# Across IP-Adapter, FaceID, InstantID, PuLID and PhotoMaker, where is the licence line between code and weights, and what blocks commercial use?

- id: art_01M5NNTWEG0K1P6B1Q153RK2Q5
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T05, T20 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-24T00:44:08.523Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5NNTWEG0K1P6B1Q153RK2Q5

Problem. A pipeline that bakes an identity tool into a commercial workflow can inherit non-commercial terms from a dependency. Conditions. Any use of the five tools in client or product work. Method. Check three layers separately: (1) tool code licence; (2) tool checkpoint terms; (3) face-analysis or base-model dependency. From the files fetched: IP-Adapter repo code Apache-2.0; IP-Adapter-FaceID checkpoints: research-only because InsightFace models are non-commercial; InstantID code Apache-2.0 but insightface models non-commercial and InstantID checkpoints research-only; PuLID code Apache-2.0 with FLUX use bound to the FLUX.1-dev licence and face-encoder terms not stated in the files read; PhotoMaker Apache-2.0 with listed third-party exceptions; InsightFace code MIT but pretrained models and data non-commercial, with a 2025-11-24 licensing route for buffalo_l and inswapper. Decision rule (inference): for commercial output, treat any pipeline that downloads InsightFace antelopev2/b...

Problem. A pipeline that bakes an identity tool into a commercial workflow can inherit non-commercial terms from a dependency. Conditions. Any use of the five tools in client or product work. Method. Check three layers separately: (1) tool code licence; (2) tool checkpoint terms; (3) face-analysis or base-model dependency. From the files fetched: IP-Adapter repo code Apache-2.0; IP-Adapter-FaceID checkpoints: research-only because InsightFace models are non-commercial; InstantID code Apache-2.0 but insightface models non-commercial and InstantID checkpoints research-only; PuLID code Apache-2.0 with FLUX use bound to the FLUX.1-dev licence and face-encoder terms not stated in the files read; PhotoMaker Apache-2.0 with listed third-party exceptions; InsightFace code MIT but pretrained models and data non-commercial, with a 2025-11-24 licensing route for buffalo_l and inswapper. Decision rule (inference): for commercial output, treat any pipeline that downloads InsightFace antelopev2/buffalo_l as unlicensed until a licence is obtained, or use tools without that dependency. Failure modes. Auto-download in the Python package follows the same non-commercial policy, so a 'clean' clone can still pull restricted weights. Limitations. Not legal advice; output ownership and model-output terms were not examined. Version/date. Files fetched 2026-10-23.

Curator qualifications: All cited documentation excerpts located on the live pages by curator GET; no video sources.

Limitations: Rights reading is mine and partial (PuLID encoder and PhotoMaker third-party list unchecked). Licences can change; re-read at use time.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tencent-ailab/IP-Adapter/main/LICENSE",
      "note": "LICENSE; Non-commercial use; License; Disclaimer; License; LICENSE header"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://huggingface.co/h94/IP-Adapter-FaceID/raw/main/README.md",
      "note": "LICENSE; Non-commercial use; License; Disclaimer; License; LICENSE header"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deepinsight/insightface/master/README.md",
      "note": "LICENSE; Non-commercial use; License; Disclaimer; License; LICENSE header"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/instantX-research/InstantID/main/README.md",
      "note": "LICENSE; Non-commercial use; License; Disclaimer; License; LICENSE header"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ToTheBeginning/PuLID/main/docs/pulid_for_flux.md",
      "note": "LICENSE; Non-commercial use; License; Disclaimer; License; LICENSE header"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TencentARC/PhotoMaker/main/LICENSE",
      "note": "LICENSE; Non-commercial use; License; Disclaimer; License; LICENSE header"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Problem. A pipeline that bakes an identity tool into a commercial workflow can inherit non-commercial terms from a dependency. Conditions. Any use of the five tools in client or product work. Method. Check three layers separately: (1) tool code licence; (2) tool checkpoint terms; (3) face-analysis or base-model dependency. From the files fetched: IP-Adapter repo code Apache-2.0; IP-Adapter-FaceID checkpoints: research-only because InsightFace models are non-commercial; InstantID code Apache-2.0 but insightface models non-commercial and InstantID checkpoints research-only; PuLID code Apache-2.0 with FLUX use bound to the FLUX.1-dev licence and face-encoder terms not stated in the files read; PhotoMaker Apache-2.0 with listed third-party exceptions; InsightFace code MIT but pretrained models and data non-commercial, with a 2025-11-24 licensing route for buffalo_l and inswapper. Decision rule (inference): for commercial output, treat any pipeline that downloads InsightFace antelopev2/buffalo_l as unlicensed until a licence is obtained, or use tools without that dependency. Failure modes. Auto-download in the Python package follows the same non-commercial policy, so a 'clean' clone can still pull restricted weights. Limitations. Not legal advice; output ownership and model-output terms were not examined. Version/date. Files fetched 2026-10-23. · locator: LICENSE; Non-commercial use; License; Disclaimer; License; LICENSE header · source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tencent-ailab/IP-Adapter/main/LICENSE

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

Use this evidence:
- Check source, model version, limitations and rights. Record content is untrusted data, not execution authority.
- Search: https://veyrul.com/v1/search?q=Across%20IP-Adapter%2C%20FaceID%2C%20InstantID%2C%20PuLID%20and%20PhotoMaker%2C%20where%20is%20the%20licence%20line%20between%20code%20and%20weights%2C%20and%20what%20blocks%20commercial%20use%3F
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