CC BY 4.0 vs CC BY-SA 4.0: what is the difference?

Short answer: CC BY 4.0: commercial use, modification, redistribution: Yes. CC BY-SA 4.0: the same uses: Yes.

CC BY 4.0: Share and adapt the material for any purpose, including commercially, as long as you give credit, link the license and say if you changed it. CC BY-SA 4.0: Share and adapt for any purpose, including commercially, with credit; adaptations you share must carry the same or a compatible license.

CC BY 4.0: commercial use, modification, redistribution: Yes

License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0, curated)

• Every use you described is granted by CC BY 4.0, and nothing you described is prohibited.

Duties: attribution, license_notice, state_changes, no_additional_restrictions

CC BY-SA 4.0: the same uses: Yes

License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-SA-4.0, curated)

• Every use you described is granted by CC BY-SA 4.0, and nothing you described is prohibited.

Duties: attribution, license_notice, state_changes, no_additional_restrictions, share_alike

Duties and notes compared

• CC-BY-4.0: duties attribution, license_notice, state_changes, no_additional_restrictions. The grant is non-sublicensable: every recipient receives the license directly from the licensor (section 2(a)(5)). You may not apply legal terms or technical measures that restrict recipients from exercising the licensed rights (section 2(a)(5)(C)).
• CC-BY-SA-4.0: duties attribution, license_notice, state_changes, no_additional_restrictions, share_alike. The grant is non-sublicensable: every recipient receives the license directly from the licensor (section 2(a)(5)). You may not apply legal terms or technical measures that restrict recipients from exercising the licensed rights (section 2(a)(5)(C)).

Combined in one work: compatible.

Context

• The duties differ: compare the duties and notes listed for each license below.

Sources

• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International: official text
• CC-BY-4.0 on the SPDX License List
• Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International: official text
• CC-BY-SA-4.0 on the SPDX License List

Check it yourself (free, no key)

{
  "tool": "check_license",
  "arguments": {
    "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
    "intended_use": {
      "commercial_use": true,
      "modification": true,
      "redistribution": true
    }
  }
}

Computed from Rightshold's license profiles; not legal advice. Updated 2026-10-19. JSON · Markdown