Can You Use Qt Creator Community Edition at Work?

I'm using Qt Creator Community Edition to generate .ui files and convert them to Python files for in-house applications at my workplace. Is this legal, or do I need to purchase a commercial license?

This is a common question before using open-source tools in a professional setting. The short answer is: yes, you can use Qt Creator Community Edition at work, but the licensing implications depend on which Python Qt library you're using — PyQt6 or PySide6 — and how you distribute your application.

Let's walk through the details.

Qt Creator and Qt Designer

Qt Creator Community Edition includes Qt Designer, a visual tool for building .ui files that describe your GUI layout. These .ui files are just XML — they don't contain any library-specific code. You can use Qt Designer to create interfaces and then load or convert those files in your Python project.

Qt Creator Community Edition is released under the GPL (GNU General Public License). Using it as a tool to generate .ui files does not make your application a derivative work of Qt Creator. The GPL applies to the tool itself, not to the output it produces. So the .ui files you create are yours, and you can use them however you like.

This is similar to how writing code in a GPL-licensed text editor doesn't make your code GPL.

If you'd prefer a standalone version of Qt Designer without the full Qt Creator IDE, you can install Qt Designer separately.

PyQt6 Licensing (GPL)

PyQt6 is available under two licenses: the GPL and a commercial license from Riverbank Computing.

If you're using the GPL version of PyQt6, the license requires that you make your application's source code available to anyone who receives a copy of it. This is the key point people worry about — but it's more nuanced than it first appears.

The GPL obligation is triggered by distribution. If you distribute your application to someone, you must offer them the source code under the GPL. However, "distribution" has a specific meaning:

• If your company develops an application and only employees within the same company use it, that is generally not considered distribution. The company owns the software, and the company is the user. You're not giving it to a third party.
• If you give or sell the application to people outside your company — clients, customers, the general public — that is distribution, and the GPL terms apply.

So for truly in-house applications where the software stays within your organization, using the GPL version of PyQt6 is typically fine. You don't need to purchase a commercial license in this scenario.

That said, if there's any chance your application might be distributed externally in the future, or if your company's legal team wants to avoid GPL obligations entirely, a commercial license from Riverbank Computing removes those concerns. For a deeper look at how GPL and copyleft work in the context of PyQt and PySide, see our guide to GPL and copyleft licensing.

PySide6 Licensing (LGPL)

PySide6 is licensed under the LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License), which is more permissive than the GPL.

Under the LGPL, you can use PySide6 in proprietary applications — even ones you distribute externally — without being required to release your own source code. The only obligation is that if you modify PySide6 itself (the library's source code), you must make those modifications available. If you're just importing and using PySide6 as-is (which is what almost everyone does), there are no source code obligations for your application.

This makes PySide6 a straightforward choice if licensing concerns are important to your project or workplace. For a more detailed comparison of the two libraries, see our PyQt6 vs PySide6 overview.

Summary

Scenario	PyQt6 (GPL)	PySide6 (LGPL)
In-house use only (not distributed)	✅ Allowed	✅ Allowed
Distributed to external users	⚠️ Must provide source code under GPL	✅ Allowed (no source code obligation for your app)
Modifications to the library itself	Must share under GPL	Must share modifications to PySide6
Using Qt Designer to create .ui files	✅ No licensing impact on your files	✅ No licensing impact on your files

For in-house applications that stay within your organization, both PyQt6 (GPL) and PySide6 (LGPL) are fine to use with Qt Creator Community Edition. If you anticipate distributing your application outside your company and want to keep your source code proprietary, PySide6's LGPL license gives you more flexibility — or you can purchase a commercial license for PyQt6. For a broader comparison of the licensing differences, see our licensing differences between PyQt6 and PySide6 FAQ.