GCompris is free and open-source software and the current version is subject to the requirements of the AGPL-3.0-only license.

[3] The name GCompris is a pun, in the French language is pronounced the same as the phrase "I have understood", J'ai compris [ʒekɔ̃ˈpʁi].

While binaries compiled for Microsoft Windows and macOS were initially distributed with a restricted number of activities and a small fee was required to unlock all the activities, since February 2020 the full version is entirely free for all platforms.

These are bundled into the following groups: The first version of the game was made in 2000 by Bruno Coudoin, a French software engineer.

Since the first release it was distributed freely on the Internet and was protected by the GNU General Public License.