Hi all,
I’ve been using FreeFileSync regularly for a while now, mostly for simple local backups, and it’s been rock solid. What surprised me is how much I rely on it compared to other tools I’ve actually paid for, yet I still treat it like a “free utility” and move on. The trigger was setting up a new machine last week and realising FreeFileSync was the first thing I installed, before anything else. I’m clearly not an expert on how projects like this are funded, but it made me wonder if my expectations are a bit off. I see donation prompts, but I’m never sure what really helps long-term development. For those who’ve been around longer: how do you usually support the project, and what actually makes a difference in practice?
supporting the project beyond occasional use
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 14 Jan 2026
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- Posts: 4866
- Joined: 11 Jun 2019
On the developer side, the revenue model for a lot of OSS, while still being maintained, is allowing free personal use and then charging for commercial use. And then personal passion certainly has its place. Sometimes you're sitting there looking for software or an app, and it's behind a crazy paywall, or it's in development hell, or it's deprecated. Then a lightbulb turns on in your head and you just make it yourself, the way you want it, to your standards.
I've donated long ago and implemented it into my company afterwards. At some point, the free version of FFS was no longer allowed in commercial use either. At the time, the red tape involved internally, and not with FFS, to get licensing with FFS wasn't feasible so we stuck with that last version. I had planned to get the licensing figured out but had left the company before doing so. This is the commercial use part of revenue.
My main support is in the form of helping others. I love FOSS because once you have it, no one can take it or lock it away. Us in the tech/development community overwhelmingly just want to make and use things that are reliable and trustworthy. Open source helps both of those things, and there's nothing better than being jammed up in a problem, then finding a free solution online. I want to be a part of that, so I also post some stuff on GitHub and I frequent here. I help others because I've been banging my head against a wall for hours before, just for someone else to look at a screenshot and tell me to check a box LOL
I've donated long ago and implemented it into my company afterwards. At some point, the free version of FFS was no longer allowed in commercial use either. At the time, the red tape involved internally, and not with FFS, to get licensing with FFS wasn't feasible so we stuck with that last version. I had planned to get the licensing figured out but had left the company before doing so. This is the commercial use part of revenue.
My main support is in the form of helping others. I love FOSS because once you have it, no one can take it or lock it away. Us in the tech/development community overwhelmingly just want to make and use things that are reliable and trustworthy. Open source helps both of those things, and there's nothing better than being jammed up in a problem, then finding a free solution online. I want to be a part of that, so I also post some stuff on GitHub and I frequent here. I help others because I've been banging my head against a wall for hours before, just for someone else to look at a screenshot and tell me to check a box LOL
