I'm a software engineer, and in my spare time I've built a mac app to help me think[0]. I'm not a macOS engineer by trade, but the occasional emails I get from users at least lets me know that people use it.<p>I would like to make a small amount of money from it to encourage me to keep building out features and to help offset the (small) costs associated with upkeep. I've hit a few snags when planning a pricing model out:<p>1. I'd ideally like to make this project open-source because that's something I value, but I want to be careful about someone repackaging my code and reselling it.<p>2. I'd like it to be available on the app store.<p>3. I'd like at least some portion of the basic functionality to be free for everyone.<p>4. I wouldn't ever want to sell user data or monetize via ads, and I'm not too keen on charging subscriptions for my app (it currently has no cloud-hosted features).<p>Sounds a bit like I'm trying to have my cake and eat it. What strategies have you used in the past? Has anything worked particularly well? (Feel free to plug your project while you're here, too — it's always fun to see what people are working on).<p>[0]:https://www.screenhint.com/
A friend mentioned charging for it in the appstore but leaving the open-source project freely available. That way, people can pay for convenience of installation, but they still have a way to access the app freely if they want.
I work on a command line tool as a side hobby. I have used github sponsors and have added BTC/ETH/XMR links in the readme. I get ~$10 per month. Its just an added bonus for me tbh.