Ways to earn from free open-source tools, and what the licence allows
Free software can still be the base of a small business. The honest version is that you usually earn from your time and skill around the tool, not from the tool itself.
Services around a tool
- Setup and hosting. Install, configure and maintain a tool for a client who doesn't want to. With MIT or Apache tools this is simple. With AGPL, running it unmodified is fine, but selling access to a modified version means sharing your changes.
- Training and documentation. Many good tools have thin guides. Clear tutorials are valuable.
- Custom work. Connecting a tool to a client's systems, or adding the feature they need.
Content and products
- Tutorial videos and written guides, which is what ForkFree itself does.
- Templates, presets and packs that work with a tool.
- Your own output made with free tools: designs, edits, music, reports. Check that the licence allows commercial use of the output, which is usual.
Where it goes wrong
- Reselling a source-available tool as a service when the licence forbids it.
- Expecting a repo to bring income by itself. Income comes from finding clients who will pay.
- Ignoring an enterprise folder that needs its own licence.
Start small
Pick one tool you already understand, offer one clear service to one type of business, and check its licence first. Our licence guide covers the rules.
Not legal advice. Read each project's licence file before you build or sell anything on it.