
Ask HN: Is it unethical to monetize open source software with a “pro” version? - rlv-dan
I am thinking about monetizing my open source software (GPL3). These are windows utilities, so typical open source monetization schemes (paid support, commercial hosting, etc) are not suitable. The only way I can think of is to have a pro version with additional features. The &quot;pro&quot; version would be proprietary. Pro features would also be quite specific (i.e. the free version would support most use cases). But I&#x27;m not sure this is ethical? (As a side note - if I can earn money from this I might be able to quit my job and devote more time to open source development...)
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strangecasts
FWIW it seems fair to me: as long as the existing versions stay under GPL3,
you're not stopping people from extending your utilities, you're charging for
your implementation of those particular features.

Elastic [1] and Gitlab [2] both operate with a similar model of offering free,
open source versions of their software with additional paid-for enterprise
features.

[1] [https://www.elastic.co/blog/doubling-down-on-
open](https://www.elastic.co/blog/doubling-down-on-open)

[2] [https://about.gitlab.com/install/ce-or-
ee/](https://about.gitlab.com/install/ce-or-ee/)

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NTroy
No, that is not unethical at all.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it can get hate or complaints from the
community, but at the end of the day, a lot of amazing open source software
wouldn’t be available today if they weren’t able to be monetized in some way.

A lot of times, open source software wouldn’t be able to get actively
developed, be able to afford security audits, quickly patch bugs, etc. without
a paid person/group working on it, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

It is up to you, however, to decide how you’d like to raise funds. Some
projects (iRedMail) provide a “Pro” version, others offer advanced
support/installation (Canonical), and even others just look for donations. If
you’re curious about how to proceed, I recommend checking out
[https://opencollective.com/discover](https://opencollective.com/discover) for
great examples.

