Ask HN: I'm considering open-sourcing my UI library – how to generate income?

5 pointsby mrholekanno scorso2 comments

Hi HN,

I'm the creator of CoreUI (https://coreui.io) — a UI components library and admin template system that enhances Bootstrap with modern improvements like Sass Modules support, advanced components, and dedicated versions for React, Vue, and Angular.

We’re not a side project. CoreUI is developed and maintained full-time by a small team of professionals. Unlike many OSS UI libraries that are built "after hours," we invest full-time engineering resources into improving, documenting, and supporting the library. This level of commitment is what allows us to deliver production-quality UI components and provide enterprise-grade support.

We currently follow a mixed model: free + paid (PRO) templates. But now I’m considering open-sourcing the entire UI components library to grow adoption and foster community contributions.

My concern is funding. Going fully open source would remove the current paid entry point — and I still need to pay salaries and keep the team sustainable.

Questions for HN:

1. Have you open-sourced a monetized frontend/UI project and kept it financially viable?

2. What OSS funding models actually work when you’re not a solo developer?

  - Dual licensing?

  - Enterprise support?

3. How to balance openness with sustainability — without burning out or going broke?

Thank you in advance — real-world experiences, especially welcome.

1 comments

solardevanno scorso

Is the MUI model sustainable for you at all? I believe it's an open core system, where most components are FOSS but some components and features and support are gated behind a source-available paid MUI X license?

mrholekanno scorso

Currently, my business model is similar; most of the code is free, and we offer some PRO components along with enterprise support. My goal is to be 100% open source.