{"id":1523,"date":"2025-02-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.sidekick.be\/itenium\/epplus-pay-to-play\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T13:31:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:31:43","slug":"epplus-pay-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.sidekick.be\/itenium\/blog\/dotnet\/epplus-pay-to-play\/","title":{"rendered":"EPPlus: No longer free to use in a commercial setting"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 id=\"epplus-repositories\">EPPlus Repositories<\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/JanKallman\/EPPlus\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/JanKallman\/EPPlus.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/JanKallman\/EPPlus\">JanKallman\/EPPlus<\/a>: The old and free one <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/EPPlusSoftware\/EPPlus\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/EPPlusSoftware\/EPPlus.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/EPPlusSoftware\/EPPlus\">EPPlusSoftware\/EPPlus<\/a>: The new and not so free one<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"forks\">Forks<\/h2>\n<p>EPPlus is a pretty solid tool and you probably don\u2019t need any of the additional fluff they\u2019re adding in the now paid version. Use these to circumvent the official EPPlus misleading \u201cDeprecated\u201d notice.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/rimland\/EPPlus\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/rimland\/EPPlus.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/rimland\/EPPlus\">rimland\/EPPlus<\/a>: Most stars but no activity in the last 5 years <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/visualon\/epplus\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/visualon\/epplus.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/visualon\/epplus\">visualon\/epplus<\/a>: Actively maintained up till .NET 8 support but deprecated since May 28, 2025<\/p>\n<p>One thing that I did stumble upon with the classic EPPlus is that it has a dependency on <code>System.Drawing.Common<\/code> which only works on Windows. The non-free version has removed this dependency.<\/p>\n<h1 id=\"alternatives\">Alternatives<\/h1>\n<p>If you prefer something that is more actively maintained\/developed:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ClosedXML\/ClosedXML\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/ClosedXML\/ClosedXML.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ClosedXML\/ClosedXML\">ClosedXML\/ClosedXML<\/a>: .NET library for reading, manipulating and writing Excel files <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/nissl-lab\/npoi\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/nissl-lab\/npoi.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/nissl-lab\/npoi\">nissl-lab\/npoi<\/a>: .NET library to read\/write Office formats <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mini-software\/MiniExcel\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/mini-software\/MiniExcel.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mini-software\/MiniExcel\">mini-software\/MiniExcel<\/a>: Easy Excel .NET helper to import\/export\/template spreadsheets <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mganss\/ExcelMapper\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/mganss\/ExcelMapper.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/mganss\/ExcelMapper\">mganss\/ExcelMapper<\/a>: An Excel to object mapper.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"if-you-just-need-to-read\">If you just need to read<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ExcelDataReader\/ExcelDataReader\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/ExcelDataReader\/ExcelDataReader.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ExcelDataReader\/ExcelDataReader\">ExcelDataReader\/ExcelDataReader<\/a>: Lightweight C# library for reading Excel files<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"low-level\">Low Level<\/h2>\n<p>Very low level and verbose. What EPPlus and ClosedXML use under the hood.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/dotnet\/Open-XML-SDK\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/dotnet\/Open-XML-SDK.svg?style=social&amp;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/dotnet\/Open-XML-SDK\">dotnet\/Open-XML-SDK<\/a>: Open XML SDK by Microsoft.<\/p>\n<h1>Also in this series<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li>Part 1: <a href=\"\/dotnet\/create-xlsx-excel-with-epplus-csharp\/\">Create Excels with C# and EPPlus: A tutorial<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 2: <a href=\"\/dotnet\/create-xlsx-excel-with-epplus-csharp-formulas-and-datavalidation\/\">Create Excels with C# and EPPlus: Formulas &#038; DataValidation<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 3: <a href=\"\/dotnet\/create-xlsx-excel-with-epplus-csharp-import\/\">Create Excels with C# and EPPlus: Import<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 4: <a href=\"\/dotnet\/create-xlsx-excel-with-epplus-csharp-miscellaneous\/\">Create Excels with C# and EPPlus: Miscellaneous<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Part 5: <a href=\"\/dotnet\/excel-formulas-cheat-sheet\/\">Excel formulas cheat sheet<\/a><\/li>\n<li>This Part: EPPlus: No longer free to use in a commercial setting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1>Updates<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li> 25 February 2025: Added EPPlus forks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1> Package Versions <i class=\"fa fa-info-circle\" style=\"float: right; color: cornflowerblue; font-size: 28px\" title=\"Package versions used for this post and in the accompanying code on Github\"><\/i><\/h1>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/JanKallman\/EPPlus\" class=\"github\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.shields.io\/github\/stars\/JanKallman\/EPPlus.svg?style=social&#038;label=Star\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/JanKallman\/EPPlus\">JanKallman\/EPPlus<\/a>: v4.5.3.3 <\/div>\n<p> EPPlus-Commercial: v5.0.3 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"notice--danger\"><strong>Version 4.5.3.3 is the last version of EPPlus you can use without a license for commercial use.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"notice--info\"><strong>We now have a blog series on an alternative Excel package <a href=\"\/blog\/dotnet\/create-xlsx-excel-with-closedxml-csharp\">ClosedXML<\/a><\/strong><br \/> Which is basically on equal footing with EPPlus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-1523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dotnet","tag-excel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - 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