Should I make my software open source?

OpenSaaS with commercial support is perfectly viable. I know many who have gone this route but I am not a fan. I do like value-add freemium SaaS with commercial upsells, but you don't have to open source it. That said, my preference is to demonstrate components of my build with open source scripts and tools that demonstrate the viability of the concepts, but hold back on all the content that makes my commercial build valuable. Certainly provide a few reference examples and data schemas so other can contribute to the core and validate the use cases as well as contribute to the commercial offering. I highly recommend before embarking into open source, you think long and hard about the licensing models that make the most sense for you.

Here's my opinion so please take with a grain of pepper.

OpenSaaS is great for getting users into your tool. It's also a great way to get innovators and early adopters of cutting-edge tech to adopt and promote your tool given the charitable donation of time and effort that you've made.

Unfortunately, after 6 years in consulting at a large organization, some people simply don't trust open source. Why? I'm not quite sure. Maybe it's that asking for payment makes the product seem more professional and secure? Or maybe they don't understand the definition of open source and feel that their private data will be made public? Or maybe they think your product might disappear overnight and all their time and effort spent within will be lost!

So I guess it depends on who your audience is and what your goal is. Are you trying to parlay this into a paid offering? Are you simply looking to donate your tool to society?

Great question!

If you can reasonably monetise your work while keeping it open-source, then absolutely. However, your mileage may vary. Bear is open-source but isn't really self-host-able. It's more just a way to share the code with the community and keep us honest.

Good idea if you have a strong test suite. You can create a "fan" base thanks to that.

i don't get it customers are objecting that your product is opensource or they are objecting its not opensource? what is the product?

Definitely ask them why - you need to distinguish between helpful feedback and the rest - the people who thought about it thoroughly will clarify their views.

Congrats!

I personally wouldn't listen to early user feedback as it rarely accounts for the majority view. Do what you want, it's your software.

Depends on why they said they didn't like the idea of it being open source, I guess. Security tends to be the main issue, so I'm guessing that's the case here. If it is then you'd have to find ways to assure users it won't be a problem, if that's possible.