Direct comparison
CC BY vs. CC BY-NC: Key Differences
CC BY allows unrestricted commercial reuse with attribution; CC BY-NC restricts commercial use. Compare both for research papers and funder OA mandates.
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How do CC BY, CC BY-NC compare side by side?
The table below compares CC BY, CC BY-NC across 10 procurement-relevant dimensions, from full name through license version in current use.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | CC BY | CC BY-NC |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Attribution | Attribution-NonCommercial |
| License elements | BY only | BY + NC |
| Attribution required | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial reuse allowed without separate permission | Yes | No |
| Derivative/adapted works allowed | Yes, any license the reuser chooses | Yes, but the derivative must also remain noncommercial |
| "Commercial" defined precisely in the license | N/A -- no restriction to define | No -- left deliberately general, a real source of edge-case ambiguity |
| Plan S (cOAlition S) status | Default requirement for funded outputs | Not on the accepted list (CC BY-SA and CC0 are the named alternatives) |
| Typical research use | Gold/hybrid OA journal articles; most funder-mandated outputs | Journals/repositories without a Plan S-aligned mandate; some medical or sensitive-content publishing |
| Effect on text/data mining and AI-training inclusion | Generally included -- no ambiguity to filter on | Often excluded by mining/aggregation pipelines that treat NC ambiguity as a risk to avoid |
| License version in current use | 4.0 (Nov 2013), recommended for new works | 4.0 (Nov 2013), recommended for new works |
Common questions
Common questions about CC BY vs CC BY-NC
Can a funder require CC BY and refuse to accept CC BY-NC?
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Yes. Plan S (cOAlition S) requires CC BY by default for funded outputs and lists only CC BY-SA and CC0 as acceptable alternatives, with CC BY-ND permitted solely by exception -- CC BY-NC does not satisfy that mandate. Authors funded by a Plan S-aligned funder should confirm their journal offers a compliant license before submitting.
Does CC BY-NC stop a for-profit company from citing or reading my paper?
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No. Reading, citing, and linking to a paper are not restricted 'uses' under any CC license. CC BY-NC restricts reuse -- reproducing, redistributing, or adapting the work -- for a purpose primarily directed at commercial advantage, not passive access or academic citation.
Is it clear what counts as 'commercial' under CC BY-NC?
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Not always. Creative Commons deliberately left the definition general rather than enumerating specific cases, and edge cases -- a non-profit university's paid continuing-education program, a for-profit publisher's textbook, an internal corporate research use -- are genuinely ambiguous. This ambiguity is a common practical objection to choosing CC BY-NC for research outputs.
Can I switch a paper already published under CC BY-NC to CC BY later?
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Not by relicensing the same copies -- a CC license is irrevocable once applied to a given version. The rights holder (typically the author or publisher, depending on the copyright transfer/license-to-publish agreement) can choose to additionally release a work under a different license going forward, but cannot strip the NC restriction from copies already distributed under CC BY-NC.
Does the CC BY vs. CC BY-NC choice work the same way for research data as for a paper?
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No -- the recommendation differs. For datasets, CC BY-NC is generally discouraged in favor of CC0 or CC BY, because the ambiguity of the noncommercial restriction is especially disruptive to machine harvesting, merging, and reuse of raw data. See CASRAI's companion guide on data licensing for that comparison in depth.
