Yes, you can, as long as you are not developing within a company under the following conditions:
- have more than 5 developers using this version (very rarely projects have more than 5) or
- be in a large corporation (250 computers or annual turnover over $ 1 million, which is not so great (outsourcing can solve).
The limitation is just this. If you fulfill this you can use it to do what you want. And remember we're talking about Visual Studio.
.NET has been totally free, MIT license , therefore more open than most other platforms on the market.
Non-enterprise in this case means outside large companies. In the US the term is usually used only for large companies. Here is a better definition of what is enterprise . Search for How do you define “non-enterprise app” .
You can still use it if your business does not meet these conditions. But it can only be used for educational purposes (teaching and research) or open source projects. There is a restriction on the type of project if the company does not meet the stated size limitations. But think about the company that is developing and not the company that will use the final application.
Individual use is obviously totally free. Even if your development serves large companies indirectly.
Source: Microsoft .
In fact it is unclear all the details but there it leaves clear base that what matters is the development environment. Nor can you limit the use of the software created in VS. It would be impossible to prevent even just legally (nor do I speak technically because this is obvious that I can not prevent).
The fact is that this new license refers only to Visual Studio and it is only used at development time. Once your application went away no matter where it was built, whether it was Express, Community, Ultimate, Pirate, SharpDevelop, Notepad or any other way. It does not matter who will use the final application, whether it will be sold or given, whether it is open or proprietary.
What is not clear, at least leaves open, if you work for a development company or large company that develops its own software that has more than 5 developers but they are not employees of it, these people count together? If they essentially work remotely, do you mind? If they work there in part of the time but with their own notebook , does this developer account? I do not know, in practice it seems difficult to scrutinize, I doubt anything will happen if you can at least explain why there are more than 5 developers using the VS Community on the site in a non-permanent way for arrangements that were not the company you provided. But that's just my opinion. I think it will get more in everyone's consciousness in borderline cases.
It even includes the Xamarin that can be used without restrictions. Of course Visual Studio Enterprise provides more advanced tools, and this is always paid for.
