<story><title>The End of Gratipay</title><url>https://gratipay.news/the-end-cbfba8f50981</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Sir_Cmpwn</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been trying to figure out how to get paid to do open source for a long time. The popularity of my open source projects has changed over this time, but this might give you an idea of the effectiveness of each approach if you need an alternative.&lt;p&gt;I used Gittip for a while, and it was a really nice platform, and netted me $5-15&amp;#x2F;month if I recall correctly. I left after some regulatory issues added an annoying amount of mental gymnastics to actually get money out of it. Later I built my own self-hosted platform for getting tips [1][2]. This tends to net me $20&amp;#x2F;month consistently, with occasional bursts due to one-time donations. Also, I know of at least one other installation in the wild, it&amp;#x27;s being used to support some Mastodon instances.&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, I set up a Patreon [3] where I earn almost $200&amp;#x2F;month. This is by far the most successful approach I&amp;#x27;ve seen yet, though it rustles my jimmies a bit to be beholden to a proprietary, centralized service. In the end I&amp;#x27;m still not making enough to work on open source full time. Thankfully I make enough today to break even on open source (that is, my infrastructural costs are paid for). Hopefully I can figure something out for full time eventually. It&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;hard&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;Many thanks to the folks at Gratipay. It was an uphill battle for sure but they fought the good fight.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;drewdevault.com&amp;#x2F;donate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;drewdevault.com&amp;#x2F;donate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;SirCmpwn&amp;#x2F;fosspay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;SirCmpwn&amp;#x2F;fosspay&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;patreon.com&amp;#x2F;sircmpwn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;patreon.com&amp;#x2F;sircmpwn&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hinkley</author><text>&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;    I&amp;#x27;ve been trying to figure out how to get paid to do open source for a long time.
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
Don&amp;#x27;t.  Having supplemental income makes your life better in ways that quitting your day job won&amp;#x27;t. It reduces the size of your N months of living expenses and makes it easier to fill up that fund.&lt;p&gt;When you can walk away from a job it makes a big difference in your experience of it.  Feeling trapped in a job you&amp;#x27;re not enjoying makes you even more unhappy.  Feeling like nobody values what you do is rough.  Not being able to afford to take a job doing something you&amp;#x27;d love or really believe in, because it doesn&amp;#x27;t pay enough or has a 70% chance of cratering, is an experience I would spare anyone if I could.&lt;p&gt;But get over the hump and you&amp;#x27;re your own person.  You can say no if they ask you to do something unethical.  Take risks.  Invest in yourself.&lt;p&gt;Keep taking the extra money.  Put half of it in the bank.  Keep some emotional distance from your day job.  Enjoy the freedom.</text></comment>
<story><title>The End of Gratipay</title><url>https://gratipay.news/the-end-cbfba8f50981</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Sir_Cmpwn</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been trying to figure out how to get paid to do open source for a long time. The popularity of my open source projects has changed over this time, but this might give you an idea of the effectiveness of each approach if you need an alternative.&lt;p&gt;I used Gittip for a while, and it was a really nice platform, and netted me $5-15&amp;#x2F;month if I recall correctly. I left after some regulatory issues added an annoying amount of mental gymnastics to actually get money out of it. Later I built my own self-hosted platform for getting tips [1][2]. This tends to net me $20&amp;#x2F;month consistently, with occasional bursts due to one-time donations. Also, I know of at least one other installation in the wild, it&amp;#x27;s being used to support some Mastodon instances.&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, I set up a Patreon [3] where I earn almost $200&amp;#x2F;month. This is by far the most successful approach I&amp;#x27;ve seen yet, though it rustles my jimmies a bit to be beholden to a proprietary, centralized service. In the end I&amp;#x27;m still not making enough to work on open source full time. Thankfully I make enough today to break even on open source (that is, my infrastructural costs are paid for). Hopefully I can figure something out for full time eventually. It&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;hard&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;Many thanks to the folks at Gratipay. It was an uphill battle for sure but they fought the good fight.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;drewdevault.com&amp;#x2F;donate&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;drewdevault.com&amp;#x2F;donate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;SirCmpwn&amp;#x2F;fosspay&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;SirCmpwn&amp;#x2F;fosspay&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;patreon.com&amp;#x2F;sircmpwn&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;patreon.com&amp;#x2F;sircmpwn&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>whit537</author><text>Thanks for giving us a shot, Sir_Cmpwn! Sorry it didn&amp;#x27;t work out. Glad you&amp;#x27;re finding some success ... here&amp;#x27;s to more! :^)</text></comment>