Creative Commons License

Creative Commons (CC) licenses allow free distribution and specify public permissions for creative works under copyright law.

According to our data, Creative Commons is the most popular software license on the web.
It has 87% of the license market share and is detected on 0.4% of all websites.

📊 Rankings and Market Share

🏆 Creative Commons License Awards

⚡ Sites Using Creative Commons License

We have data on 9,472 websites that use the Creative Commons license. Here is a list of some of the top ranked ones.

The highest rated site using Creative Commons is wikipedia.org.

#WebsiteRankCountryLanguage
1 wikipedia.org #9 United States English
2 gov.br #235 Brazil Brazilian Portuguese
3 mozilla.org #405 United States English
4 namu.wiki #590 Korea Korean
5 de.wikipedia.org United States German
6 support.mozilla.org United States American English
7 fr.wikipedia.org United States French
8 wikimedia.org #1,007 United States English
9 commons.wikimedia.org United States Bangla
10 wiktionary.org #1,021 United States Thai
11 eldiario.es #1,210 Spain Spanish
12 developer.mozilla.org United States American English
13 getbootstrap.com #1,548 English
14 videolan.org #1,711 France English
15 wikidata.org #1,840 United States Bangla
16 wikisource.org #1,864 United States English
17 runescape.wiki #1,952 United States British English
18 libreoffice.org #1,996 Germany American English
19 stardewvalleywiki.com #2,013 English
20 odisha.gov.in #2,237 India English

📈 Usage Statistics

Most of the sites that use Creative Commons:

Most of the sites using Creative Commons License are from the United States, Germany, and Spain.

  • United States 26.7%
  • Germany 9.2%
  • Spain 7.5%
  • Italy 6.2%
  • United Kingdom 4.8%
  • France 4.4%
  • Ukraine 3.5%
  • Netherlands 3%
  • Canada 2.8%
  • Other 31.9%

Most Creative Commons License users speak English, Spanish, or German.

  • English 56.2%
  • Spanish 9.6%
  • German 5.8%
  • Italian 5%
  • French 3.4%
  • Ukrainian 2.8%
  • Portuguese 2.3%
  • Czech 1.8%
  • Russian 1.7%
  • Other 11.4%

The Creative Commons license is especially popular on .com, .org, and .net top-level domains.

  • .com 31.7%
  • .org 19.5%
  • .net 7.3%
  • .de 4.4%
  • .it 3%
  • .gov.ua 2.1%
  • .cz 1.7%
  • .info 1.4%
  • .eu 1.4%
  • Other 27.5%

The primary market segments for websites utilizing Creative Commons License include blogs and wiki, education and reference, and business.

  • Blogs/Wiki 19.5%
  • Education/Reference 13.2%
  • Business 9.8%
  • Marketing/Merchandising 6.1%
  • Software/Hardware 4.5%
  • Non-Profit/Advocacy/NGO 4.4%
  • Internet Services 3.5%
  • Entertainment 3.5%
  • Technical/Business Forums 3.4%
  • Other 32.1%

🔢 Creative Commons License Versions

The most popular version of Creative Commons License is BY 4.0, used by 16.8% of sites where versions were detected. In addition, 12.4% of sites use Creative Commons License BY-SA 4.0, and 10.9% use Creative Commons License BY-NC-SA 4.0.

  • BY 4.0 16.8%
  • BY-SA 4.0 12.4%
  • BY-NC-SA 4.0 10.9%
  • BY-NC-ND 4.0 8.5%
  • BY-SA 3.0 8.1%
  • BY-NC-SA 3.0 7.8%
  • BY 3.0 7.5%
  • BY-NC-ND 3.0 7.1%
  • BY-NC 4.0 5.2%
  • Other 15.7%

🕵️ Similar Technologies

These are some of the best Creative Commons License alternatives.

RankNameCompare
2 GNU LicenseBoston, Massachusetts, United States

General Public Licenses are a set of free, copyleft software licenses that require developers to make modified source code available to users.

 Creative Commons License vs. GNU License
3 MIT License

A permissive software license that allows commercial use and does not require that the source code be made available to end users.

 Creative Commons License vs. MIT License
4 Apache LicenseWilmington, Delaware, United States

A permissive software license that allows commercial use and does not require source code to be disclosed.

 Creative Commons License vs. Apache License
5 BSD License

A family of permissive free software licenses that impose minimal restrictions on the use and distribution of covered software.

 Creative Commons License vs. BSD License
6 MPL LicenseMountain View, California, United States

A free and open-source weak copyleft license that is more restrictive than the permissive software BSD-style licenses.

 Creative Commons License vs. MPL License

🆚 Compare Alternatives

Compare Creative Commons with

💬 Frequently Asked Questions

Which country uses Creative Commons License the most?

The majority of Creative Commons License users are from the United States.

Who uses Creative Commons License?

According to our data, Creative Commons License is used on thousands of sites, including such established ones as wikipedia.org, gov.br, and mozilla.org.

Is Creative Commons License used on government websites?

Yes, for example, it is used by odisha.gov.in. Overall, we found Creative Commons License on 201 government sites in Ukraine and 5 in the United States.

Do academic institutions use Creative Commons License?

Yes. Overall, we know of 17 academic websites in the United States that use Creative Commons License.

How does Creative Commons License compare to its competitors?

Creative Commons License is the most popular software license on the market, outranking all others.

What are the alternatives to Creative Commons License?

Alternatives and possible competitors to Creative Commons License may include GNU License, MIT License, and Apache License.

Data updated

When interpreting and using the results, please read our methodology and disclaimer.