How Open Source Actually Makes Money

Open source powers most of the software we rely on today. Yet one question quietly sits underneath all of it:

Who actually pays for open source?

For many projects, the work is done by a small number of maintainers. The software may be used by thousands of companies, but the sustainability of the project often depends on a handful of people.

Many of the tools developers rely on today are sustained through a mix of revenue streams that have evolved over time. Some projects rely on community sponsorship through platforms like GitHub Sponsors or Open Collective. Others build hosted versions of their software, offer enterprise support, or provide consulting around their tools.

Over the past decade, we’ve also seen new approaches emerge: open-core products, commercial cloud services built on open projects, and even new licensing strategies introduced to balance openness with sustainability.

In this talk, we’ll look at how open source projects actually sustain themselves today, not just through donations, but through a variety of practical revenue models.

The goal is to give developers a clearer view of the economic layer of open source: how projects survive, how companies build businesses around them, and why the conversation around sustainability is shaping new policies and models across the ecosystem.

1. The main revenue streams used by open-source projects today

2. How hosting, support, consulting, and open-core models work

3. Why companies build businesses around open ecosystems

4. How new licensing and policy changes are reshaping open source sustainability