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Ask HN: Can an open-source and paid Mac app be a sustainable business?

2 points by endore8_ ↗ HN
I have an existing Mac app, with around 10k daily active users, but struggle to scale it further.

To me, it looks like an era of open-source, because more and more companies open their codebases. I started to think if that could be a chance to attract a new audience, but I am afraid to lose it all to forks and pirate copies.

My main competitor is not open-source and is a paid app. Plus, there is an open-source competitor that is free but asks for donations.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this. Perhaps someone has gone through it already?

14 comments

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retrac
My subjective impression is that Mac is the platform where a user is most likely to be willing to pay for a polished Cocoa-integrated Mac-friendly supported build of what is otherwise an open source package that they could build themselves. (Building it yourself derails the vast majority of would-be users right there, and they'll just buy it or give up.)
endore8_
Yeah, that is a good point. My fear is about those few who can fork and make it available for free for everyone.
retrac
You can use trademark to prevent someone from calling it the same name.

Or perhaps open-source the core library while leaving the Mac specific code under proprietary copyright.

endore8_
Yep, it got me thinking maybe I can open parts of the codebase that have less business value and see how it develops.
mattl
What is your app or what does it do?
endore8_
My app is Usage - a system device monitor, a much nicer alternative to Apple's Activity Monitor.
mattl
Oh cool! I have it from SetApp I believe.

You could release it under a copyleft license like the GPL v3 and change the branding for the open source version with a generic logo, none of your trademarks, etc.

endore8_
Oh wow! I hope you like it! :)

One idea I just remembered is to open-source an iOS/iPadOS app first, and see how it develops from there.

mattl
Not a bad idea. I hope you do it.
endore8_
Good - let's hope it won't be in far future :D
Magma7404
Difficult to say without knowing what you sell.

> more and more companies open their codebases

I think it's irrelevant. They open some of their code to attract more people and gain more momentum because they already have a lot of users. But it's never fully open-source AFAIK, and the code that they opened is not a threat to their core business.

You say that you have competitors, and you should focus on this with better features, support, or feature requests. Or try to sell it to companies with an increased price if it solves a problem, or put it in the AppStore, and clean your code to provide an iPad and iOS version if you can.

> My fear is about those few who can fork and make it available

That's what open-source is all about, it's a freedom to the user, not a fear. But if it's bad for you, don't open the code. We all buy proprietary applications all the time and there is no shame in that.

Edit: I see that you have 2 LinkedIn accounts, one for each of your application. You could group that in 1 main account with your own face and pride on this. You're working on your own, I would be proud of that and show my face.

endore8_
Hehe, thanks for the LinkedIn recommendation :)

It is true that many companies might not open-source everything, and still say they are open-source.

Right now I am just actively investigating the topic of going open-source, and maybe opening iOS/iPadOS app would be a good start.

Suppafly
Trying to gain paying users seems like the wrong reason to open source something but seems like the only reason you're considering it.
endore8_
You've got a very good point here!