Open Core

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The Open Core Paradox

Why giving away your best work for free is sometimes the smartest path to building a billion-dollar business.

February 27, 2026

OCV’s new source available license is a simple alternative to closed-source licenses

Open Core Ventures Source Available Licenses (OCVSAL) is designed to protect the proprietary components of an open core codebase while enabling code access.

Sid Sijbrandij and Heather Meeker

February 12, 2026

Building venture-scale open core

There is no perfect playbook, but there are proven strategies you can use to build open core businesses that scale while maintaining the trust of the open source community.

Open Charter gives open source users predictability amidst the licensing change trend

License shifts by HashiCorp and Redis erode trust in commercial OSS. OCV’s Open Charter legally commits companies to keeping open-source code open, preventing unexpected licensing changes.

AGPL license is a non-starter for most companies

The AGPL license is risky due to vague compliance rules, corporate resistance, and dual licensing loopholes, often limiting adoption and hindering open source growth.

Open core split should be based on features, not on code base

Open core should be split by features based on the buyer, not by separate code bases—keeping all code in one repository simplifies development and improves the user experience.

HashiCorp switching to BSL shows a need for open charter companies

HashiCorp’s switch to BSL highlights the need for open charter companies—legally binding commitments to open source can rebuild trust and prevent future license shifts.

Red Hat found a way to get around the GPLv2 license intention with contract law

Red Hat's move to restrict RHEL source code via subscription terms may be legal, but it undermines open source principles, fueling competition and calls for greater transparency.

Open core is a misunderstood business model

Open core sustains open source by balancing community contributions and enterprise features, ensuring a viable, transparent model without compromising the core project.

AI weights are not open "source"

AI model weights aren’t "open source"—they require distinct licensing categories like Open Weights and Ethical Weights to ensure clarity and prevent misleading open-washing.

The Red Hat model only worked for Red Hat

The Red Hat model of selling open source support and services won’t be repeated—open core is the scalable, investable path for commercializing open source software.

Startups & business

Why open core will replace proprietary software as the default

Open core is outpacing proprietary software as the default model, driven by trust, security, and the unstoppable velocity of open source innovation.

A standard pricing model for open core

A buyer-based pricing model makes open core sustainable, balancing business growth with open-source contributions while avoiding bait-and-switch pitfalls.

Preventing the bait and switch by open core software companies

Open source isn’t just a license—it’s a company charter. At OCV, we’re making it harder to push the “red button” and lock down open source. Here’s how we’re protecting open core projects.

The rise of observability (o11y): Neanderthals with logs to astronauts with instrument panels

Observability (“o11y”) has undergone a nearly four decade transition: from Apache/NGINX logs, to Nagios, Zipkin/Jaeger/Prometheus, and finally self-serve platforms powered by Kubernetes.

Victor Adossi, EIR

Startups & business

Someone has to pay for the domino

F/OSS projects have many paths to sustainability (we’re partial to open core). This post catalogs the sustainability problem and the various solutions we’ve seen working for F/OSS projects.

Victor Adossi, EIR