Changes / ETL / ELT & ingestion / dbt Labs
License changelow impact
dbt Fusion engine runtime open-sourced as dbt Core v2.0 (Apache 2.0)
The dbt Fusion engine runtime is being open sourced as dbt Core v2.0 under an Apache 2.0 license, currently in alpha.
Who’s affected
Teams running dbt Core who want to try the Fusion-based dbt Core v2.0, which is currently alpha. Nothing forces a move: no price, plan or end-of-support date is attached to this change.
Not affected: Teams on current dbt Core or dbt Cloud who are not planning to adopt v2.0 yet, and anyone waiting for a stated general availability date.
What it costs
No price change is stated in the record. The cost is engineering effort to test the alpha and any later upgrade work, plus the Apache 2.0 license terms, which may simplify internal use and redistribution.
When to act
No effective deadline or GA date is stated, so there is nothing to act on by a date; a sandbox evaluation can start whenever your team has capacity.
Blast radius: Only affects projects that adopt the alpha: possible differences in parsing, compilation, adapter and package compatibility, and CI jobs. Existing production projects are unaffected until you upgrade.
What should you do? decision tree
- you run production dbt pipelines and need stabilityStay on your current dbt version and do not move production to an alpha release.
- you want to know whether Fusion fits your projectRun dbt Core v2.0 alpha in a sandbox against a copy of your project and log parse, compile and test differences.
- your legal or procurement team reviews open-source licensesHave them review the Apache 2.0 terms now so adoption is not blocked later.
- none of the above appliesWait for a stated general availability date before planning any migration.
Options
- WaitDo nothing until dbt Core v2.0 leaves alpha and a GA date is announced; keep current versions pinned.
- OptimizePin dbt versions in CI and add a non-blocking job that runs your project on the v2.0 alpha to surface incompatibilities early.
- UpgradePilot v2.0 on one low-risk project or a dev environment once your packages and adapters are confirmed to work.
- MigrateIf the alpha proves unsuitable, evaluate other transformation frameworks rather than forcing a move.
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The facts straight from the source
Facts above are extracted from the source and checked word-for-word before publishing. The guidance sections are AI-assisted analysis based only on those facts: a starting point, not legal or procurement advice. Spotted an error? Tell us.