
| Removed attribution without the right tier | Invoice for the upgrade, or a demand to restore the credit | Small in money, awkward in front of customers |
| Client owns nothing after delivery | Licence stayed in your name; client cannot get support or updates | Refunds and a damaged reference |
All five are avoided by the same two minutes of work: read the service-operation clause, and get the seller’s permission in writing on the invoice.
Buying direct versus buying on a marketplace
| Route | Rights you can usually get | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Code marketplace | Regular and extended, sold self-serve | SaaS operation is normally excluded outright and cannot be bought as an add-on |
| Direct from the developer | Anything you can agree, including SaaS and white-label | Get it written down; a chat message is weaker than an invoice line |
| Open source | Commercial use, usually including hosting | Copyleft obligations, especially AGPL for network-accessed software |
| Agency or freelancer build | Whatever the contract assigns — ask for full assignment | Default in many contracts is that the builder retains ownership |
This page is general information about how these licences are commonly written, not legal advice. If real money depends on the answer, have a lawyer in your jurisdiction read the actual licence you were given.
Declared bias: what we sell
We are ZoopCoder, and we sell source code in most of the categories this page talks about — WhatsApp marketing, food delivery, OTT streaming, inventory and POS, helpdesk, multi-vendor marketplace, matrimonial, QR menu ordering, crowdfunding, billing, form building and payment links — as one-time licences, with no recurring fee to us. So we are a vendor writing about how to buy from vendors. Everything above is what we would check if we were the buyer, including the parts that do not favour us: if your requirements are genuinely unusual a custom build beats every package we sell, and if you want zero operational responsibility a hosted subscription is simpler than anything you host yourself.
Use our demos as a yardstick
Every platform we sell runs a live demo you can register on, so you can run the tests on this page against something real before you apply them to anyone else’s product — including ours.
Talk to a person first
If you would rather describe what you are trying to launch and be told which of these routes fits — including the ones we do not sell — ask below and a human answers.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell a website I built with a purchased script?
Yes in the normal case, because a regular licence covers one end product and delivering it to a client is what that licence is for. Transfer the licence to the client so they can receive updates and support in their own name, and do not reuse the same licence on the next project. Building the same site repeatedly for different clients means one licence per client.
What is an extended licence and when do I need one?
An extended licence covers an end product where users are charged to access it, whether by subscription, per transaction or as a one-off fee. You need it the moment money changes hands for use of the running software. It still does not, by itself, permit operating a single installation as a multi-customer service, which is a separate grant.
Is it legal to use a nulled script?
No. A nulled copy is distributed without the copyright holder's permission, so using it infringes copyright, and the practical risk is worse than the legal one. Independent analyses of pirated CMS and script packages routinely find injected backdoors, so the realistic outcome is a compromised server and customer data rather than a letter from a lawyer.
Can I remove the vendor branding from source code I bought?
Only if the licence permits it, and many require a "powered by" credit unless you buy a white-label or branded tier. Removing it without that tier is a breach even though the code makes it trivial. Ask for the branding removal price up front; it is usually a modest upgrade and it avoids an awkward conversation after launch.
What does AGPL mean for a SaaS business?
AGPL closes the network gap in the GPL: if users interact with your modified version over a network, you must offer them the corresponding source of your modifications. That is compatible with running a SaaS, but not with keeping your changes proprietary. Check the licence of every open-source component you build on, not just the main project.
Do I own the source code after I buy it?
You own a licence to use it, not the copyright. That distinction matters in practice: you can modify and run the software within the licence terms, and you cannot resell or redistribute the code unless the licence grants it. Full ownership only comes from a written assignment of copyright, which is normally negotiated in custom development contracts rather than product purchases.
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