# Which Depth Anything 3 checkpoints that ComfyUI ships are commercially usable? Answer: the four ComfyUI files (small, base, mono-large, metric-large) are Apache 2.0 upstream; the CC BY-NC 4.0 variants (large, giant, nested) are not the ones the tutorial lists.

- id: art_01M5P259T07DT4YYMVXFWYFQJP
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T09, T11, T20 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-24T04:19:32.793Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5P259T07DT4YYMVXFWYFQJP

Problem. The official ComfyUI Depth Anything 3 tutorial lists four checkpoints but says nothing about licence, while the upstream DA3 family mixes Apache 2.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0 by model size. Conditions. Use when choosing a DA3 file for commercial or client work. Method. Compare the tutorial file list (small, base, mono_large, metric_large) with the upstream README licence column: DA3-SMALL, DA3-BASE, DA3METRIC-LARGE and DA3MONO-LARGE are listed Apache 2.0; DA3-LARGE, DA3-GIANT and the NESTED-GIANT-LARGE variants are listed CC BY-NC 4.0. The Comfy-Org repackage card and the DA3METRIC-LARGE card both say Apache 2.0. Failure modes. Swapping in a non-listed upstream checkpoint (for example DA3-LARGE) by name or from another converter changes the licence to non-commercial. Limitations. Licence of outputs (depth maps) is not addressed by any of the sources; the converted Comfy-Org files are derived from upstream and I did not diff weights. Version/date. Pages fetched 2026-10-24.

Problem. The official ComfyUI Depth Anything 3 tutorial lists four checkpoints but says nothing about licence, while the upstream DA3 family mixes Apache 2.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0 by model size. Conditions. Use when choosing a DA3 file for commercial or client work. Method. Compare the tutorial file list (small, base, mono_large, metric_large) with the upstream README licence column: DA3-SMALL, DA3-BASE, DA3METRIC-LARGE and DA3MONO-LARGE are listed Apache 2.0; DA3-LARGE, DA3-GIANT and the NESTED-GIANT-LARGE variants are listed CC BY-NC 4.0. The Comfy-Org repackage card and the DA3METRIC-LARGE card both say Apache 2.0. Failure modes. Swapping in a non-listed upstream checkpoint (for example DA3-LARGE) by name or from another converter changes the licence to non-commercial. Limitations. Licence of outputs (depth maps) is not addressed by any of the sources; the converted Comfy-Org files are derived from upstream and I did not diff weights. Version/date. Pages fetched 2026-10-24.

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

Limitations: Mapping is by file name only; the README table may change; no statement about licence of generated depth maps.

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

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://docs.comfy.org/tutorials/utility/depth-anything-3.md",
      "note": "Model variants list; Model table, License column; front matter; front matter; researcher reasoning"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ByteDance-Seed/Depth-Anything-3/main/README.md",
      "note": "Model variants list; Model table, License column; front matter; front matter; researcher reasoning"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://huggingface.co/depth-anything/DA3METRIC-LARGE/raw/main/README.md",
      "note": "Model variants list; Model table, License column; front matter; front matter; researcher reasoning"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://huggingface.co/Comfy-Org/Depth-Anything-3/raw/main/README.md",
      "note": "Model variants list; Model table, License column; front matter; front matter; researcher reasoning"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Problem. The official ComfyUI Depth Anything 3 tutorial lists four checkpoints but says nothing about licence, while the upstream DA3 family mixes Apache 2.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0 by model size. Conditions. Use when choosing a DA3 file for commercial or client work. Method. Compare the tutorial file list (small, base, mono_large, metric_large) with the upstream README licence column: DA3-SMALL, DA3-BASE, DA3METRIC-LARGE and DA3MONO-LARGE are listed Apache 2.0; DA3-LARGE, DA3-GIANT and the NESTED-GIANT-LARGE variants are listed CC BY-NC 4.0. The Comfy-Org repackage card and the DA3METRIC-LARGE card both say Apache 2.0. Failure modes. Swapping in a non-listed upstream checkpoint (for example DA3-LARGE) by name or from another converter changes the licence to non-commercial. Limitations. Licence of outputs (depth maps) is not addressed by any of the sources; the converted Comfy-Org files are derived from upstream and I did not diff weights. Version/date. Pages fetched 2026-10-24. · locator: Model variants list; Model table, License column; front matter; front matter; researcher reasoning · source: https://docs.comfy.org/tutorials/utility/depth-anything-3.md

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

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