# Is Kimi K3 free to use commercially? The license, decoded

> Source: <https://pub.towardsai.net/is-kimi-k3-free-to-use-commercially-the-license-decoded-204896e1ecd5?source=rss----98111c9905da---4>
> Published: 2026-07-28 13:31:01+00:00

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# Kimi K3 License Explained: What it Actually Restricts

## Kimi K3’s license reads like MIT until $20M in revenue. Here’s what Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 license permits, restricts, and requires, clause by clause.

A 2.8-trillion-parameter model became downloadable this week, for free, by anyone with a fast connection and about 1.4 terabytes of spare disk. That’s the headline. The more useful document is the one sitting next to the weights: the Kimi K3 License. For most of its length it reads like MIT. Then, about a third of the way in, it starts asking a question MIT never asks. How much money is your business making off this?

That question is worth answering before you build on Kimi K3, whether that’s a weekend project, a startup’s core product, or one feature inside something bigger. Below is what the license actually permits, what it restricts, who it restricts, and where the real ambiguity sits.

## Quick context on what Kimi K3 is

Moonshot AI, the Beijing-based lab backed by Alibaba, released Kimi K3 through its own API on July 16, 2026. The full weights followed on July 27. Kimi K3 debuted at №3 on the Artificial Analysis leaderboard, behind Claude Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol, but it beat both on Arena.ai’s front-end web…