Frequently Asked Questions about Licensing

There are two releases of Paint.NET. One is free, the other is paid:

Classic: The "Classic" release is downloaded from this website and is provided free-of-charge.

Store: The "Store" release is downloaded through Microsoft's Windows Store and is paid.
The functionality is the same for each release, except that the "Store" release has fully automatic updating.

Yes, you may use it for business, commercial, school, and government use -- the Paint.NET application is available for all of these purposes (and also for personal use). You may install it on as many systems as you'd like, although we do request and appreciate a donation to support our ongoing development costs. You can also provide some financial support by purchasing it on the Windows Store.

The main restriction is that you may not modify the Paint.NET software itself (e.g. change the name, add/remove features, "don't modify the DLL or EXE files"), and as a corollary you may not distribute modified copies of Paint.NET. This is a rare scenario that probably doesn't affect you.

Yes, so long as you do not charge for access to your website, you may absolutely do this. Redistribution of the "Classic" release of Paint.NET is permitted so long as it is free-of-charge. For examples of this, see: FileForum, MajorGeeks, download.com, and Softpedia (to name a few). However, please note that you may not redistribute plugins (from the forum) unless you have permission from the plugin's author(s) (this is just to respect standard copyright law, and is not an extra restriction we are imposing on you).

Yes, in general, you may do this so long as you are not charging extra due to the inclusion of Paint.NET.

No. Paint.NET is only licensed for use as an application, and any use of Paint.NET in other software is strictly prohibited.

License

Before using "Classic" release of Paint.NET, you must accept the License Agreement as part of the setup process. The license is as follows, and should be perused.

Paint.NET (R)
Copyright (C) dotPDN LLC, Rick Brewster, and contributors. All Rights Reserved.
Paint.NET is a registered trademark of dotPDN LLC.

License last updated: February 22, 2019

Paint.NET is free for use in any environment, including but not necessarily limited to: personal, academic, commercial, government, business, non-profit, and for-profit. "Free" in the preceding sentence means that there is no cost or charge associated with the installation and use of Paint.NET. Donations are always appreciated, of course! (https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software (the "Software"), to use the Software without restriction, including the rights to use, copy, publish, and distribute the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so.

You may not modify, adapt, rent, lease, loan, sell, or create derivative works based upon the Software or any part thereof.

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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