The MacTeX Distribution is available on CTAN or on the TeX Collection DVD (free with membership of TUG or with many of the other Users Groups around the world). The software in MacTeX is available without fees for both personal and professional use. This software has been produced by thousands of programmers, and each piece comes with its own license. So redistribution of files from the MacTeX collection should be done with care after reading the License restrictions from these copyright holders. Some tasks are certainly acceptable; for instance it is legal for a University to create a DVD containing the MacTeX install package and use that DVD to install TeX on the computers of various students and faculty members. Distribution requiring a fee is trickier and should be approached carefully.

MacTeX consists of two pieces: MacTeX-2023 and MacTeXtras. MacTeX-2023 is an install package which installs everything needed to run TeX on macOS. MacTeXtras is a collection of optional extras: Additional Front Ends, Spell Checkers, Documentation, and Showcase items.