Awesome Paid Open Source

Collection of links around paid/sustainable open source development

Contributing

Feel free to add links via PRs and file issues to start discussions.

Table of Contents

• Perspectives
• Donation Sites
• Open Source Grants
• Payment Platforms
• Profit-sharing Platforms
• Open Source Software Foundations
• Example Projects
• Sponsored Projects
• Relevant Licenses
• Reference
• FAQ and Key Terms

Perspectives

• Open Source Ain't Free by David DeSandro
• Money and Open Source by Isaac Schleuter
• Vue.js author now works on it full time thanks to donations by Evan You
• Fine Uploader attempted a FOSS-friendly commercial license by Ray Nicholus
• OptaPlanner gets picked up by Red Hat by Geoffrey De Smet
• Open Source Exploitation by SupportedSource
• Redis author sponsored by Pivotal labs by Antirez
• Charging for Open Source by Mike Perham (author of Sidekiq)
• Corporations and OSS do not mix by Ian Cordasco
• More Money for Better Open-Source Software by Marijn Haverbeke
• Marijn's Sustainable Open Source Fund by Marijn Haverbeke
• The Perils of Mixing Open Source and Money by DHH
• The Ethics of Unpaid Labor and the OSS Community by Ashe Dryden
• Commerce and Open Source by the Open Source Initiative
• Open Source Work by Ryan Bigg
• Who Pays to Keep OS Software Working? by Jen Quraishi
• Github Issues and Mental Health by Dave DeSandro
• The Path to Full-time Open Source by Mike Perham
• A handy guide to financial support for open source by Nadia Eghbal
• Elementary OS Lets Users Decide How Much To Pay. See the comments for sensitivity around messaging.
• How to Pay for Open Source: Seed Money by InfoWorld
• Ways to Earn Money Through Open Source via StackExchange
• Open Source Infrastructure by Cory Benfield
• The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure by Nadia Eghbal
• The Money In Open-Source Software by Max Schireson at TechCrunch
• Who Sponsors Drupal Development? by Dries Buytaert
• Equity For Effort: Code for Open-Source, Earn Startup Shares by Parabol

Donation sites

• Patreon
• BountySource
• Open Collective
• Indiegogo
• Pledgie
• Flattr
• Gratipay
• Freedom Sponsors

Open Source Grants

• Mozilla grants

Payment Platforms

• plasso.co
• Gumroad
• Simple Goods
• Pulley
• Donorbox

Profit-sharing Platforms

• BountySource Salt

Open Source Software Foundations

• jQuery Foundation
• The Apache Software Foundation
• Software Freedom Conservancy
• Linux Foundation
• Open Source Robotics Foundation

Example Projects

A collection of paid open source projects to use as a reference for your own efforts.

• Synergy (GPL) charges for downloads, but also provides free access.
• Sidekiq (LGPLv3) offers pro and enterprise add-ons, but offers free access for a hobbyist usage level.
• Greenkeeper (Apache-2.0) offers premium individual and organization levels of usage, but offers free usage for open source projects.
• npm (Artistic-2.0) is free to use for all projects, but offers premium individual and enterprise add-ons.
• Ember.js (MIT) is free to use for all projects, but premium consulting and training services are provided by the authors.
• Meteor.js (MIT) is free to use for all projects, but offers a premium hosting solution for meteor projects.
• Intern (New BSD) is free to use for all projects, but has premium support offered by SitePen.
• Docker (Apache 2.0) is free to use for all projects, but offers premium hosting and training support.
• Tern.js (MIT) is free to use for all projects, but releases language expansion packs via crowdfunded campaigns.
• JW Player (CC-BY-NC) charges for streaming video service and ad platform

These projects are dual-licensed. They require a paid license for commercial or closed-source use, but offer a free license for non-commercial or open-source use.

• Isotope, Flickity, Packery (GPLv3)
• Sequence.js (GPLv3)
• MixItUp (CC-BY-NC)
• Highcharts (CC-BY-NC)
• Fresco, Tipped, Strip, Lightview

Sponsored Projects

These projects are/were sponsored by organizations or donation-based backers.

• Vue.js is sponsored by donations via a Patreon campaign.
• react-boilerplate is sponsored by donations via an Open Collective campaign.
• Redis was sponsored by Pivotal labs and other backers and is now sponsored by Redis Labs.
• Prosemirror was sponsored via a kickstarter-like campaign on Indiegogo.
• Tern.js was sponsored via a crowdfunded campaign on Indiegogo.
• Ghost was sponsored via a kickstarter campaign.
• Angular.js is sponsored by Google.
• React.js is sponsored by Facebook.
• Dojo is sponsored by SitePen under the Dojo Foundation.
• Fine Uploader is sponsored by Widen.
• Imageflow (APGLv3) successfully funded development effort on Kickstarter.
• Phaser (MIT) is sponsored on Patreon.
• Brunch (MIT) is sponsored by Hell Yeah.
• NeoVim (Apache 2.0) is sponsored by donations via an ongoing BountySource campaign and a successful fundraising effort.
• Coala (AGPL v3.0) is sponsored by Appveyor.

Relevant Licenses

A collection of licenses that may be particularly useful for paid open source projects.

• Business Source License (BSL) is a customizable commercial license with language that defines free vs. commercial use (copy-left), with the ability to switch to a free open source license of your choice after a few years.

Reference

• MySQL dual licensing
• Wikipedia: Open source business models
• Paying the Piper by PyBee / Russell Keith-Magee
• Software Licenses in Plain English

FAQ and Key Terms

Dual licensing

Quote from "Open Hardware Business Models"

The first license is a GPL-like license, which is free but forces users to disclose the source code of any modified version of the original design. The second is a commercial license, which has a fee but allows buyers to conceal the source code of any modified version.

Source software foundations

• About jQuery Foundation by Mike Sherov

License

To the extent possible under law, Joel Kemp has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.