Commercial Use of Qwen-Image-2.1 Outputs — Clear Answer Needed
Could the Qwen team please give a clear and definitive answer on this?
If I run Qwen-Image-2.1 locally on my own hardware (for example via ComfyUI), do not redistribute the model or its weights, and only use the generated images in commercial projects — is this allowed under the current license?
In other words: Can images generated locally with Qwen-Image-2.1 be used commercially — yes or no?
The current license wording and discussions around it leave too much room for conflicting interpretations. A clear answer from the Qwen team would be greatly appreciated.
The LICENSE reads: "You shall not use the Materials for any commercial purpose without obtaining a separate commercial license from us."
https://x.com/QwenDevs/status/2101917379785838660 also, from the official Qwen Developers account on X: “Hi there, thanks for your question! 👋 Just a quick clarification: Outputs are not part of the licensed Materials. Users retain the rights to images and other content they generate using the model.”
We’re still waiting for an updated license or further clarification.
Outputs are not the licensed materials:
"Materials" shall mean, collectively, our proprietary Qwen and Documentation (and any portion thereof) made available under this Agreement.
The "materials" are basically the model and the documentation. So users have the rights to the images.
But you cannot produce images for "commercial" purposes:
You shall not use the Materials [the model] for any commercial purpose without obtaining a separate commercial license from us.
So Alibaba doesn't own your output (images), but you can't output commercial images without a separate license. This effectively means you can't use the images in any open source application either, since the open source definition explicitly allows commercial usage: "it may not restrict the program from being used in a business".
Yep, the current license pretty much kills the use case where I want to use the outputs as assets in my pipeline. But hope dies last 😅 Hopefully, they’ll update the license or clarify whether commercial use is allowed.
@naykun @Chenfeifeifei @kelseye
A quick follow-up: everyone in this discussion is still waiting for an official clarification from the Qwen team.
Could you please provide a clear answer on whether images generated locally on personal hardware with Qwen-Image-2.1 may be used commercially?
@naykun @Chenfeifeifei @kelseye
Another follow-up, as everyone in this discussion is still waiting for an official answer.
The model page explicitly says: “We are excited to open-source Qwen-Image-2.1.” However, the current Qwen Research License restricts the model to non-commercial use and requires a separate license for commercial use. Under the OSI definition, Open Source means being able to use the system for any purpose without asking for permission, including commercial purposes.
This makes the current wording and licensing rather confusing.
So could you please give us a direct answer:
If I run Qwen-Image-2.1 locally on my own hardware, do not redistribute the model or its weights, and only use the generated images commercially — is that allowed, yes or no?
If a separate commercial license is required even for this use case, please also clarify how users can actually obtain one.
@naykun @Chenfeifeifei @kelseye
Another follow-up after the weekend — we are still waiting for an official clarification from the Qwen team.
This is a very simple but important licensing question for many users:
Can images generated locally on our own hardware with Qwen-Image-2.1 be used commercially, without redistributing the model or its weights — yes or no?
If a separate commercial license is required, please also tell us how it can actually be obtained.
A clear official answer would resolve the confusion for everyone following this discussion.
@VorSar The reality is it is the LICENSE that binds, not what they post in a forum. It seems to be that it can't be used for commercial purposes at all.
Though it is kind of amazing they'll spend millions on a model and ignore the developers by not posting any response! HF is like ground zero for AI development, yet they have zero posts here, afaict.
I agree that the license itself is what ultimately matters. What I’m trying to get clarified is what exactly they consider “commercial use” in this specific scenario.
My question is whether simply downloading the model and running it locally in ComfyUI on my own hardware falls under prohibited commercial use if the model itself is never distributed or offered as a service, but some of the generated images are later used commercially.
That distinction seems to be exactly what is causing confusion for many people here, so I’d really like an explicit answer from the Qwen team rather than having everyone interpret it differently.
As for the lack of response — yes, it’s frustrating. I’ll keep trying to get an official clarification for a while longer.