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The Open Database License (ODbL) Explained

By Open Data Manual editors · Published 4 November 2026 · Editorial standard

The Open Database License (ODbL) is the best-known share-alike licence written specifically for databases. It is what OpenStreetMap uses, and it appears on the Open Definition's list of recommended open licences. Its conditions are more involved than those of an attribution-only licence, so publishers and users both benefit from understanding them before choosing or using ODbL data. For background on why databases need their own licensing approach, see our guide to database rights.

Where the ODbL comes from

The ODbL is published by Open Data Commons. Version 1.0 was announced on 29 June 2009, after release candidates in April and June of that year. It was drafted with database law in mind: it licenses copyright and database rights in the database itself, and its conditions are framed around extracting, adapting and publicly using a database rather than around copying a creative work.

Open Data Commons publishes two sibling licences for databases: the Attribution License (ODC-By), which requires credit but no share-alike, and the Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL), which imposes no conditions, similar to CC0.

What the ODbL allows

The Open Data Commons summary lists three freedoms:

• to share: copy, distribute and use the database;
• to create: produce works from the database;
• to adapt: modify, transform and build upon the database.

There is no non-commercial restriction: companies can use ODbL data in products and services.

The three conditions

1. Attribute. Any public use of the database, or of works produced from it, must credit the database in the manner set out in the licence. When you redistribute the database or a produced work, you must make the licence clear and keep the original notices intact.
2. Share-alike. If you publicly use an adapted version of the database, or works produced from an adapted database, you must also offer the adapted database under the ODbL.
3. Keep open. If you redistribute the database or an adapted version with technical restrictions such as DRM, you must also make a version available without those restrictions.

Produced works vs adapted databases

The concept that matters most in practice is the difference between a produced work and a derivative (adapted) database.

• A produced work is something made from the data that is not itself a database: a printed map, a chart, a rendered image, a report. It needs attribution, but you can license the produced work itself however you like.
• An adapted database is the data changed, extended or combined: you corrected records, added your own fields, or merged it with another dataset. If you use it publicly, including by making a produced work from it, you must offer the adapted database under the ODbL.

Example: a city takes OpenStreetMap data, adds its own bus stop records to it, and prints a transport map. The map is a produced work and needs an OpenStreetMap credit. The combined database of streets and bus stops is an adapted database, so the city must offer it under the ODbL.

The ODbL also recognises collective databases: if you place an unaltered ODbL database alongside independent databases in a collection, without changing it, the collection as a whole is not treated as an adapted database.

The database and its contents

The ODbL licenses rights in the database as a whole. Rights in the individual contents (for example, photographs stored in a database) can be licensed separately. Open Data Commons published the Database Contents License (DbCL) for that purpose, and OpenStreetMap combined the ODbL with contributor terms covering its contents.

The OpenStreetMap example

OpenStreetMap originally used CC BY-SA 2.0. The OpenStreetMap Foundation concluded that a Creative Commons licence of that generation was not well suited to a database, and after a long consultation with contributors it announced the switch to the ODbL on 12 September 2012, with the first ODbL-licensed full data file available two days later (OSMF: About the licence change). Data from contributors who did not accept the new terms was removed before the switch. The change is a useful reminder that relicensing a large community database later is hard; choose carefully at the start.

When to choose the ODbL

Choose the ODbL if you want improvements to your data to flow back to the commons: anyone who builds on your database and uses the result publicly must share their adapted version. That is a strong fit for community-built datasets such as maps or registries maintained by volunteers.

Avoid it, or think twice, when your main aim is maximum uptake by other publishers. Share-alike conditions make it harder to combine data with sources under other licences, and some organisations avoid share-alike data for that reason. For government reference data, CC BY 4.0, ODC-By or CC0 are usually simpler for users. The manual's chapter Apply an Open License points to the Open Definition list for all conformant choices.

Using ODbL data correctly

• Credit the source wherever you use the data publicly, for example "Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL".
• Keep track of whether you have changed or combined the data. If you have and you publish anything based on it, prepare to offer the adapted database under the ODbL (or a method to recreate it, which the licence also allows).
• If you distribute the data in a restricted form, also provide an unrestricted copy.
• Read the full licence text for edge cases: the summary is not the licence and has no legal force of its own.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Open Database License?

The ODbL is a share-alike licence for databases published by Open Data Commons. Version 1.0 was released in June 2009. It lets anyone share, create works from and adapt a database, provided they attribute it, share adapted databases under the ODbL, and keep an unrestricted version available if they add technical restrictions.

Does the ODbL apply to maps or images made from the data?

Those are produced works. A produced work must carry attribution, but the share-alike condition applies to the database, not to the produced work itself. If the produced work is based on an adapted database, that adapted database must be offered under the ODbL.

Can I use ODbL data commercially?

Yes. The ODbL places no restriction on commercial use.

Which major project uses the ODbL?

OpenStreetMap. It moved from CC BY-SA 2.0 to the ODbL on 12 September 2012, after a long consultation with its contributors.

Is the ODbL an open licence?

Yes. The Open Definition lists ODbL 1.0 among its recommended conformant licences.

More practical guides

• CSV vs JSON
• Metadata standards (DCAT)
• FAIR data principles
• The CC0 license
• CC BY 4.0 for data
• Database rights