Is shadcn Free for Commercial Use? MIT vs Paid Kits

You found a set of components you like, the project is a paid SaaS or client work, and before you copy anything you want to know: is shadcn free for commercial use? For shadcn/ui itself the answer is a plain yes, and the license fits on one screen. The confusion starts one step later, because "shadcn" now also names dozens of kits, block sites and registries built on top of it, and those are separate products with separate licenses. This post quotes the actual shadcn license, explains what MIT asks of you in practice, and compares the terms of the paid kits that carry its name.

We build Wingo UI, a paid library in the same copy-the-source style, so we are not neutral. Every fact about another product links to the page we read on November 6, 2026. This is a practical reading of public license texts, not legal advice.

Is shadcn free for commercial use?

Yes. The LICENSE.md in the shadcn-ui/ui repository (opens in a new tab) is the standard MIT license, "Copyright (c) 2023 shadcn". It grants the code "free of charge" and lets you "use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies." GitHub detects the same license on the repository, and the blocks page (opens in a new tab) describes the official blocks as "Open Source. Free forever." (both checked November 6, 2026).

That covers the components (button.tsx, dialog.tsx and the rest), the official blocks (login, sign-up, sidebar, dashboard, charts) and the CLI, because they all live in that repository. You can use them in:

• a paid SaaS app,
• a site or app you build for a client and invoice,
• an internal tool at your company,
• an open source project,
• a template or UI kit you sell.

There is no seat limit, no project limit, no revenue threshold and no "personal use only" tier. That also answers the related search, is shadcn ui free at all: yes, there is no paid edition of shadcn/ui to upgrade to. shadcn/ui is not a package you depend on at runtime either. The introduction in the docs (opens in a new tab) calls it "how you build your component library": the CLI copies the source into your repo, and from then on it is your code under the terms above.

What does the MIT license ask of you?

The shadcn MIT license has one condition and one disclaimer. The condition, quoted from the license: "The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software." The disclaimer says the software comes "as is", without warranty.

For copied source, that means:

• Keep the notice with the code. Treat every component file you copied as a substantial portion of the software. The CLI does not add a header to each file, so the simple fix is one notices file in your repository.
• No visible credit. MIT does not ask for a "built with shadcn" line in your footer or an about screen.
• No copyleft. Your own code stays under whatever license you choose. Closed-source products are fine.
• No support or warranty. If a component has a bug in production, MIT gives you no claim against anyone.

A notices file can be this short:

<!-- THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md -->
# Third-party notices

## shadcn/ui
Source: https://github.com/shadcn-ui/ui
Files: components/ui/*.tsx (copied with the shadcn CLI, then edited)

MIT License
Copyright (c) 2023 shadcn
(paste the full license text from the repository here)

Do the shadcn dependencies change the answer?

No, but they come with their own notices. The CLI installs npm packages next to the copied files, and each package ships its own license file inside node_modules. We checked the license field on npm on November 6, 2026:

ISC and Apache-2.0 are permissive like MIT. Apache-2.0 also asks you to keep its license and any NOTICE file when you redistribute the code. For an app you ship as a bundle, one generated licenses file for all dependencies covers every package in this table.

One more line MIT does not cover: the name. The license is about the code, so it gives you no right to present your product as an official shadcn release.

Are shadcn blocks free?

The official ones are. The blocks on ui.shadcn.com live in the same MIT repository as the components, so npx shadcn@latest add login-01 gives you a free, commercially usable block under the same notice rule.

The search "shadcn blocks" also lands on shadcnblocks.com (opens in a new tab), a separate company. As of November 6, 2026 its plans are one-time payments: Pro $149, Premium $299 and Elite $399, each for a single user, plus Team licenses that cover up to 10 people. Its license (opens in a new tab) allows commercial use and client projects in unlimited end products, and it forbids reselling or redistributing the components "separate from an End Product." Its free blocks fall under its general terms and conditions instead of the paid license.

So "is shadcn blocks free" has two answers: the official blocks yes, the products named after them usually not. We cover where blocks end and components start in shadcn blocks vs components.

Why do shadcn kits and registries have their own license?

Because the shadcn CLI installs from any registry, and the author of each registry decides its terms. MIT on shadcn/ui says nothing about code someone else wrote and published in the same format. The CLI writes the files without showing you a license, which is why we suggest reading the terms before you add a new registry in adding third-party shadcn registry components safely.

Here is what three paid shadcn kits say about commercial use, read on November 6, 2026:

Two details matter for paid work. On shadcn.io the cheapest license does not allow commercial use at all, so a freelancer on the Individual plan cannot ship client sites with Pro blocks. And shadcn/studio calls its free tier MIT, but the Commons Clause it adds takes away the right to sell or redistribute the unmodified components, which plain MIT grants.

What can you do with the Wingo UI free items?

You can ship them in unlimited commercial end products, for yourself or for clients, with no account and no time limit. Since November 7, 2026 the free items are MIT licensed, the same license as shadcn/ui (section 2 of the license), so you may also change, share and resell them, as long as the notice stays with the code. As of November 6, 2026 the catalog has 357 items (226 components, 95 blocks and 36 hooks and utilities), and 75 of them are free.

Every delivered free file carries one line, // Wingo UI · MIT License · https://wingo-ui.com/legal/license#mit, that points at the full notice; keep it, or keep a copy of the MIT notice next to the code. Your clients do not need a license of their own, and AI coding assistants may read and adapt the code inside your projects. The resale limits in the next section apply to the Pro items only.

The free set covers what most screens start with: button, dialog, input, select, tabs, toast, the OTP input, and two whole page templates, the contact page and the FAQ page. The CLI adds free items without an account:

npx wingo-ui@latest add button

Then use it like any local component. This is the real API from components/ui/button.tsx:

import { ArrowRight } from "lucide-react";
import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";

export function CheckoutActions({ paying, onPay }: { paying: boolean; onPay: () => void }) {
  return (
    <div className="flex gap-2">
      <Button variant="ghost">Cancel</Button>
      <Button tone="brand" loading={paying} loadingText="Paying" rightIcon={<ArrowRight />} onClick={onPay}>
        Pay now
      </Button>
    </div>
  );
}

What does the Wingo UI Pro license add?

Pro adds the other 282 items under the Wingo UI Pro license: unlimited end products, client work and commercial use, but no resale or redistribution of the components on their own as a kit, template, theme or library, no product whose main job is to let others copy or generate them, and no removing the license notices. Prices from our pricing page: $8 a month, $80 a year or $150 once for Lifetime, each for one developer. A company buys one license per person.

Three terms differ from the kits above:

• What you downloaded stays licensed. When a subscription ends, you keep using the components you obtained, including in new end products. You lose new Pro items, Pro updates and the Pro MCP tools.
• The cheapest plan allows commercial use. There is no personal-only tier.
• Refunds have one condition. The 14-day refund on a first purchase applies only while no Pro item has been downloaded.

Every delivered Pro file carries one marker line, // Wingo UI Pro · https://wingo-ui.com/legal/license, which plays the role the MIT notice plays for shadcn/ui: keep it in the file.

The login page block is a typical Pro item. It handles password, magic link and code sign-in, two-step codes and password recovery, and you wire it to your backend through handlers:

// app/(auth)/login/page.tsx
"use client";

import { useRouter } from "next/navigation";
import { LoginPage } from "@/components/blocks/login-page";

// a rejected promise shows its message in the form
async function post(url: string, body: unknown, failure: string) {
  const response = await fetch(url, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    body: JSON.stringify(body),
  });
  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(failure);
}

export default function Page() {
  const router = useRouter();
  return (
    <LoginPage
      twoFactor
      onSignIn={(values) => post("/api/login", values, "The email or the password is not correct")}
      onVerifyCode={(code, { backup }) => post("/api/login/verify", { code, backup }, "That code is not correct")}
      onSuccess={() => router.push("/")}
    />
  );
}

Pass every handler your sign-in uses. The ones you leave out (magic link, providers, password reset) run the demo simulation, and with twoFactor on, the default onVerifyCode accepts 123456, which is fine in a playground and wrong in production.

The data table is another: search, filters, sorting, bulk actions and virtualization on TanStack Table, with rows that turn into cards on phones. Try both live without an account; only the source needs Pro.

Which license fits your project?

Plain shadcn/ui and the free Wingo UI items fit every case, including a kit you resell; the paid kits and Wingo UI Pro fit end products only. A summary of the terms above, as of November 6, 2026:

Where shadcn/ui is the better choice: when you want to sell a kit, build a site builder or publish a component library of your own, MIT is the only license in this table that allows it, and it covers shadcn/ui and the free Wingo UI items alike; Wingo UI Pro items cannot go into such a product. It is also the right pick when you want zero cost, zero accounts and the largest community in this space (about 127,000 GitHub stars on November 6, 2026), and you are fine designing the mobile behavior, motion and extra states yourself. Our shadcn alternatives guide compares 14 libraries on price, license and mobile support, and Wingo UI vs shadcn/ui goes through the differences in scope item by item.

Where a paid kit makes sense: when you build end products (apps and sites, for you or for clients) and the time saved on finished screens is worth more than the price. Then read the seat and resale clauses: the commercial tiers all allow commercial use, and those two clauses are where they differ.

For tested free and paid picks with the license of each, see the best shadcn templates. More license and pricing comparisons live in the comparisons category.

Where should you start?

Add the notices file for the shadcn/ui code you already copied; it takes two minutes and covers the only condition MIT sets. Then, if a free Wingo UI component fits your next screen, install it with npx wingo-ui@latest add button (no account needed) and keep the license page at hand for the resale rule of the Pro items.

FAQ

Is shadcn/ui free for commercial use?

Yes. The LICENSE.md in the shadcn-ui/ui repository is the MIT license, which permits use, modification, distribution and sale at no charge. The one condition is that the copyright and permission notice is included in copies or substantial portions of the code.

Do I have to credit shadcn in my app?

No visible credit is required. MIT asks you to keep the license notice with the code and says nothing about your interface. A copy of the license in your repository, or a notices file next to your components, covers it.

Are shadcn blocks free?

The official blocks on ui.shadcn.com live in the same MIT repository, so they are free for commercial use. Sites such as shadcnblocks.com are separate paid products: as of November 6, 2026 its Pro plan is $149 one-time for a single user.

Can I sell a template or UI kit built with shadcn/ui?

The MIT license allows it, as long as you keep the notice. Paid shadcn kits usually forbid it for their own code: shadcnblocks, shadcn.io and shadcn/studio all prohibit redistributing their components as a kit or library.

Is Wingo UI MIT licensed?

The 75 free items are, since November 7, 2026: they are open source under the MIT License. The Pro items have their own license: unlimited end products, commercial or not, for you or for clients, but you may not resell or redistribute them on their own as a kit or library.