Commercial Use License
Commercial Use License
What is the scope of commercial use for dbNSFP ?
Any use within a for-profit organization
Use within any organization (including non-profits) where dbNSFP is incorporated into products or services that are sold or monetized
Commercial use example: Diagnosis and treatment for patients in a public hospital
Non-commercial use example: Research or training in a public hospital
If you are not sure whether your use of dbNSFP requires a commercial license, please contact license@dbnsfp.org.
How often will dbNSFP data be updated?
We release a new version of dbNSFP every 3-4 months, incorporating updated data from the field, new content from academic collaborators, and building possible nsSNVs and ssSNVs variant set based on the latest GENCODE releases. Please see the releases page for information on current and past versions.
Why are some scores in the dbNSFP academic branch but not in the commercial branch?
Some components in dbNSFP academic branch (CADD, VEST, M-CAP, MutScore, Polyphen-2, and RGC Million Exome) have individual licensing requirements for commercial use; therefore, we cannot include them in the dbNSFP commercial branch. If you need to use these data, please contact their authors.
Please note that academic users are responsible for complying with the individual licensing requirements of these components when using them in the dbNSFP academic branch. dbNSFP does not grant the non-academic usage of these score/content.
What are the differences between dbNSFP v5.x and legacy versions (e.g., v4.x.x)?
We have rebuilt the variant set of all possible nsSNVs and ssSNVs based on the latest gene definitions in GENCODE Release 49 (released September 2025). In contrast, dbNSFP v4.x.x was built 7 years earlier based on GENCODE v29 (October 2018). The latest GENCODE release has massively expanded protein-coding transcripts with the maturity of long-read NGS technology, which resulted in 1.6 million new possible functional SNVs (nsSNVs and ssSNVs) in dbNSFP.
We have been actively developing dbNSFP by adding new functional prediction scores and other annotation data (v5.0 - v5.3 to date in 2025), and we are actively developing new tools to make the dbNSFP database more convenient to use. Please review the recent developments of dbNSFP in Releases.
Is a commercial license required for legacy versions of dbNSFP (v4.x.x)?
As a courtesy to users of previous versions of dbNSFP, a commercial license is not required for the c-branch in legacy versions.
However, we encourage dbNSFP users to update to the latest version to make use of the most up-to-date and comprehensive annotation resources in the field. Your commercial license support also helps with the active development and long-term sustainability of dbNSFP. Commercial license subscribers will receive updates at no additional cost during the license period.