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https://github.com/mrjoelkemp/awesome-paid-open-source

Collection of links around paid/sustainable open source development
https://github.com/mrjoelkemp/awesome-paid-open-source

List: awesome-paid-open-source

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Collection of links around paid/sustainable open source development

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# Awesome Paid Open Source [![Awesome](https://cdn.rawgit.com/sindresorhus/awesome/d7305f38d29fed78fa85652e3a63e154dd8e8829/media/badge.svg)](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome)



> 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](#perspectives)

- [Donation Sites](#donation-sites)

- [Open Source Grants](#open-source-grants)

- [Payment Platforms](#payment-platforms)

- [Profit-sharing Platforms](#profit-sharing-platforms)

- [Open Source Software Foundations](#open-source-software-foundations)

- [Example Projects](#example-projects)

- [Sponsored Projects](#sponsored-projects)

- [Relevant Licenses](#relevant-licenses)

- [Reference](#reference)

- [FAQ and Key Terms](#faq-and-key-terms)



### Perspectives



- [Open Source Ain't Free](https://vimeo.com/53373707) by David DeSandro

- [Money and Open Source](https://medium.com/open-source-life/money-and-open-source-d44a1953749c#.wim9wlhwx) by Isaac Schleuter

- [Vue.js author now works on it full time thanks to donations](https://twitter.com/vuejs/status/750560489462259712) by Evan You

- [Fine Uploader attempted a FOSS-friendly commercial license](https://medium.com/@RayNicholus/disrupting-open-source-the-story-of-fine-uploader-80160eb557d9#.grwnuak60) by Ray Nicholus

- [OptaPlanner gets picked up by Red Hat](http://www.optaplanner.org/blog/2016/08/07/ADecadeOfOptaPlanner.html) by Geoffrey De Smet

- [Open Source Exploitation](https://supso.org/blog/open-source-exploitation-and-burnout) by Super Source

- [Redis author sponsored by Pivotal labs](http://antirez.com/news/91) by Antirez

- [Charging for Open Source](http://www.mikeperham.com/2015/11/23/how-to-charge-for-your-open-source) by Mike Perham (author of Sidekiq)

- [Corporations and OSS do not mix](http://www.coglib.com/~icordasc/blog/2015/11/corporations-and-oss-do-not-mix.html) by Ian Cordasco

- [More Money for Better Open-Source Software](http://marijnhaverbeke.nl/blog/sustainable-maintenance.html) by Marijn Haverbeke

- [Marijn's Sustainable Open Source Fund](https://marijnhaverbeke.nl/fund) by Marijn Haverbeke

- [The Perils of Mixing Open Source and Money](http://david.heinemeierhansson.com/2013/the-perils-of-mixing-open-source-and-money.html) by DHH

- [The Ethics of Unpaid Labor and the OSS Community](https://www.ashedryden.com/blog/the-ethics-of-unpaid-labor-and-the-oss-community#loveplay) by Ashe Dryden

- [Commerce and Open Source](https://opensource.org/faq#category-commerce) by the Open Source Initiative

- [Open Source Work](http://ryanbigg.com/2015/11/open-source-work) by Ryan Bigg

- [Who Pays to Keep OS Software Working?](https://www.thoughtworks.com/mingle/news/2015/04/09/Paying-For-Open-Source.html) by Jen Quraishi

- [Github Issues and Mental Health](http://bumpers.fm/e/audr171motkg00tb32sg) by Dave DeSandro

- [The Path to Full-time Open Source](http://www.mikeperham.com/2014/10/01/the-path-to-full-time-open-source) by Mike Perham

- [A handy guide to financial support for open source](https://github.com/nayafia/lemonade-stand) by Nadia Eghbal

- [Elementary OS Lets Users Decide How Much To Pay](http://blog.elementary.io/post/110645528530/payments). See the comments for sensitivity around messaging.

- [How to Pay for Open Source: Seed Money](http://www.infoworld.com/article/2615419/open-source-software/how-to-pay-for-open-source.html) by InfoWorld

- [Ways to Earn Money Through Open Source](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/a/100706) via StackExchange

- [Open Source Infrastructure](https://storify.com/Lukasaoz/open-source-infrastructure-white-paper) by Cory Benfield

- [The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure](https://fordfoundcontent.blob.core.windows.net/media/2976/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure.pdf) by Nadia Eghbal

- [The Money In Open-Source Software](https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/09/the-money-in-open-source-software/) by Max Schireson at TechCrunch

- [Who Sponsors Drupal Development?](http://buytaert.net/who-sponsors-drupal-development) by Dries Buytaert

- [Equity For Effort: Code for Open-Source, Earn Startup Shares](https://focus.parabol.co/equity-for-effort-v2-0-7ca93e0a3968#.yxw9gkg20) by Parabol



### Donation sites



- [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com)

- [BountySource](https://www.bountysource.com)

- [Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/opensource)

- [Indiegogo](https://www.indiegogo.com)

- [Pledgie](https://pledgie.com)

- [Flattr](https://flattr.com)

- [Gratipay](https://gratipay.com)

- [Freedom Sponsors](https://freedomsponsors.org)

- [xs:code](https://xscode.com)

- [Issuehunt](https://issuehunt.io)



### Open Source Grants



- [Mozilla grants](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/grants)



### Payment Platforms



- [plasso.co](https://plasso.co)

- [Gumroad](https://gumroad.com)

- [Simple Goods](https://simplegoods.co)

- [Pulley](http://pulleyapp.com)

- [Donorbox](https://donorbox.org)



### Payment Tools

- [LibreSelery](https://github.com/protontypes/libreselery)



### Profit-sharing Platforms



- [BountySource Salt](https://salt.bountysource.com)



### Open Source Software Foundations



- [jQuery Foundation](https://jquery.org)

- [The Apache Software Foundation](http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html#what)

- [Software Freedom Conservancy](https://sfconservancy.org/members/apply)

- [Linux Foundation](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/projects)

- [Open Source Robotics Foundation](http://www.osrfoundation.org)



### Example Projects



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



- [Synergy](https://github.com/symless/synergy) (GPL) [charges for downloads](http://symless.com/pricing), but also provides [free access](https://symless.com/purchase/faq).

- [Sidekiq](https://github.com/mperham/sidekiq/) (LGPLv3) [offers pro and enterprise add-ons](http://sidekiq.org/products/pro), but offers free access for a hobbyist usage level.

- [Greenkeeper](https://github.com/greenkeeperio/greenkeeper) (Apache-2.0) [offers premium individual and organization levels of usage](https://greenkeeper.io/#pricing), but offers free usage for open source projects.

- [npm](https://github.com/npm/npm) (Artistic-2.0) is free to use for all projects, but offers [premium individual and enterprise add-ons](https://www.npmjs.com/pricing).

- [Ember.js](https://github.com/emberjs/ember.js) (MIT) is free to use for all projects, but [premium consulting and training services](http://www.tilde.io/ember-consulting/) are provided by the authors.

- [Meteor.js](https://github.com/meteor/meteor) (MIT) is free to use for all projects, but offers a [premium hosting solution](https://www.meteor.com/pricing) for meteor projects.

- [Intern](https://github.com/theintern/intern) (New BSD) is free to use for all projects, but has [premium support](https://www.sitepen.com/support/index.html) offered by SitePen.

- [Docker](https://github.com/docker/docker) (Apache 2.0) is free to use for all projects, but offers [premium hosting and training support](https://www.docker.com/pricing).

- [Tern.js](https://github.com/ternjs/tern) (MIT) is free to use for all projects, but releases language expansion packs via [crowdfunded campaigns](https://www.bountysource.com/issues/1141202-support-es6-features).

- [JW Player](https://www.jwplayer.com) (CC-BY-NC) [charges for streaming video service and ad platform](https://www.jwplayer.com/get-started/)

- [Plotly.js](https://github.com/plotly/plotly.js) (MIT) is entirely free to use while the [Plotly platform](https://plot.ly) built on top of the library has a free "community" tier and other paid tiers. Plotly.js features are also funded directly through [paid sponsorships](https://plot.ly/products/consulting-and-oem/).

- [Dnote](https://github.com/dnote/dnote) (AGPLv3) is a free to self-host or use use locally, but [offers a paid, hosted version](https://dnote.io/pricing) for the server side software.

- [Monica](https://github.com/monicahq/monica) (AGPLv3) is free to self-host, but [offers a paid, hosted version](https://www.monicahq.com/pricing).



> 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](http://isotope.metafizzy.co), [Flickity](http://flickity.metafizzy.co), [Packery](http://packery.metafizzy.co) (GPLv3)

- [Sequence.js](http://www.sequencejs.com) (GPLv3)

- [MixItUp](https://mixitup.kunkalabs.com) (CC-BY-NC)

- [Highcharts](http://www.highcharts.com) (CC-BY-NC)

- [Fresco](http://www.frescojs.com), [Tipped](http://www.tippedjs.com), [Strip](http://www.stripjs.com), [Lightview](http://projects.nickstakenburg.com/lightview)



### Sponsored Projects



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



- [Vue.js](https://github.com/vuejs/vue) is sponsored by donations via [a Patreon campaign](https://www.patreon.com/evanyou).

- [react-boilerplate](https://github.com/mxstbr/react-boilerplate) is sponsored by donations via an [Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/react-boilerplate) campaign.

- [Redis](https://github.com/antirez/redis) was sponsored by [Pivotal labs and other backers](http://redis.io/topics/sponsors) and is now sponsored by Redis Labs.

- [Prosemirror](https://github.com/ProseMirror/prosemirror) was sponsored via a [kickstarter-like campaign on Indiegogo](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/prosemirror#/).

- [Tern.js](https://github.com/ternjs/tern) was sponsored via a [crowdfunded campaign on Indiegogo](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tern-intelligent-javascript-editing#/).

- [Ghost](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost) was sponsored via a [kickstarter campaign](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnonolan/ghost-just-a-blogging-platform).

- [Angular.js](https://github.com/angular/angular.js) is sponsored by Google.

- [React.js](https://github.com/facebook/react) is sponsored by Facebook.

- [Dojo](https://github.com/dojo/dojo) is sponsored by SitePen under the Dojo Foundation.

- [Fine Uploader](http://fineuploader.com) is sponsored by Widen.

- [Imageflow](https://www.imageflow.io) (APGLv3) [successfully funded development effort on Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/njones/imageflow-respect-the-pixels-a-secure-alt-to-image).

- [Phaser](http://phaser.io) (MIT) is [sponsored on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/photonstorm).

- [Brunch](http://brunch.io) (MIT) is sponsored by [Hell Yeah](http://hellyeah.is).

- [NeoVim](https://github.com/neovim/neovim) (Apache 2.0) is sponsored by donations via [an ongoing BountySource campaign](https://www.bountysource.com/teams/neovim) and a [successful fundraising effort](https://www.bountysource.com/teams/neovim/fundraiser).

- [coala](https://github.com/coala/coala) (AGPL v3.0) is sponsored by [Appveyor](https://www.appveyor.com).



### Relevant Licenses



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



- [Business Source License (BSL)](http://timreview.ca/article/691) 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](http://www.mysql.com/about/legal/licensing/oem)

- [Wikipedia: Open source business models](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-source_software#Approaches)

- [Paying the Piper](https://github.com/pybee/paying-the-piper) by PyBee / Russell Keith-Magee

- [Software Licenses in Plain English](https://tldrlegal.com)



### FAQ and Key Terms



#### Dual licensing



Quote from "[Open Hardware Business Models](http://www.osbr.ca/ojs/index.php/osbr/article/view/570/523)"



> 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](https://github.com/mrjoelkemp/awesome-paid-open-source/issues/2#issuecomment-238752181) by Mike Sherov



## License



[![CC0](http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/buttons/88x31/svg/cc-zero.svg)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0)



To the extent possible under law, [Joel Kemp](https://twitter.com/mrjoelkemp) has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.