Monetization via Paid Binary
November 26, 2022 ยท View on GitHub
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:
- Setup of a download mechanism (hosted or self-build)
- Setup of a payment mechanism
Variants & Options:
- Single payments for each major or minor version
- Recurring payments for continuous access to binaries
- App-store Hosting: Binary version of a mobile app in an App-store
- Cloud Hosted: Binary version or bundles deployable from a Cloud Marketplace
Platforms
- PayDevs (paid compiled libraries in closed registry)
- Gumroad (paid downloadable binaries, etc.)
- Patreon etc. (giving manual access to binaries)
- Stripe (payment mechanism)
- PayPal (payment mechanism)
- Paddle (self-build with international tax handling)
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 |