It depends what you mean by "the tech".

XRP and ILP are open. Anyone can use them however they want.

Ripple also sells software to banks that integrates things like XRP and ILP with banking systems. This handles the parts of the transaction that XRP and ILP don't handle, primarily end-to-end pre-payment messaging and integration with banking systems and processes.

If we had to give it away for free to drive adoption, we probably would have. But charging for it also ensures that we're only working with partners who have a level of commitment.