· ReadyStack
Worked example
Real numbers from this tool, line by line.
Six lines in a half-migrated build.sbt still ship Akka under the Business Source License, and the first two, akka-actor-typed and akka-stream at 2.9.3, stay licensed until at least 23 October 2026. That is what the free Pekko migration check reported for a Scala team's order-service build, measured on the sample file below.
Lightbend moved Akka from Apache 2.0 to BSL 1.1 with Akka 22.10 (Akka core 2.7.0), released in October 2022. Production use of those releases at companies above $25 million annual revenue needs a commercial Akka licence. Akka's BSL FAQ says subscriptions start at $0.25 per core hour: eight production cores running all year come to 8 × 8,760 hours × $0.25 = $17,520.
The date that chatbots get wrong
Each BSL release converts to Apache 2.0 on its own Change Date, printed in that release's LICENSE file. From the tags in github.com/akka/akka:
- Akka 2.8.0: 2026-03-16
- Akka 2.8.8: 2027-10-28
- Akka 2.9.0: 2026-10-23
- Akka 2.9.5: 2027-08-19
- Akka 2.10.0: 2027-10-16
- Akka 2.7.x: "TBD (3 years after 2.7.0 release)"
"Akka 2.8 is Apache now" is true for 2.8.0 and false for 2.8.8. The later patch you upgraded to for a bug fix restarted the clock.
What the check found in the sample build.sbt
val AkkaVersion = "2.9.3"
val AkkaHttpVersion = "10.5.3"
"com.typesafe.akka" %% "akka-actor-typed" % AkkaVersion,
"com.typesafe.akka" %% "akka-stream" % AkkaVersion,
"com.typesafe.akka" %% "akka-http" % AkkaHttpVersion,
"com.lightbend.akka" %% "akka-stream-alpakka-s3" % "6.0.2",
"com.typesafe.akka" %% "akka-stream-kafka" % "4.0.2",
"org.apache.pekko" %% "pekko-connectors-csv" % "1.0.2",- akka-actor-typed 2.9.3 → pekko-actor-typed 1.x (error: BSL until at least 2026-10-23)
- akka-stream 2.9.3 → pekko-stream 1.x (error)
- akka-http 10.5.3 → pekko-http 1.x (warning: Akka HTTP is BSL from 10.4.0)
- akka-stream-alpakka-s3 6.0.2 → pekko-connectors-s3 1.x (warning: Alpakka is BSL from 5.0.0)
- akka-stream-kafka 4.0.2 → pekko-connectors-kafka 1.x (warning: Alpakka Kafka is BSL from 4.0.0)
- pekko-connectors-csv next to Akka → drop every com.typesafe.akka line (error: half-migrated build)
The migrated build, with every coordinate on org.apache.pekko, gives 0 findings.
The config that Pekko silently ignores
Swapping jars is half the move. Pekko reads settings only from the pekko.* namespace, so an akka { actor.provider = cluster } block is ignored and the node starts with defaults. A default Pekko node accepts only pekko:// addresses, so akka:// seed nodes are refused unless you set pekko.remote.accept-protocol-names = ["akka", "pekko"] for the rolling switchover. The default ports differ too: Akka uses 25520 (Artery) and 2552 (classic), Pekko uses 17355 and 7355. The checker flags each of these lines, plus import akka. in Scala and Java sources.
How to run it
Open build.sbt, pom.xml, build.gradle or application.conf in VS Code with the extension installed, or paste the file into the free web page and set the check date. Nine rules run on the file and every finding prints the Pekko line to use. Change the date to 2026-10-24 and Akka 2.9.0 moves from error to converted, while 2.9.3 stays flagged because its own date is later.
Pekko 1.x forked from Akka 2.6.x, so code that uses APIs added in Akka 2.7 or later may need rework after the swap.
15 seconds — what it actually does
Questions people ask
What does Pekko Migration Gate check?
It reads build.sbt, pom.xml, build.gradle and application.conf files and flags every Akka artifact still under the Business Source License 1.1 on the date you choose, using the Change Date printed in each Akka release's LICENSE. It also flags akka.* config keys, akka:// seed addresses, Akka default ports and akka imports that Apache Pekko ignores, and prints the Pekko line to use.
Who is the Pekko migration check for?
Scala and Java teams running Akka 2.7 or later in production at companies above $25 million annual revenue, where the BSL requires a commercial Akka licence, and platform engineers moving those services to Apache Pekko. It also helps the person who owns software licences find out which exact Akka versions a build still ships.
Why not just ask a chatbot whether my Akka version is still BSL?
The Change Date is set per release, not per minor line. Akka 2.8.0 turned Apache 2.0 on 2026-03-16, but Akka 2.8.8 stays BSL until 2027-10-28 and Akka 2.9.0 until 2026-10-23. A general answer such as 'Akka 2.8 is Apache now' is wrong for most 2.8 builds. The checker compares each resolved version with its own date.
What is free and what does the full version add?
Free: the open file is checked completely, every finding with its reason and the Pekko replacement line, in VS Code and on the web page, with no key. The full version, $29 once, sweeps every build file and config in the repository into one Markdown migration report you can hand to the person who owns the Akka licence.
What does staying on licensed Akka cost?
Akka's BSL FAQ says Akka subscriptions start at $0.25 per core hour. Eight production cores running all year come to 8 × 8,760 hours × $0.25 = $17,520 a year. Apache Pekko is Apache 2.0 licensed and has no such fee; the checker lists the dependency, config and import lines that must change before you can drop Akka.
Why not just ask ChatGPT or another AI chat?
A general AI chat answers from training data with a cutoff date, cannot read your repository and names no rule version. Pekko Migration Gate — Akka BSL licence check checks the file you open against 9 rules from a rule set dated 2026-09-28, and points at the exact line with the fix. For a filing, an audit or a client you need that dated result on your own files.
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