Chevereto-Free

[Rodolfo]

Dear users,

Since 2017 I've been maintaining Chevereto-Free but I never came to analyse if this project its fulfilling its purpose or even how it is impacting the main product. My goal with Chevereto-Free was to determine if there's a profitable way to drive Open Source Chevereto, that's why I'm opening this topic as I need to evaluate how much is converting.

I need to measure how Chevereto-Free is doing to spread the word about Chevereto. I don't track these conversions at all, I'm relying in your feedback and I prefer that instead of sniffing your actions, name a chart and assing a meaning. I really want to know it from your own words.

With this information I can fine-tune the offering and the services I provide and in return you get better software from me.

Please share your feedback on if you upgraded (or not) from Chevereto-Free (still using it, purchased directly, etc) and if you really want to make me happy tell me stuff like how much time it took from Chevereto-Free installation until upgrade or how you installed, etc.

Thanks for collaborating!

 

[mkucuksari]

I used free version on my demo site for testing xenforo integration. After 1 month later I was so happy so I got the licensed version

 

[JakeSully]

I think idea of free version is really help ful, that way you know how script is before you buy it, otherwise what if people buy script and then be like "Hmm it wasn't as i expected" then if no refund policy is applied they will feel like they have bought something that turned out to be a waste for them.

So this is what got me to buy it after i used free v2 years back, then when offer on Founder license at good discounted price came that's when i bought the script and saw a big changes in v3 and haven't been disappointed yet, since it get's better more and more!

 

[lovedigit]

I think idea of free version is really help ful, that way you know how script is before you buy it, otherwise what if people buy script and then be like "Hmm it wasn't as i expected" then if no refund policy is applied they will feel like they have bought something that turned out to be a waste for them.

So this is what got me to buy it after i used free v2 years back, then when offer on Founder license at good discounted price came that's when i bought the script and saw a big changes in v3 and haven't been disappointed yet, since it get's better more and more!

And it really helps address nulled scripts that are available. I found chevereto on a nulled website on google search.
So, chevereto free on google search will actually lead to chevereto free repository, and people will use that instead.

 

[mkerala]

I joined Chevereto before the free version was released. If there was a free version back then I would have used it as trial before I purchase the license.

Last year I had recommended Chevereto someone and they started with free version and upgraded to paid one for more features.

 

[ashkir]

I joined well before the free version as well. I would've upgraded to a paid license for sure.

 

[Rodolfo]

I have a really big interest in keep providing Chevereto-Free but to maintain two editions at the same time is complicated, specially with projects like Chevereto where the dev/user ratio is very low and where the user of the software varies a lot. While Chevereto-Free is mainly used for personal needs, the premium edition is used on high-demand use cases. This means that the user and needs are different, is literally two different software markets.

This way to pay-for Open Source development works, is just that it needs fine tuning.

I believe that the problem is that Chevereto-Free shouldn't exists as an edition and what I should do is to publish a scheduled Open Source release cycle (just as the premium edition) based in turning open source previous step releases. That's already sort-off how it works, but at this time updates on Chevereto-Free aren't scheduled so users don't really know how much to wait for X release? Should the user buy or wait? How long to wait?!

All these concerns gets fixed if I start scheduling releases. For example, video will be added in March 2022 and it could be paid exclusive for X time (or N releases, must find what works best) so before purchase/update the user can tell when this new video feature will be part of the Open Source offering. By when video gets Open Source another thing will be the hot feature and the process repeats over a over until the new V4 architecture gets completely deployed.

I've also updated our statement regarding Open Source: https://chevereto.com/open-source

What do you think?

 

[Rodolfo]

I think that it will be fair and consequent with this to start defining the release schedule for Chevereto-Free. I have came up with a simple plan: Chevereto paid edition will be always one year ahead the open source offering. That will be the only difference, and makes everything different and smoother.

The concept is simple as that a paywall is required for getting early access as adding new features is the most expensive part of the development process. Once that gets settled, the software can be massively distributed under Open Source licensing allowing me to aggressively expand its user base at a very low cost.

With this kind of massive distribution I can manage to try different revenue alternatives that could dramatically change (for good) how Chevereto is developed and funded.