awesome-oss-monetization

Monetization via Paid Binary

AKA: Selling without proprietary license

Payments for a official compiled binary version of the open-source software. While the OSS can have any license and freely used and shared by users, the official compiled binary has to be paid. These are often semi-recurring payments for every new version. Several projects with high amount of new versions even offer recurring monthly subscriptions.

Requires:

Variants & Options:

Platforms

Examples

Evaluation

Characteristics Value Note
Effort to set-up Days Requires download and payment mechanism
Effort to maintain Low Might require a feature roadmap that deploys new minor version every month
Cost to set-up Low Might require a little money for hosting binary version
Cost to maintain Low Might require a little money for hosting binary version
One-time Income Medium Price can be freely set but orientates at prices for similar apps or tools
Recurring Income Medium Few users want to or can compile binary by themselves
Income Predictability Medium Depends on number of version deployed; If recurring payments work they will probably continue
Full income Threshold 100+  
Recipient C  
Additional Work Low Might require to manage downloadable binaries
Visibility High If binary is necessary every user will stumble upon payment
Necessity to pay Low Binary can be self-compiled or downloaded from third parties
Entry Threshold Low Credit card is sufficient
Countervalue Binary User has a convenient way to get the binary
Scalability Medium If price is right it will scale better
Effort for marketing Low If binary is necessary every user will stumble upon payment
Competitors Medium Binaries often hosted on download marketplaces such as Cnet,
Software types Tools Esp. for stand-alone OSS software