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Monetization via Early Access

AKA: Sponsorware, Embargo model, "Unlock the commons", Delayed open-sourcing

Contributions made from private persons or companies to individual maintainers, contributors, or OSS projects in order to get early access to code, apis, documentation, etc. These are often semi-recurring payments for every new version.

Requires:

  • Setup of a payment mechanism (hosted or self-build)
  • Collection and description of one or more tiers / offerings

Variants & Options:

  • Single payments for version- / result-specific early access
  • Recurring payments for continuous access to "closed repository"
  • Tiered Access Levels: Offering access to different maturity-levels or types (code, api, docu, ...)
  • Sponsorware
  • Embargo Model as defined by Heather Meeker: sell access to code before it is publicly released (either to beta versions or even full final versions)
  • "Unlocking the commons" as defined by Tim Carmondy: Giving access to early previews and experiments

Platforms

Evaluation

Characteristics Value Note
Effort to set-up Hours Only requires private repository or password-protected website
Effort to maintain High Constant reminders to sponsor necessary; Requires additional "publish" step
Cost to set-up Low Might require a little money for hosting private repos/content
Cost to maintain Low Might require a little money for hosting private repos/content
One-time Income Medium Often based on hourly wage
Recurring Income Medium Few users wants early access but might pay more and recurring if so
Income Predictability Medium If recurring payments work they will probably continue
Full income Threshold 100+
Recipient C
Additional Work Low Might require to manage public and private repos/content
Visibility Medium Easy to forget, ignore, or overlook, but early-access users might talk about the new stuff
Necessity to pay Medium Might be necessary for security-sensitive companies or hosting services (e.g., for databases)
Entry Threshold Low Credit card is sufficient
Countervalue Access Might cause minimal additional work to handle multiple repositories
Scalability Low Early access to OSS gives only rarely an edge
Effort for marketing Medium Similar to donations but early-access users might talk about the new stuff
Competitors None
Software types All Esp. for OSS that gives payer an edge (test security, write news, host service, ...)