How I Turned My Copycats Into Customers: From Open Source Directory to $5K/Month Boilerplate

A year ago, I was running OpenAlternative, a directory of open source software alternatives generating over $6,500 MRR.

I had one annoying problem: people kept copying my website.

The design was clean and simple—which users loved, but it also made it trivially easy to clone. I'd see knockoffs popping up on Reddit almost every week. Same layout, same concept, different name.

At first, it frustrated me. Then I realized something that changed everything:

Code is not the moat anymore.

With AI tools making development faster than ever, anyone can clone a website in days. Fighting copycats was a losing battle. So instead of protecting my code, I decided to sell it.

If people were going to copy me anyway, why not make it easier—and make some money in the process?

That decision led to Dirstarter, a Next.js boilerplate that now generates ~$5,000/month. Here's how it happened.

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The One-Week MVP

I already had a working product in OpenAlternative. The challenge was packaging it into something generic enough to sell.

Day 1-2: Cleaning the codebase

I stripped out everything specific to OpenAlternative—repository details, alternative pages, comparison pages, and all the programmatic SEO stuff I'd built for open source software. What remained was the core: listings, categories, search, admin dashboard, and payment integration.

Day 3-7: The hard parts

Building the landing page took 5 days. But honestly? The hardest part was writing the documentation. AI helped me tremendously there—I'd estimate it cut the docs work by 70%.

Total time from decision to sellable product: one week.

The V1 was as barebones as possible. Same layout as OpenAlternative, just genericized. No fancy features, no bells and whistles. Just enough to be useful.

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First Sales Without Marketing

Here's the part that still surprises me: I got my first sales on day one without posting about it anywhere.

All I did was add a small "Built with Dirstarter" link to OpenAlternative. Sales started flowing immediately.

It was like people were just waiting for it to appear.

For months, people had been asking about my tech stack. "How did you build OpenAlternative?" "What tools do you use?" "Would you ever share the code?"

When I finally offered it as a product, there was already pent-up demand. I didn't have to convince anyone the product was valuable—they'd been watching it work for over a year.

Lesson: Your existing projects can become new products. I didn't set out to build a boilerplate business. It emerged naturally from something I was already running. Look at what you've already built—there might be a product hiding inside it.

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Pricing: From $97 to $199

I started with $97 early-bird pricing to validate demand. When sales kept coming, I knew I'd underpriced it.

The evolution:

• $97 → Early bird validation
• $147 → After initial traction
• $159 / $199 → Two tiers (standard + AI features & private community)

Every price increase felt scary, but conversions barely changed. I was definitely undercharging at $97.

All tiers include lifetime updates, lifetime support, and unlimited websites. That "lifetime" promise is important for boilerplates—people want to know they're not buying abandoned code.

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What Actually Sells This Thing

~200 customers and ~$5K/month later, here's what's working:

1. Affiliate Marketing (30% commission)

This is my best channel by far. Yes, giving up 30% hurts. But affiliates who are well-compensated actually promote your product.

I spent time building a partner network—reaching out to newsletter writers, YouTubers, and indie hackers with relevant audiences. Now they do the marketing for me. I only pay when they drive a sale.

Pure performance-based marketing with zero upfront cost.

2. OpenAlternative as a Living Demo

My directory does $6,500/month. That's not just revenue—it's proof that the boilerplate works.

When someone asks "does this actually make money?", I can point to real numbers. I'm not selling theoretical value—I'm selling a shortcut to a business model that's already working.

This is Dirstarter's main differentiator from competitors like Mkdirs or DirectoryStack. Other boilerplates give you code. I give you a proven strategy.

3. Building in Public

Sharing the journey on Twitter/X has been valuable for credibility. People can watch me ship features, see the revenue grow, and trust that the product is actively maintained.

4. SEO (slowly)

I've been investing in content lately. It's starting to work, but it's a long game. Most traffic still comes from affiliates and OpenAlternative.

What I haven't done yet: Product Hunt launch. It's on my list once I have more features and testimonials lined up.

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Current Numbers

• Revenue: ~$5,000/month
• Customers: ~200 total
• Traffic: ~3,000 monthly visitors
• Pricing: $159 (Standard) / $199 (Pro with AI + community)
• Team: Just me

I run this alongside my directories, spending maybe 10 hours/week on Dirstarter—mostly support tickets and shipping new features.

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What's Next

Roadmap:

• Revamped blog post management (in progress)
• Better user management with role-based permissions
• Self-serve submission system for tool submitters

Bigger picture: I want to diversify beyond directories. Running SEO-dependent businesses means I'm at Google's mercy—one algorithm change could tank my traffic overnight.

My goal for 2026 is launching a SaaS product. I've tried before and failed, but hopefully everything I've learned from directories will help me finally make it work.

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Key Takeaways

1. Code is not the moat.

If your business depends on people not being able to copy your code, you don't have a business. Focus on things harder to replicate: your audience, your reputation, your execution speed.

2. Your side project might contain a product.

I didn't plan to sell a boilerplate. It emerged from a project I was already running. What have you built that others keep asking about?

3. Validation can come from demand, not launches.

I never did a big launch. People were already asking for this. Sometimes the market tells you what to build—you just have to listen.

4. Affiliate marketing works if you're generous.

30% commission sounds like a lot. It is. But affiliates who make real money actually promote your product. It's the best ROI marketing I've found.

5. Launch faster than feels comfortable.

Dirstarter V1 was embarrassingly basic. It worked anyway. I've shipped dozens of features since then based on real feedback—not guesses about what people might want.

6. Consistency compounds.

I've been building in public, shipping features, and showing up every day. The people who win are the ones who don't quit.

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Links

• Dirstarter: dirstarter.com
• OpenAlternative: openalternative.co
• Twitter/X: @piotrkulpinski

Happy to answer questions in the comments!