AKA: Paid by Hoster
Unconcious contributions made by a user to the OSS project via a hoster / cloud that supports kickback. Payout can be in form of credits but might potentially be resellable or convertible via value generating systems (e.g. a crypto miner). If the OSS runs for a longer time this can generate recurring revenue.
Requires:
- Setup of a payment mechanism (receiving payments or resell credits)
- Registration for the kickback mechanism (each hoster/cloud)
- Might require setup of a value-generating algorithm (e.g., CryptoMiner to convert credits into money)
Variants & Options:
- Credits-based: Maintainers get a share of the credits the users pay on the hoster's platform
- Money-based: Maintainers get a direct payout
- Railway (Credits for installed OSS)
| Characteristics | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Effort to set-up | Weeks | Application to be approved by a hoster; Might need extra work to convert credits into real money |
| Effort to maintain | Low | |
| Cost to set-up | None | |
| Cost to maintain | Low | Maybe a little work to use or exchange the credits |
| One-time Income | N/A | |
| Recurring Income | Low | Depends on the payout offered or the effectiveness to convert credits into money |
| Income Predictability | Medium | If the clients like the hoster payouts can be stable |
| Full income Threshold | ?1000+ | Depends heavily on efficiency of the value-generating subsystem |
| Recipient | C | |
| Additional Work | None | |
| Visibility | N/A | Not necessary but might help hoster |
| Necessity to pay | Low | Payment is collected by hoster (who might have higher prices) |
| Entry Threshold | None | Client only pay indirectly via his hoster/cloud for the resources |
| Countervalue | Aware. | Users get nothing but hosters get awareness |
| Scalability | Medium | Scales with the number of running instances (but only at few hosters) |
| Effort for marketing | Low | It might help to nudge users towards the hoster |
| Competitors | None | |
| Software types | Special | Best for stand-alone systems on one server (e.g., databases, blogs, LMS, etc.) |