1. Home
  2. Platform & Integrations
  3. Why Chobble Tickets Cannot Go Closed Source | Chobble Tickets

Why Chobble Tickets cannot go closed source

An open source licence on its own does not stop a product going closed. Chobble Tickets pairs its AGPL-3.0-only code with a community interest company that has an asset lock, no shareholders and no proprietary feature tier, so the operator cannot take it private.

Open source products that went closed

In April 2026 Cal.com closed its production codebase after eight years of operating as an open source company. The hosted product became proprietary, and the AGPL-3.0 community version was replaced by a separate MIT-licensed project with a different trajectory.

Cal.com is the case documented on this site. The same change has appeared elsewhere in open source software, and it usually follows a change of ownership, a funding round, or a new business strategy. The published code stops being the product the company sells.

Why an open source licence is not enough

An open source licence describes what other people may do with the code that has been published. It does not, by itself, require the copyright holder to keep publishing.

A permissive licence, such as the MIT or Attribution Assurance License that Event Schedule uses, lets anyone take the code, change it, and sell a closed version of it without publishing their changes. The open version continues only as long as someone chooses to publish it.

A copyleft licence is stronger. Chobble Tickets, Hi.Events and Pretix core use AGPL-3.0, which requires anyone running a changed version as a service to publish their changes. What the licence cannot do is stop the copyright holder relicensing future versions, or stop the operator publishing new code under different terms.

Three protections that cannot be unwound

Three decisions, taken together, make the change that happened at Cal.com impossible for Chobble Tickets regardless of who runs it.

  • Community Interest Company asset lock. The software is owned by Chobble CIC, a UK company whose assets cannot be transferred to a private owner. They can only be transferred to another asset-locked body, such as another CIC or a registered charity.
  • AGPL-3.0-only with no proprietary tier. The complete product source is published under AGPL-3.0-only, with no separate proprietary feature tier to retreat into. Anyone can fork, modify and run the code under its existing licence.
  • No shareholders and reinvested profits. Chobble CIC is limited by guarantee without share capital, so it has no shareholders. A CIC must reinvest its profits in its stated mission after paying its workers a reasonable wage.

There is no version of "Chobble Tickets goes closed source" that produces a buyout or a payout for anyone. The exit does not exist.

The asset lock

Chobble is registered as Chobble CIC, a community interest company in England (company number 17050113). A CIC is a UK legal structure for businesses with a social purpose, and the structure includes an asset lock.

The company is limited by guarantee without share capital, so it has no shareholders. Its assets cannot be transferred to a private owner. They can only move to another asset-locked body, such as another CIC or a registered charity. The CIC Regulator reviews the annual community benefit report and oversees the asset lock.

The source code of Chobble Tickets is an asset of the company, so the asset lock applies to it. The operator cannot sell the code to a private buyer, because the company cannot transfer the asset that way.

The licence

The complete product source is published under AGPL-3.0-only. The licence is already granted to everyone who has the code, and cannot be revoked for the versions already released.

There is no separate proprietary product tier. Managed hosting and self-hosting run the same code, and the hosted fee pays for hosting, updates and support rather than access to extra product features.

Anyone who has the code can fork it, run it, and continue the project independently of Chobble. The AGPL's network clause means anyone who runs a changed version as a service must publish their changes under the same licence.

No financial exit

A buyout pays the people who own the company. Chobble CIC has no shareholders, no share capital and no dividends. Its profits must be reinvested in its stated mission of building software for small organisations and independent groups.

Chobble has not taken venture capital and has no investors expecting a financial return. Its income comes from the annual and monthly managed hosting fees and from technical work, not from advertising or attendee data.

A buyout is structured to move financial value to a company's owners. With no shareholders, no share capital and an asset lock, there is no owner that value could move to.

Structure rather than a promise

Companies that have closed an open source product have generally stated a business reason for the change. A statement is the company's present position, and a present position can change.

The asset lock is not a position. It is a legal commitment overseen by the Community Interest Company Regulator, and it cannot be unwound by the company alone. A future operator who wanted to close the source would first need to break the asset lock, which is a breach of company law.

The AGPL-3.0-only licence applies to every version of the code already published, and a copyright holder cannot revoke a licence already granted. Even if a future operator stopped publishing new open source versions, the existing code would remain usable and forkable under its existing terms.

References