AGPL is pretty much a non-starter for us. It's simply viewed as too risky a license. Thanks to jacues_chester for pointing out the license. The project sounds super cool but there is simply no point in my looking into it on account of that licensing decision. You're shaking my confidence in your decision making, Hasura.
AGPL only makes a difference if you link that program and your own code together into one executable (including through dynamic linking). If you're calling from another executable over an API then it makes no practical difference whether it's AGPL, regular GPL or even BSD-style. This is, by definition, a remote API so you'd really have to make an effort to infect your code with the licence.
Just saying "it's too risky" sounds like ignorance. Like if I refused to compile my code with GCC because I heard GCC has a GPL licence. There's not much that vendors can do to counter an attitude like that.
Are you a lawyer? A great deal many lawyers have reviewed the AGPL and labeled it too risky for their companies. While I tend to agree with your interpretation of it, I still am extra cautious and avoid AGPL software when I can for infrastructure products like this. I am cautious because of the lawyers opinions on it, and I am also cautious because many companies that adopt an AGPL license turn out to be not very good open source stewards, and they put up roadblocks to community contributions that weaken the project and make having a real open source community behind the projects nearly impossible. There are some exceptions, but they are rare, so I exercise extreme caution around AGPL licensed products.
"The AGPL explicitly prohibits the deployment of AGPL software in a SaaS (Software as a Service) environment unless all of the software on the server (including the operating system software) is also released under the AGPL with full source code."
BS like this confuses the otherwise very clear language of the license itself. Removing the arms-length uses of GS from our SaaS because nobody wants any possible legal problems.
Many, many companies have blanket bans on AGPL software because they'd rather not take on the risk of accidentally violating it. It might be silly, but it's true.
