Saasify – Monetize Your OSS Projects | Hacker News Reader

Saasify – Monetize Your OSS Projects

saasify.sh

43 pointsfeross11 comments

It's funny how people have different interpretation of general availability: "this product is in beta and ready for general use" :)

The example is not quite clear: is the stuff in ./src generated automatically? It doesn't look like it is, since the saasify.json does not contain all the options.

I would have expected something more declarative.

I am also unsure how is this related to OSS, except for using it as a marketing gimmick to draw "customers".

(Saasify Founder)

Thanks for the feedback! It's really, really important for us at this stage of things.

> I am also unsure how is this related to OSS, except for using it as a marketing gimmick to draw "customers".

Definitely not a gimmick. 80% of all revenue goes directly back to the OSS authors that wrote the underlying open source project. Given that we're giving back the majority of the money to OSS, I'm not sure how this would qualify as a gimmick. As an open source author myself, this is the most important part of the platform by far. I realize that the current version doesn't do a great job of making this point clear, but we're actively working on improving this messaging.

> I would have expected something more declarative.

We're working towards this, but product development is a process and the current version is definitely a stepping off point. Right now, all you have to do is write a 100% normal TypeScript function without dealing with HTTP, encoding, parameter validation, etc, which is pretty simple compared with what it would take to traditionally create SaaS APIs.

> It's funny how people have different interpretation of general availability: "this product is in beta and ready for general use"

Anyone can signup and create their own SaaS products, and the service has already been tested by a few hundred developers. Would love to hear how we can improve on our beta's messaging here :)

---

We're working on rolling out more example saasified OSS projects over the coming weeks, but here's one that's available today: https://github.com/saasify-sh/saasify/tree/master/examples/t.... It provides a simple, hosted, SaaS version of this OSS project https://github.com/NaturalNode/natural with 80% of any revenue going directly back to the project's OSS maintainers.

-- Travis Fischer

Hah we're working on something similar - you can use it to monetize OSS or build a business around your own proprietary tech in fifteen minutes : https://boomsaas.com

Feross I know you from node (and I think you know me) - it could be fun working on this together :)

boomsaas looks promising :)

One of my core beliefs is that there won't be a single solution to the problem of OSS sustainability, and I'm excited to see other talented devs like yourself tackling the problem as well!

Good concept. Highlighting the showcase and adding more examples will really make it more easier to understand.

Great call -- now that we've launched, our primary focus is to improve docs / messaging and add dozens more examples over the coming weeks.

Thanks for checking us out!

I don’t want them touching my payments or get stuck to their endpoint. This, but a self hosted version.

Definitely very reasonable feedback and the self-hosted option is something we're considering.

Would love to chat with you more about what you'd build with a self-hosted version if you wanna connect.

Thanks!

This looks cool. You can monetize other people's OSS projects too, depending on the specifics of the license. Could be an interesting approach if you find the right niche.

Yeah, this is a legitimate concern.

For any project that makes a decent amount of money, we'll do our best to make sure the proceeds find their way back to the OSS maintainers who deserve credit.

Thanks!

Thanks for sharing us, Feross!

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