> Are you writing a library that you want to be kept open when used in a project? GPL will do what you need.
> Are you writing an application where communicating over the network isn't a meaningful part of its operation? GPL will work fine.
This might be the case - although I agree with the sibling comment that a lot of libraries can be "artificially" turned into network services.
But regardless, what's the downside of using the AGPL? It's GPL + some additional restrictions, and while those restrictions can sometimes be irrelevant, I can't think of how they could be harmful to a GPL project.
AGPL feels like overreach: the software runs on someone else's machine. AIU AGPL was problematic for proprietary versions of Mongo and Elastic, does it have proper free software purpose? SaaSS is inherently nonfree: you're not going to self-host AWS, google, dropbox or github.
> Are you writing an application where communicating over the network isn't a meaningful part of its operation? GPL will work fine.
This might be the case - although I agree with the sibling comment that a lot of libraries can be "artificially" turned into network services.
But regardless, what's the downside of using the AGPL? It's GPL + some additional restrictions, and while those restrictions can sometimes be irrelevant, I can't think of how they could be harmful to a GPL project.