Is there a viable open-source business model for desktop/self-hosted apps (i.e., non-SAAS)?

A wide range of proven open-source business models is available for desktop and self-hosted apps, supported by experienced mobile app development companies.

There are multiple viable open-source business models for desktop/self-hosted apps. Multiple mobile app development companies offer the best business models for desktop/self-hosted apps.

Open source people are typically the most toxic kind of people you can find online. If your program is closed source, they will just attack you. If you then open source it, they will ignore you, contribute nothing and just move on to attack someone else.

This is my personal experience from releasing a free but closed source app and then doing all the extra work to open source it.

In regards of business model, there are two ways that I have seen working, either donations such as Patreon but for that to make you any kind of actual money (i.e., enough to even pay you a minimum wage level salary), the program needs to be very popular. For very popular software, you can get company sponsorships, but those are like unicorns. You cannot base your plans on that.

Or, you do a dual license model. An open source community edition and then a paid version, that has some additional features that you can hope people want to pay for. The idea being that the free version will get you the publicity and leads, and then you can try to convert those leads into either donating something or buy a license for the paid version.

But generally speaking, open source is great for getting a lot Github stars and pats on the back. Closed source is way easier if you want to actually make a living writing software.

You could open source the core product. Like make it easy enough for an open source enthusiast to install a daemon, point it to a directory to sync, done.

Then you could create a front end that’s a paid software (subscription, usage based) that provides extra functionality. Hey you could sync your own files between your laptop and desktop for free with a cli and configuration files, but if you want to sync files with your non tech friend, you get them to use our nice gui which easily configures everything.

Have a look at odoo.com, they made billions from open-sourcing their software suite.

Essentially, they make money from selling their services at enterprise level

I tried this with a Kubernetes IDE. Yaki

I open sourced and let people use it for free if they can build it. It was not commercially viable for me. The developer community is a hard crowd to sell to in my experience. Also, once open sourced, any paid features got almost a visceral reaction from developers saying open source needs to be free. It was a tough pill to swallow.

I would suggest to sell to non-techies who will not care if you are open source or not. That is the path in my opinion to making it commercially viable.

I've seen a lot of self hosted apps where the core app is free but they charge for deployment (if users aren't tech savvy to do it on their own) and also for addons /plugins for the core app that extends new features like team access, chat support and similar. These are some routes you can consider.

Check out this one for example. This is a online booking open source app where they charge for deployment and support: https://qloapps.com/cloud-hosting/

I'm in a similar situation with https://www.indiehackers.com/product/nut-js where the core of my framework is open source, but I have some add-ons I'm only giving out to sponsors who support my work financially.

So one possibility would be the same approach I'm taking, the "open core" approach.
Hand out a base version of your app, but with paid add-ons.

Alternatively, there's one thing you should keep in mind: There are two valuable things at your fingertips.

1. The app itself. If you are targeting privacy conscious people, this may be unavoidable to open source since many people in this space see this as a hard requirement. (Even though I doubt that many people will actually go through your codebase but just want to run their mouth on the internet)

2. The build process around your application. This is something many people tend to neglect (at least in my experience). It takes time and effort to build an app, but it takes additional effort to actually go from source code to installed app. Same goes for backend components. Packaging an application in a way that it's easy to install and maintain is definitely something worthy.

What I want to point out here is the fact that just because people are expecting a privacy focused app to be open source it doesn't mean you have to provide a repo one only has to clone and is ready to use.

Go through the codebase: Fine
Receive a documented and ready to use piece of software: $$

You might find this good reading, if you haven't seen it already
https://a16z.com/2019/10/04/open-source-from-community-to-commercialization/

The Value-Market Fit section might be particularly of interest.

What comes to mind is License Keys with or without blocking features. The user always has the option to go to the repository and compile everything himself and have access to the full-featured software.

But if the user pays for the license, they just put the license in the software you compiled and made available via a simple download button, and everything works.

You can make so the license key blocks features or not. SublimeText shows an "UNLICENSED" text in the top corner, it doesn't block any features, and the text is very subtle and not even an issue, but I used it so much in the past was my main text editor that I paid for the license just because I could.

The user will pay either because they can and want to support the development or out of convenience (Click the button, and it's done, no compilation needed).

Another way to make money out of it is Enterprise Support. You make features like SSO and user management and charge for Enterprise level usage (Via a version of your app that's not open-source, maybe) and charge especially for Support. Companies will pay a lot of money for the peace of mind of being able to contact you and have support available.

Yet another way at the enterprise level is "White Label" versions of your software for companies. You provide all the support to add it to the App Stores and such and provide support and maintenance on those on a yearly contract.

Personally, I would put some effort into the Enterprise thing, it's very scalable, and there is a lot of money there. I always prefer B2B over B2C.

It's a tough crowd.

I guess you'd need to gather some real fans for this to work. If you can gather a community, the Github sponsorship can work. But I think this really only works for rather big projects.

Some people open source and still sell through AppStores. So the people essentially pay for not having to build it themselves. It's probably still the most likely scenario that could work. I know the macOS IRC client "LimeChat" went this route. Maybe get in touch with the author and check how it works for him?

Sorry, I don't have a particular good suggestion. It's really not the easiest niche and product combination. Good luck!

You can provide the source code in github and still charge for the built mobile version in the play store (charge to remove ads, or get full version). It's also possible to require a license number from the mobile app or have to see a pop up every time the user open the desktop version.

Maybe free version if people want to sync between PCs then naturally people will want to sync their phones, as well.

Not sure if you're familiar with adding licenses on GitHub but it's pretty easy and straightforward as they provide templates.

Good luck!

An open-source business model for a desktop or self-hosted app that generates near to mid-term income could involve offering a dual-licensing strategy. Under this model, the core software is open-source, attracting individual users and small businesses. For revenue, you can provide paid licenses for enterprises that require additional features, support, or proprietary integrations. Another option is offering a "freemium" model where basic functionality is free, but advanced features or custom deployments come with a subscription. Additionally, consulting, custom development, and priority support can provide supplementary income streams without relying on a large user base.

Great discussion! It's always refreshing to see people exploring new business models for software beyond the traditional SaaS model. Open-source desktop self-hosted apps have enormous potential to disrupt the industry and empower users with more control and privacy over their data. I'm excited to see where this conversation goes and what innovative solutions emerge from it. Keep up the great work, everyone!
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Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. A common theme I see in the suggestions, is that they all move the profitable horizon further off into the future, when the project becomes popular. I really need revenue coming in sooner rather than later...

I think starting a project open-source from the get go is difficult if the aim is to build a profitable business. It's different if it's a "passion side-project," or has a lot of money behind it.

Still, it's great to see the different ideas. Perhaps I'll be able to use one or two of them further down the road.

One other thing I'm a bit wary of, is some of the passive aggressive hostility I received. That's not the kind of person I want to have as customer...

there are multiple viable open-source business models for desktop/self-hosted apps. Multiple mobile app development companies offer the best business models for desktop/self-hosted apps.

https://www.code-brew.com/mobile-app-development-company-developers-dubai/