Today I wanna show you how you can make money on GitHub. I will tell you exactly what to do and why people would want to sponsor you.
Let's get into it.
Intro
Today I will walk you through how you can make money and get paid while working on Open Source projects on GitHub. And there are a couple of different ways to do so, but before we see the how, let me ask you something:
Are you providing value to users and developers?
It is VERY IMPORTANT to understand this, because it is not GitHub paying you for the work you do, it's other users, other developers and possibly companies.
If you create a project that is useful to the community, or perhaps you have a library and people use that because it is valuable, then they may decide to send you some money, to sponsor you for your work.
And why would they do that? Well, one reason could be that they really love your work and they want to show you appreciation and support. But often the reason is that they are depending on your work, and so they want to make sure your project, library or whatever else you're doing keeps getting updated and supported thorough time.
And this of course is even more important for companies. Before December 2020 only developers and single users where enabled to sponsor other people's projects. But now also companies can do that. There are so many companies that use Open Source libraries and components, and now through donations and sponsorships they can support the projects they use and need, and again make sure they are supported and updated thorough time.
Alright, now that understand the mechanics behind that, let's see how we can make this happen, how we can enable users and companies to send us money.
Video
To see how to enable the monetization on your GitHub profile and repos, I've created a video in which I explain step by step what you need to do.
Here you have it, enjoy the watch!
(Link to the video: https://youtu.be/VursLz2IpnY)
Conclusion
Remember that you need to apply for the GitHub Sponsor program before being able to enable it. And also make sure you deliver value to other users, developers, and companies. Otherwise most likely they will not send you money and sponsor your projects.
Let me know in the comment section below what you think about this, if you are in the GitHub sponsor program already, and if you have people sponsoring you.
Announcement
I've finally launched my Patreon page. You can get exclusive content, both posts and videos that are not posted anywhere else. You can influence the content of this blog and my YouTube channel, you can have live chats and Q&A with me. But the coolest part is that you can have a 1:1 consultation with me to talk about anything DevOps, GitHub or Azure DevOps.
Visit my Patreon page to see the options available, just go to patreon.com/CoderDave.
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Top comments (5)
Not everyone can sit on this site and connect their bank cards to the services offered by GitHub. Of course, many people can connect to their Paypal, but not everyone likes the commission when withdrawing money. I don't like giving away large amounts of commission, especially at the beginning of my earnings. It's frustrating and not motivating. I'm already reading greedyrates.ca with a constant desire to save money on small things, coupons, and gift vouchers in stores like Amazon. However, thank you for the work done and the well-shot video. I liked watching it.
That's a fair point. I think they are adding more payments ways, but not 100% sure about it
The problem right now is that GitHub sponsors is not currently available in all countries (including mine)
I just go with adding links to PayPal or ko-fi :)
You’re absolutely right. I haven’t addressed that in the article nor in the video... I should make a follow up... it’s also difficult to keep up because they change frequently, perhaps soon also your country will be covered 😉
Let me know what you think about this, and if you are already in the GitHub sponsor program!