# Julia's business model

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328>\
**Category:** Community\
**Tags:** question, licenses, legal\
**Created:** [October 25, 2021, 11:31am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328 "2021-10-25T11:31:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![leon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@leon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/leon)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 11:31am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/1 "2021-10-25T11:31:37Z")

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I recently switched from Matlab to Julia. It is my first time to use an open-source programming language. So far I have been loving it very much. I am very grateful for all the help from this very friendly Julia community!

One thing I have been wondering is that how could we make this tool available to everyone for free? Right now, I am donating monthly to this project, but the “donation” nature makes it hard for me to pay Julia using my research project funding. I would recommend the below business model:

- Free for personal use
- Charge a one time fee of $1000 per person for each business use (commercial and academic) to get a perpetual license.

That way, we would have more funding to allow more people to be full time on making this wonderful programming language even better.

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**Author:** ![tbeason](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tbeason/32/15898_2.png) [@tbeason](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tbeason)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 12:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/2 "2021-10-25T12:16:10Z")

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> [@leon](#):
>
> One thing I have been wondering is that how could we make this tool available to everyone for free?

Julia is already free for everyone to use.

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**Author:** ![vchuravy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/vchuravy/32/8_2.png) [@vchuravy](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/vchuravy)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/3 "2021-10-25T12:19:19Z")

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Hello Leon,

welcome to the Julia Community. The community is made up out of many [entities](https://julialang.org/blog/2019/02/julia-entities/) and there is no one business model. Donations (and sponsorship of JuliaCon) go to the JuliaLang project with NumFocus and are used to pay for costs like hosting this forum, or providing bandwidth for downloads. For commercial users Julia Computing is offering enterprise support. We at the JuliaLab finance our efforts through research grants.

So there is no one entity that could change it’s business model.

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 12:32pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/4 "2021-10-25T12:32:50Z")

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In addition to above answers

> [@leon](#):
>
> Charge a one time fee of $1000 per person for each business use (commercial and academic) to get a perpetual license.

It’s a bit hard to charge an open source software just for use, since anyone can already use it for free by compiling the source code. What is usually offered is support, and Valentin pointed out that Julia Computing already does that.

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**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 1:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/5 "2021-10-25T13:02:03Z")

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Also note that many (most?) successful programming language are free and open source - coming from Matlab, Stata, Mathematica, Spss etc it might seem like language development can only work under some sort of for profit model, but for the most part this isn’t true.

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**Author:** ![jling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/jling/32/212909_2.png) [@jling](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jling)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 1:05pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/6 "2021-10-25T13:05:40Z")

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FOSS is a thing. Not everything has to be paid monetarily, at least not directly. Julia Computing technically has nothing to do with the situation of Julia, of course, many core devs are from the company, also running discourse costs money, etc., so it’s good to have a company backing up that. But at the very bottom, Julia language is already FOSS and nothing should change that.

> **[Free and open-source software](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software)**
>
> Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software\[a\] where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source code is openly shared so that people are encouraged to voluntarily improve the design of the software. This is in contrast to proprietary software, where the software is under restrictive copyright licensing and the source code is usually hidden from

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**Author:** ![oheil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oheil/32/220745_2.png) [@oheil](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oheil)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 1:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/7 "2021-10-25T13:10:21Z")

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> [@leon](#):
>
> Right now, I am donating monthly to this project, but the “donation” nature makes it hard for me to pay Julia using my research project funding.

Regarding this it’s probably best to choose a product from Julia Computing.  
With that I also disagree with

> [@jling](#):
>
> Julia Computing technically has nothing to do with the situation of Julia

because my guess is: if Julia Computing is successful (on market) this would be quite directly beneficial for Julia, the language, itself.

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**Author:** ![jling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/jling/32/212909_2.png) [@jling](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jling)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/8 "2021-10-25T13:17:26Z")

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> [@oheil](#):
>
> if Julia Computing is successful (on market) this would be quite directly beneficial for Julia, the language, itself.

their success has a clear correlation, they benefit each other. I guess my point was they don’t die together – anyone can always keep using or forking Julia for free even if no company is backing it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@leon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/leon)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/9 "2021-10-25T13:17:44Z")

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Good to learn about Julia Computing. So using that program is the same as usingJulia, but Julia Computing allows a business to pay for it?

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**Author:** ![tshort](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tshort/32/43_2.png) [@tshort](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tshort)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 1:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/10 "2021-10-25T13:24:34Z")

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See [JuliaSure - Julia Computing](https://juliacomputing.com/products/juliasure/) for options to pay for support.

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**Author:** ![oheil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oheil/32/220745_2.png) [@oheil](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oheil)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/11 "2021-10-25T13:32:17Z")

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Julia Computing had JuliaPro as a product [JuliaPro v1.5 - JuliaHub](https://juliacomputing.com/blog/2020/08/juliapro-v15/) but it seems to be not an offer anymore and was “replaced” by [Home - JuliaHub](https://juliahub.com/lp/) as a cloud based Julia platform.  
JuliaPro was the same as Julia (v1.5), except for some pre-packed standard packages and other adjustment to improve productivity. It also came with it’s own issues.

As @tshort already suggested above, I suggest the same. Or just have a look at JuliaComputing to see what they have to offer for you, but for a

> [@leon](#):
>
> research project

development support is probably well spend money. But using the cloud might be good also, e.g. if you can avoid buying special and expensive hardware for a risky software development.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![oheil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/oheil/32/220745_2.png) [@oheil](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/oheil)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 1:50pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/12 "2021-10-25T13:50:55Z")

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I think it hasn’t been said here: [About Us - Julia Computing](https://juliacomputing.com/about-us/) is led by THE key people of Julia.  
(of course there are other important key people which are not part of Julia Computing which should not be forgotten!)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vchuravy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/vchuravy/32/8_2.png) [@vchuravy](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/vchuravy)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/13 "2021-10-25T14:31:26Z")

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> [@leon](#):
>
> Right now, I am donating monthly to this project, but the “donation” nature makes it hard for me to pay Julia using my research project funding.

One thing that you might want to look into is whether or not your research funding allows for something like sponsoring JuliaCon.

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**Author:** ![lobingera](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/lobingera/32/211_2.png) [@lobingera](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/lobingera)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/14 "2021-10-25T14:52:52Z")

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> [@giordano](#):
>
> It’s a bit hard to charge an open source software just for use, since anyone can already use it for free by compiling the source code.

Still, you can/could put something in the license about commercial and non-profit use. And actually i’ve started recommending this to developers.

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/15 "2021-10-25T15:04:28Z")

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> [@lobingera](#):
>
> Still, you can/could put something in the license about commercial and non-profit use. And actually i’ve started recommending this to developers.

What do you mean? A license which doesn’t allow commercial/for-profit use?

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**Author:** ![lobingera](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/lobingera/32/211_2.png) [@lobingera](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/lobingera)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/16 "2021-10-25T15:09:59Z")

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Yes. btw: that’s quite good explained in GPL - another recommendation.

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**Author:** ![gbaraldi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/gbaraldi/32/22101_2.png) [@gbaraldi](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/gbaraldi)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/17 "2021-10-25T15:15:31Z")

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That’s an easy way to put off potential commercial users. And normal users that might want to one day become commercial users.

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/18 "2021-10-25T15:19:21Z")

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Restricting commercial uses is explicitly against the [Free Software Definition](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.en) and point 6 of the [“Open Source Definition”](https://opensource.org/osd). In general “free” and/or “open source” licenses cannot restrict uses. But maybe I’m missing what you’re saying (and we’re derailing)

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**Author:** ![lobingera](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/lobingera/32/211_2.png) [@lobingera](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/lobingera)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/19 "2021-10-25T15:23:18Z")

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Ehm, [Selling Free Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html)

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328/20 "2021-10-25T16:01:41Z")

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That’s about charging the distribution of free software, which is difficult to make profitable, as anyone else can distribute it for free. This was the business model attempted by the developer of [QtiPlot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QtiPlot), but it was simply not effective, Linux distributions used to package it, despite the fact the developer made it somewhat difficult to build the software from scratch. In the end the developer simply changed the license and now that’s not free/open source software anymore 🤷‍♂️

Also, that has _nothing_ to do with _restricting_ the use of the software. Maybe you wanted to link [Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html)? But that’s an _exception_ to the license, so it doesn’t meet its definition, otherwise it wouldn’t be an exception in the first place.

[Next page](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julias-business-model/70328.md?page=2)