Official text · quoted and linked · not legal advice
The files in ComfyUI/models do not all arrive under the same license. This page maps the base weights, repackaged downloads, Turbo LoRAs, text encoder, VAEs and workflow files back to the repository that delivered them.
Independent guide. We run these weights, do not distribute them, and do not provide legal advice.
This is a source-indexing and reading note, not legal advice. We are not lawyers, and this page does not decide whether a particular person, company, product or territory is covered. Check the current upstream text yourself and ask qualified counsel for a situation-specific answer.
MiniMax H3 Tutorial is an independent content site. We do not distribute model weights and do not operate a generation service for readers.
The short version
license: other with minimax-h3-community-license-agreement, not Apache or MIT.Official sources: MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-H3 LICENSE and its License Q&A. Both links were checked on 2026-08-19.
The useful distinction
Each row separates the repository you downloaded from the upstream author's license. A repository-level label is not a substitute for recording where an individual file came from.
| What you downloaded | Download repository | Repository license field | Upstream author's license |
|---|---|---|---|
minimax_h3_fl2va_* / minimax_h3_ref2va_* diffusion models | Comfy-Org/MiniMax-H3 | other → MiniMax H3 Community License | Same — MiniMax is the author of these weights. |
qwen3vl_32b_minimax_h3_nvfp4_awq.safetensors | Comfy-Org/MiniMax-H3 | other → MiniMax H3 Community License | Apache 2.0 — Qwen3-VL-32B is identified in the H3 license's closing note; see the Qwen3-VL license. |
minimax_h3_*_turbo_*_comfyui_bf16.safetensors | Comfy-Org/MiniMax-H3/loras | other → MiniMax H3 Community License | Apache 2.0 at the lightx2v / ModelTC source. This is a third-party distillation, not an official MiniMax accelerator. |
| The same Turbo LoRAs pulled from source | lightx2v/Minimax-h3-Turbo | apache-2.0 | Apache 2.0. |
minimax_h3_turbo_v4_step600_ema.safetensors and siblings | larryvrh/MiniMax-H3-Turbo-Lora | apache-2.0 | Apache 2.0. |
| Video and audio VAEs | Comfy-Org/MiniMax-H3 | other → MiniMax H3 Community License | Same — MiniMax is the author. |
Official workflow .json templates | Comfy-Org/workflow_templates | MIT | MIT. |
| Third-party cache and speed nodes | Individual GitHub repositories | Mixed: MIT, GPL-3.0, LGPL-3.0 and repositories with no license file | See the cache node comparison; do not infer a license from the node's filename. |
Why the split matters: Comfy-Org/MiniMax-H3 presents one repository-level license: other field over directories whose upstream contents include Apache 2.0 components. The repackaged repository is also the dominant entry point: in the 30 days to the 2026-08-19 snapshot it recorded 15,213,225 downloads against 3,055,205 on the official repository, a 4.98× difference. We are not claiming that the repackage relicensed those files. We are saying that the download source and the original author's notice are both worth recording when you document a ComfyUI installation.
Read the verbs
You may not use, reproduce, modify, distribute, or display the MiniMax H3 Works or any of their Outputs or results outside the Applicable Territory. Any such use outside the Applicable Territory is not authorized by this Agreement.MiniMax H3 Community License Agreement §V.4; Exhibit A.1 repeats “Use outside the Applicable Territory.”
The clause does not only say distribute. It names use and display too. The agreement defines “MiniMax H3 Works” in §I.7 as Materials, Model Derivatives and their derivatives; §I.11 then says Outputs are not deemed Model Derivatives. Outputs are still named separately in §V.4 and Exhibit A.1, while §VI.4 says MiniMax claims no rights over them.
That is the distinction this page can state without filling in a legal conclusion: Outputs are not treated as MiniMax-owned Works by the definition, but they are still included in the territory restriction as a contract term. The agreement also places responsibility for Outputs and subsequent use on the user.
Do not collapse these into either shortcut: “MiniMax owns your generated videos” is not what §VI.4 says. “Generated videos are automatically unrestricted” skips the separate wording in §V.4 and Exhibit A.1.
Supporting text
§IV.2 requires prominent “MiniMax H3” display on the user interface of a commercial product or service that uses H3. That is different from the three items in §III.3, which the agreement describes as encouraged rather than required.
§IV.1 says commercial products and services above 20 million US dollars in yearly revenue require separate prior written authorization. The page records the clause; it does not decide how an individual business should apply the line.
§V.3 addresses using the Works or their Outputs to improve another AI model, with the stated H3 and derivative exceptions. This is a licensing question, not a claim that every generated file is a free training corpus.
Exhibit A says MiniMax reserves the right to update the Acceptable Use Policy. The copy we read says “Last revised: August 2, 2026,” so the current upstream text matters more than a saved excerpt.
Keep the routes separate
This page covers the community license attached to local model files, their repository provenance, and the territory and use language in that agreement.
The API has its own service terms. The official License Q&A explains the split; do not reason from the open-weight license to the API, or back in the other direction.
Open questions
Read it yourself
The LICENSE copy we read is pinned to repository revision 42ed227ee7df40d41602854ae760620d6eb651fe, 17,604 bytes, SHA-256 59b99642b95ea21630e311198ddbfffbfe05aadba0c2f5d884cbdf4efcc90f44. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
curl -sSL "https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-H3/resolve/main/LICENSE" | shasum -a 256If the hash differs: the upstream terms changed after our reading. Recheck every quoted section and the repository metadata before treating this page as current. The archived snapshot used for this page is 01-requirements/license-snapshot-2026-08-19/.
FAQ
The weights are openly downloadable, but Hugging Face records the repository license as other with license_name minimax-h3-community-license-agreement. “Open weights under the MiniMax H3 Community License” is the more precise phrase.
The Community License names the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea as Excluded Territories, while its Applicable Territory is worldwide minus those regions. §II also points organizations in excluded territories to MiniMax's application route. This page records the text and does not provide a case-specific legal conclusion.
§VI.4 says MiniMax claims no rights over the Outputs you generate. §V.4 separately restricts use, reproduction, modification, distribution and display of Works or their Outputs outside the Applicable Territory; that is a contract term, not an ownership claim.
No. The lightx2v/Minimax-h3-Turbo and larryvrh/MiniMax-H3-Turbo-Lora source repositories are marked Apache 2.0, while the base model is marked with the MiniMax H3 Community License.
No. This page maps the community license for downloaded open weights. The hosted API has its own service terms, and the official License Q&A explains that the two routes are governed separately.
Download the upstream LICENSE file and compare its SHA-256 with the version recorded in the “Read it yourself” section. A different hash means the terms were revised and the references on this page need to be rechecked.
Next checks