Nonograph, a writing app with hundreds of thousands of daily readers, costs $5/month to host and is fully open source, intentionally uncharged.
Key Takeaways
Nonograph cost ~$600 to release (mainly two security reviews) and runs on ~$5/month hosting including three proxies.
Author argues monetizing hobbies converts intrinsic motivation into quota-chasing, producing worse, more user-hostile software.
Subscription infrastructure would raise development costs and drive users away for a project at this scale.
Most small projects should stay hobby projects; VC-chasing teams of 3+ engineers are often the wrong model.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters split sharply: several with OSS experience warn that free software attracts entitled, hostile users, while paid software filters for constructive interactions.
A counterpoint from retired practitioners is that post-financial-independence, giving software away is a natural and satisfying mode, but this does not generalize to developers who need income.
The demonetization effect of FOSS is a real concern raised by commenters: free software can undercut markets where developers could otherwise earn a living.
Notable Comments
@SerCe: “willingness to pay is a great filter” – OSS brought entitled comments; paid software brought constructive ones.
@the__alchemist: Most free software projects will have zero users beyond the author, undercutting the altruism framing.
