CC0 vs CC BY 4.0: what is the difference?

Short answer: CC0: commercial use, modification, redistribution: Yes. CC BY 4.0: the same uses: Yes.

CC0: Dedicates the work to the public domain: copyright and related rights are waived as far as the law allows, with a fallback license where they cannot be. 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.

CC0: commercial use, modification, redistribution: Yes

License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0, curated)

• Every use you described is granted by CC0, and nothing you described is prohibited.

CC BY 4.0: the same uses: 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

Duties and notes compared

• CC0-1.0: duties none. Trademark and patent rights are not waived (section 4(a)). No warranties are given (section 4(b)).
• 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)).

Combined in one work: compatible.

Context

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

Sources

• Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal: official text
• CC0-1.0 on the SPDX License List
• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International: official text
• CC-BY-4.0 on the SPDX License List

Check it yourself (free, no key)

{
  "tool": "check_license",
  "arguments": {
    "license": "CC0-1.0",
    "intended_use": {
      "commercial_use": true,
      "modification": true,
      "redistribution": true
    }
  }
}

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