HN Explorer

Ask HN: Why are so many great things free?

3 points by hashtagMERKY ↗ HN
There seems to be an abundance of really great services that are offered free of charge, or have a free tier that fulfils my needs perfectly and offers no incentive to upgrade. Examples include Surge [0], Netlify [1], and Migadu[2], which I just discovered from the front page of HN. Why do so many services offer a really good product free of charge? Do they benefit at all, or is it about giving to the community?

[0] https://surge.sh/

[1] https://www.netlify.com/

[2] https://www.migadu.com/en/index.html

6 comments

[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 20.7 ms ] thread
fforflo
If it's free, the product is you
brudgers
That's the case sometimes. It's not the case with something like GNU.
sharemywin
I disagree. Technically the aggregate of "you" is the product. in the case of GNU it propagates via free labor. In aggregate people contribute to the product providing free labor.
brudgers
I use GNU and don't contribute to any of it's projects. The same is true of the Linux kernel and many other pieces of software.

By and large, my non-contribution to GNU and other projects is a lack of technical expertise. Beyond that it is mostly a function of not being embedded in a community of contributors. However, I'll admit that some small fraction of it is due to a lack of effort on my part.

sharemywin
just like a bunch of people don't click on ads.
meric
You're right, air is free. Thank God.