Qwen Image 2.1 License: Commercial Use, Outputs
The Qwen Image 2.1 license is research-only, not Apache 2.0. See what it permits, what Qwen said about outputs and what needs a separate licence.
Quick answer
Qwen Image 2.1 is not Apache 2.0. Its weights are published under the Qwen Research License Agreement, dated 20 September 2026. The earlier Qwen-Image and Qwen-Image-Edit-2511 repositories carry an Apache 2.0 tag, and several articles have carried that label over to 2.1. It does not apply.
The short version, in five lines:
- You may use, copy, modify and redistribute the model, and build derivative works, for non-commercial purposes only. The agreement defines that term as "for research or evaluation purposes only" (clause 1.i).
- Any commercial purpose needs a separate licence from the licensor, requested by email (clause 2.b).
- A use the agreement does not expressly cover also needs a separate licence (clause 9.a).
- The agreement contains no clause that grants, restricts or assigns ownership of the images you generate. It mentions outputs in four places, none of which answers whether you may sell one.
- Qwen has since said in public that outputs are not part of the licensed Materials and that users keep the rights to what they generate. That statement is a social-media post, not a change to the licence file, and it does not say whether running the model for paid work is allowed.
This page reports what the text says and what the licensor has said. It is not legal advice, and where both are silent we say so rather than guess.
Which licence, on which files
| Repository | Licence tag on Hugging Face | Read on |
|---|---|---|
RepositoryQwen/ | Licence tag on Hugging Faceother — qwen- | Read on2026-09-30 |
RepositoryComfy- | Licence tag on Hugging Faceother — qwen- | Read on2026-09-30 |
Repositoryunsloth/ | Licence tag on Hugging Faceother — qwen- | Read on2026-09-30 |
Repositoryalibaba- | Licence tag on Hugging Faceother — qwen- | Read on2026-10-06 |
Repositoryalibaba- | Licence tag on Hugging Faceother — qwen- | Read on2026-10-06 |
RepositoryQwen/ (2025) | Licence tag on Hugging Faceapache- | Read on2026-09-30 |
RepositoryQwen/ | Licence tag on Hugging Faceapache- | Read on2026-09-30 |
The licensor named in the agreement is Hangzhou Tongyi Laboratory Technology Co., Ltd. (clause 1.b).
A quantised or repacked copy does not change the terms. Clause 3 lets others redistribute the model and derivative works only with the agreement attached, and the INT8 and GGUF repositories carry the same tag as the original.
The same goes for the two add-ons Alibaba's PAI team published on Hugging Face on 23 and 24 September 2026. Qwen- is a control branch (eight control conditions plus inpainting) that loads on top of the base transformer; Qwen- is a 4-step acceleration LoRA. The LICENSE file in each repository is byte-identical to the one in Qwen/, and the LoRA's NOTICE file says the adapter "remains subject to the Qwen Research License". Using either one is limited to non-commercial purposes in the same way, and commercial use needs the same separate licence (clause 2.b).
The LoRA repository also holds an Apache 2.0 file, LICENSE_. Its NOTICE limits that file to the inference scripts borrowed from VideoX-Fun and states that it does not replace the model licence. The .safetensors weights stay under the research agreement.
What the grant covers
Clause 2.a grants a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, non-transferable licence to use, reproduce, distribute, copy, modify and create derivative works of the Materials, limited to non-commercial purposes. "Materials" means the model and its documentation (clause 1.f).
The definition of non-commercial is narrower than the everyday meaning. It does not say "not for profit" or "personal use". It says research or evaluation. A use that earns nothing but is neither research nor evaluation is not obviously inside that definition, and the agreement does not elaborate. If your use sits in that gap, clause 9.a points the same way as clause 2.b: ask the licensor.
What needs a separate licence
Clause 2.b is short: no commercial purpose without a separate commercial licence, requested from the address the agreement gives, model-.
The agreement does not define "commercial purpose", list examples, or set a revenue threshold. It publishes no price and no standard commercial terms. Anyone telling you what a commercial licence costs is not reading it from this document.
What the text says about outputs
This is the question most people arrive with, and the agreement on its own does not settle it.
The grant in clause 2 and the restriction in clause 2.b are both written about the Materials — the model and documentation. Outputs are not part of that definition. The text mentions outputs in exactly these places:
| Clause | What it says about outputs |
|---|---|
| Clause4.b | What it says about outputsIf you use the Materials or their outputs to create, train, fine-tune or improve an AI model that you distribute or make available, you must display an attribution |
| Clause5.c | What it says about outputsSuing on a claim that the Materials or an output infringe your rights ends your licence |
| Clause6.b | What it says about outputsNo warranty for the safety or stability of the Materials or any output |
| Clause6.c | What it says about outputsNo liability for damages arising from use of the Materials or any output |
Nothing assigns ownership of an output to you or to the licensor. Nothing says an output may or may not be used commercially.
What Qwen said about outputs
Within a day of release, the Qwen Developers account on X answered the question directly. Its words: "Outputs are not part of the licensed Materials." The same post says users retain the rights to images and other content they generate with the model. It repeats a reply the main Qwen account had given to a user earlier. The post is dated 20 or 21 September 2026, depending on your time zone.
Three things about that statement matter as much as its content:
- It is not in the licence. The LICENSE file in the Hugging Face repository and the one in the GitHub repository are byte-identical, and neither contains that sentence. We compared them on 2026-09-30.
- It answers ownership, not permission to operate. The first replies under the post ask the follow-up — so can the images be used commercially? — and the thread we read shows no answer from Qwen.
- The follow-up is still open elsewhere. A Hugging Face discussion opened to ask for a clear answer on commercial use of outputs had no reply from the Qwen team when we read it on 2026-09-30.
What is still unanswered
With the statement on the record, the question has narrowed. It is no longer who owns the image. It is whether making the image was a permitted use of the model.
- What the statement supports: outputs sit outside the Materials, so the restriction in clause 2.b is not written about the image file itself, and you keep whatever rights exist in it.
- What it leaves alone: clause 2.a licenses use of the Materials for non-commercial purposes only. Generating an image is a use of the Materials. If the purpose of that use is commercial — the image is for a client, a shop listing, an advert — neither the agreement nor the statement says that use is inside the grant.
We are not going to settle that for you. How much weight a social-media post carries next to a written agreement is a legal question, and clause 9.a tells you to request a licence for anything not expressly agreed. If money depends on the answer, the two safe routes are a written reply from the licensor or advice from a lawyer who has read both the agreement and the statement.
Redistribution and fine-tunes
Clause 3 allows redistribution of the model and derivative works, in source or object form, inside the non-commercial grant, on four conditions:
- Give recipients a copy of the agreement.
- Mark modified files prominently as changed.
- Keep the attribution notice the agreement specifies, in a text file named "Notice", in every copy.
- You may add your own copyright statement and your own terms to your modifications, provided the whole still complies with the agreement.
Clause 5.a says you own the derivative works and modifications you make, conditioned on complying with the agreement. Owning a fine-tune does not lift the non-commercial limit on the base it was made from.
Two further rules apply to anything you publish:
- Attribution (4.b). A distributed model that was created, trained, fine-tuned or improved using the Materials or their outputs must display "Built with Qwen" or "Improved using Qwen" in its product documentation. This covers training another model on generated images, not only fine-tuning the weights.
- Naming (4.c). "Qwen" may not be the primary name or identifier of a derivative work or product. Descriptive use is allowed. Clause 5.b adds that no trademark licence is granted beyond what notices and ordinary description require.
Termination, liability and jurisdiction
- The licensor may terminate the agreement if you breach it. On termination you must delete the Materials and stop using them (clause 7.b).
- The Materials are provided as is, without warranty, and the licensor excludes liability for damages (clauses 6.b, 6.c).
- You agree to defend and indemnify the licensor against third-party claims arising from your use or distribution (clause 6.d).
- The Materials may be subject to export controls in China, the United States or elsewhere, and compliance is on you (clause 4.a).
- The agreement is governed by the laws of China, with exclusive jurisdiction in the People's Courts of Hangzhou (clause 8).
Common situations
The middle column is what the text and Qwen's statement say. The right column is what they leave open. None of this is a ruling on your case.
| Situation | What the text says | What it leaves open |
|---|---|---|
| SituationRunning it at home to test quality against another model | What the text saysEvaluation is inside the definition in 1.i | What it leaves open— |
| SituationAcademic research and publishing results | What the text saysResearch is inside 1.i | What it leaves open— |
| SituationSharing a GGUF or INT8 conversion for free | What the text saysClause 3 allows it with the agreement, change notices and the Notice file | What it leaves open— |
| SituationPublishing a LoRA or fine-tune for free | What the text saysClause 3 conditions, plus the 4.b attribution and the 4.c naming rule | What it leaves openWhether a LoRA file alone is a derivative work |
| SituationPersonal images for fun, nothing sold | What the text saysNot commercial; not plainly research or evaluation either | What it leaves openWhether hobby use counts as "evaluation" |
| SituationImages for a client, a shop listing or an advert | What the text saysQwen says the image is not part of the Materials and the rights in it are yours; commercial use of the model needs a separate licence (2.b) | What it leaves openWhether generating for paid work is a permitted use of the model |
| SituationPosting generated images on an account that earns money | What the text saysThe text does not mention it; Qwen's statement covers ownership only | What it leaves openAsked under Qwen's post, not answered in the thread we read |
| SituationA charity or nonprofit making campaign images | What the text saysThe definition in 1.i is research or evaluation, not "not for profit" | What it leaves openWhether a nonprofit's campaign counts as a commercial purpose |
| SituationHosting the model behind a paid product or API | What the text saysCommercial use of the Materials themselves; separate licence required (2.b) | What it leaves open— |
| SituationHosting it behind a free product that promotes a paid one | What the text saysNot research or evaluation; the text has no exception for a free tier | What it leaves openWhere the licensor draws the line |
| SituationInternal use inside a company | What the text saysNo exception for internal use appears in the text | What it leaves openWhether internal evaluation before buying a licence counts |
Hosted APIs are a separate question
A third-party service that offers Qwen Image 2.1 through its own API is operating under whatever arrangement it has with the licensor, and its terms with you are its own. This agreement does not tell you what those are. If a hosting provider describes its output as cleared for commercial use, that is the provider's statement to verify with the provider. We have not verified any such claim.
If you need a permissive licence today
The older Qwen image models are tagged Apache 2.0 on Hugging Face: Qwen/ and Qwen/. They are different, earlier models with different capabilities and hardware needs, and the tag on a repository page is where to start reading, not where to stop. Check the licence file in the repository you actually download.
Running it locally
For file sizes and what each card size can start with, see Qwen Image 2.1 VRAM requirements. For how this site handles licences on the files it does document in depth, see the licence page.
We do not host Qwen Image 2.1 weights and do not run the model for visitors.
GenVidKit is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with Alibaba, the Qwen team, Hangzhou Tongyi Laboratory Technology, Comfy Org, Unsloth or Hugging Face. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
Sources
Read on 2026-09-30, except the two Alibaba PAI repositories, read on 2026-10-06.
- LICENSE in Qwen/Qwen-Image-2.1 — the agreement text; every clause number above refers to it.
- LICENSE in QwenLM/Qwen-Image-2.1 on GitHub — the same file, byte for byte.
- Qwen Developers on X — the statement on outputs, and the unanswered replies under it.
- Commercial Use of Qwen-Image-2.1 Outputs, Hugging Face discussion — the open request for a clear answer.
- Qwen/Qwen-Image-2.1 on Hugging Face — licence tag.
- Comfy-Org/Qwen-Image-2.1 and unsloth/Qwen-Image-2.1-GGUF — licence tags on the repacked builds.
- alibaba-pai/Qwen-Image-2.1-Fun-Controlnet-Union and alibaba-pai/Qwen-Image-2.1-Fun-Acc-LoRAs — licence tags; both LICENSE files match the one in
Qwen/byte for byte.Qwen- Image- 2.1 - NOTICE in alibaba-pai/Qwen-Image-2.1-Fun-Acc-LoRAs — the adapter's licence statement and the scope of
LICENSE_.CODE - Qwen/Qwen-Image and Qwen/Qwen-Image-Edit-2511 — licence tags on the earlier models.