For many of us, the price tag was a key part of what got us into free software. But giving everything away for free does not a viable business plan make, and many successful free software projects got that way by discovering sustainable funding streams. These might be in the form of donations, subscriptions, sponsorship or merchandise (there’s no better way to support your favourite project than owning a mug with their logo emblazoned on it). Or it might be in the form of a paid-for, premium version, which may include extra support or extra features.
We regularly run features telling you to ditch proprietary services and join the self-hosted revolution. But those services, be they Gmail, Dropbox or Zoom, are all free, and running your own will cost you in time (email is still hard, by the way) and infrastructure demands. Of course, numerous alternative services have popped up that, for a small fee, will provide these kind of services using open source tooling and without dubious data slurping practices. So in many ways the tables have turned. And there’s no doubt that there’s value in free software.