Israel-based start-up xs:code recently launched its monetization platform for open-source projects. Taking a new approach, the company is helping solve the sustainability challenges of open-source software by incentivizing developers to maintain their code by charging companies for using it.

xs:code said it allows developers to offer subscription-based access to code on a private repository, while keeping a free version available on a public repository. xs:code handles the subscriptions, payments and supports automatic profit-sharing between open-source developers and their contributors.

xs:code added that it allows for different licensing options, and developers can choose how the paid version differs from the free option. For example, open-source developers can put a project with a ‘copyleft’ licensed version of their code on GitHub that can be used for free by other open-source projects; companies who want to use that same code in a commercial product can buy a subscription for a permissive-licensed version through xs:code’s platform.

Another option is a ‘freemium’, or ‘open core’ model where the paid version has more features than the free public code.

xs:code said that the platform is now available in beta.