First of all thanks for being a Hashnode member. You motivate us to work harder everyday and therefore a big shout out to all of you. π
We've been running Hashnode for more than 4 years now, but the love and traction we are seeing right now is better than anything we have seen before. Ultimately, a business has to make money and we think this is the right time to start thinking about it.
We have a bunch of ideas, but we need your help. I'll outline a few of the potential monetization options -- please go through them and write down your ideas/suggestions/feedback in the comments below. We would like to involve the whole community in figuring out a suitable business model for Hashnode.
Here is what we have in mind so far:
We charge ~ $2/month (buy us a coffee) for a premium account. It'll give you certain privileges such as:
There will always be free accounts. Pro account will be a way for us to raise money directly from our users by providing premium features. If this makes sense, we can discuss further and decide final list of premium features to offer.
Marketplace is another monetization option. We'll build something like Upwork inside Hashnode and help developers monetize their skills. For every transaction, we will charge a small fee. There is a lot of scope for improvements here and we believe we can create a better dev-centric marketplace inside Hashnode.
With Devblog, we are onboarding smart developers into the platform everyday. We can build a hiring platform in Hashnode to match developers with tech companies and charge the companies a fee for every successful hire. Hiring is still very difficult and tricky -- this has the potential to go big and if done right we can build a very successful business.
We already have authors who are using Devblog to publish articles on various tools and technologies. We can enable authors to release paid courses and tutorials and help them make money -- these courses can be both video and text based. Like the marketplace, we can charge a fee every time we help an author make a sale.
Hashnode is turning into a network of independent dev bloggers. Although our promise is to keep Hashnode ad-free, we can consider inserting "ethical ads" into the blog posts and share the revenue with authors. I don't want to go down this route, but we would like to know what all of you think. If you feel comfortable with this idea, please provide your feedback and suggestions. If the majority of the community doesn't agree with this, we'll not pursue the idea. But if this gets traction, we are happy to discuss more and figure out a way to make this happen. But be assured that we'll never insert ads into your blogs without your consent.
We are still brainstorming and discussing these options internally. If you have any feedback or ideas for improvement please add a comment. If you have a different idea, we are more than happy to hear it out. Do post it even if it sounds silly! π
Sandeep Bonagiri
Consultant at ADP | Tech Blogger | passionateprogrammers.com | Cloud and Devops Enthusiast |
Suggestion I would like to add is setup a shop like Dev.to use. Both Merch for hashnode but also random stuff for developers. Stickers, cups, sweatshirt, nerdy stuff. Check out redbubble for inspiration.
I think for $24/yr, it's worth supporting the community you've created. The only suggestion I'd like to give is for the blogs to reflect the user more; allowing us to post personal tips/rants/etc. without the requirement of it being a public post on Hashnode.
Blogs are personal. A company can use it for branding, but in most cases, it's just seen as an ad in this case. However, when someone contributes to a community, a blog can be the center point of who they are and what they're capable of doing... without pulling punches. Although community posts are fairly indicative of that, the blogs should act as the door to a much more concentrated and direct personality - and the curator of that blog should never feel as if they're being hindered in sharing more than what would be a typical story or question.
I would recommend taking the "Story" model and expanding it, by offering something with a much more personal touch, with permission to manage comments, etc.
I originally played with it when you first launched the blog for us to test, and I'll be examining the entire system - from top to bottom - within the next couple of weeks. Any feedback I can give at that point, I'll share with you as well.
I think the simple way is the best way. Just charge a small fee for advanced functions.
Buying you a coffee is the better option i think. Though I wont be able to pay as of now (I am a teen. I can't earn). But $2 is reasonable enough to pay when I earn.
Marketplace - I think more people would buy themes and stuff for their blog more than recruitment. Though it makes sense that hashnode is developer centric and recruiting developers on this platform makes sense. I think themes will get you more, quick bucks than recruitment and will be easier to implement.
Training and courses - I would suggest to make use of platforms like lbry and reuse their network to host the courses. It will be easier.
Ads and tracking network is a bad idea.
I think you should charge for premium services.
I'm definitely leaning into the "Buy us a coffee" and "Training and Courses." The other options feel like you're stepping into saturated markets, and I'd rather see this platform keep a focus on content... not hiring, payments, jobs, etc.
Of course, this is just my opinion.
I believe everything else other than ads would work. My favorite choices are $2 premium and the Marketplace.
I think that Marketplace, Recruiting and Training are all a very natural fit for Hashnode. I also believe one of those will have the most potential for Hashnode monetization. Whether it works or not comes from the execution. It really depends on which form it is connected to Hashnode and how the platforms would work. One of those done right is probably also better than several done half-baked. Personally, Training and Courses would be great for me.
I'd not be happy with ads. The paid feature for devblog might also be interesting for Hashnode. And I like the merchandise idea. This seems like a why not.
tl;dr: if you don't have time to read it is a long post...
Sandeep Panda Thanks for invitation for this post. I was hoping that you won't ask me and I kept ignoring this one but here we are :) I want to point out two perspective and I hope I won't get roasted here.
Perspective 1, my personal feelings and opinion. I am not against anything on your list above and I do believe at some point if a project's expenses are overcoming income then someway it should be monetized and 2 bucks with those benefits above is nothing and nobody should complain about it.
Perspective 2, reality and my observations. Monetizing a project is really delicate subject. As human beings we don't like to pay for the things we used to have for free. This scares people. Yes even 50c is too much for someone. That's mostly ignorance or not really thinking the requirement behind it. Simply, now I need to pay, forget it thought process. Sometimes even discussing it can cause same effect.
Quick example. Early js days. jQuery is barely known, or maybe it wasn't even out yet. one big library out there was YUI provided by Yahoo. I think script.aculo.us was out, maybe not long time ago I can't really remember. Anyway, someone I know from newsgroups ( for millenials old email style forum/chat thingy ) Jack Slocum, came up with this idea that something look like YUI but much simpler, full javascipt that will allow you to create desktop application like web apps. He called it ExtJS ( Extended Javascript) in few months it was all over. Everybody in industry was aware and talking about it. So many huge companies like IBM, Compaq, Adobe you name it immediately implemented. At the time I was working in a company as IBM solution partner and we have used in so many enterprise level applications like Toyota, Phillip Morris SA, DYO, DrOetker ... and of course he got hired by some big development company, given a team just to focus on ExtJs. I forgot to mention, also it was open source. So now it wasn't just him but also any programmer working with it was also contributing into ExtJS. beta, v1, v2... crazy.
Then it happened... ExtJS acquired by another company. And Jack now was not in charge. They said. we spend this much money on this, and it is pretty popular, we need our investment to make money. Let's put licensing. First it started with minimal amounts, then by the time Sencha released the ExtJS we fall in love at first sight was already dead. People were so frustrated in extJS forums. They all left, all big contributors like Animal, Sanjiv and others. They were frustrated because they build major applications with it thinking this is an opensource project, it will grow and will get even better but now I have to pay 3000 per seat. Of course this timeline also collapses with jQuery and Bootstrap's peak as well. another open source, free product.
So I think, and this is my personal opinion, from all those discussions from extJS forum, Jack's biggest mistake was taking something free, open-source from people's hands thinking they will always stick to it. He should have release Sencha as a separate, better commercial project and not touch extJs. maybe here and there some updates etc to keep people happy. Since it was open source it was already growing by itself and he didn't even need to anything about it.
wow, too much to read :) anyway long story short, Hashnode is a great community awesome product, but I would suggest to be careful what are you asking for. like I said for some people paying 1cent to something they used to get free makes a lot of difference in their minds. Good luck
if anyone interested to know more about ExtJS and what happened you can read more in detail in this medium post hackernoon.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-ext-js-c9d727β¦
and here is some of comments people left in his personal blog where he is making peace with himself
Jack, I donβt know you or Sanjiv in any way but for this exchange, and I can tell you (and Sanjiv who a really hope is reading this) that we have very serious project underway using GWT and Ext. We started using gwt-ext. We are now DUMPING GWT-EXT and forever avoiding anything ever touched by Sanjiv. Thanks.
another user
Ugh, you should not have done this βhe said, I saidβ rant, this reflects very badly on the project, regardless of the facts. Changing the license is kind of sneaky even if the reasons are good. I donβt care why you did it, only that you did it. Since you canβt beat free, you will lose users over this, but they are not paying customers anyway. However, by blogging in this way, you could also lose the paying customers.
and another one
Well, this is sad for everyone especially for the customers. Weβre going to loose. Basically everyone is a bit right but not all right. Jack just buggered up Ext GWT 1.0 since it hasnβt established itself yet. I feel for Darrell since the day before it was released on the extjs website he said it will be released as LGPL (mygwt.net/forum/viewtopic.php). You made him look like a fool. It is a real shame. So much potential. In the end, extjs will do ok since it has a number of customers using the library and is a good library. Not sure if you will attract new customers this way though. I was about to be a customer but luckily I only invested 3 weeks into your product. It is also a shame that you and Sjivan are conversing on this level since both of you would benefit tremendously of having a good relationship. We understand both of your viewpoints but really Jack what did you expect when you changed the licensing that way without telling anyone including Darrell and he started to work at your company! The link above proved he didnβt know (on April 21st for Christ sake) I donβt like the personal attack and there shouldnβt be. I do think it is the result of frustration, surprise and everyoneβs unwillingness to compromise. #
Hi,
thank you for the invitation. In general, I agree with Hipkiss. The ideas are great, however knowledge should be free and ads are a no-go (because everyone here uses an adblocker anyway and you as the team promised us a 99% ad-free experience in the past).
What other alternatives are there? Here's some wild brainstorming:
I like the idea of ethical ads, or the bloggers can sort of "approve" the advertisements. That sort of thing.
I'll go with the Buying hashnode a coffee idea, paying $2/month for all those goodies listed and also getting a premium badge shouldn't be a big deal π.
Honestly, I think all of them (except the last one) are a good idea, and maybe you don't have to choose. Maybe just do all of them (except the ads)!
Hey,
HashNode team must have put a lot of thought and effect in brainstorming all those monetization options.
But I want to share my feed on the above ones.
Assuming you will be using Stripe for accepting payments, can also make possible that it accepts Indian cards too.
Rest, you guys are doing an awesome job!
My opinion-
[Devblog] Buy us coffee - Flat charge and worth paying for any user β
[Hashnode] Recruitment - Yes valid, and this can be done with share based model with organizationsβ
[Hashnode] Marketplace - Two way process we need to do good amount of validation before we jumpβ
[Devblog] Training and Courses - Worth making but Hashnode team has to makesure they have good content because if content comes to concern it directly impacts the platform not the individuals. This again involves validation β
[Devblog] Revenue Sharing via ethical ads-A big no for this, because I feel this idea will kill our current or upcoming user base. β
I have placed points in an order of acceptance by user.
Thanks for putting out all the points for discussion.
All the best to you folks, doing great job!
π‘[Devblog] Buy us coffee

I'd be more than happy to pay a couple dollars a month. I believe a lot of developers who have been with hashnode for a while will be happy to do this. This should be an option anyway I think. Providing premium features is always a good idea because we don't want to have a barrier to entry for anyone but we also need to make sure hashnode is still around. Personally I think this is the best option, but recruitment would probably be the most profitable.
π‘[Hashnode] Marketplace
This is a good idea. Anything like that or fiverr.com would be cool to see. Especially considering it would be focused for devs. Would that mean that groups or companies could also offer services on the marketplace - I imagine it would just be individual devs for now. If this option is chosen then definitely go down the route of transaction fee.
π‘[Hashnode] Recruitment
I like this. Hashnode could charge a flat 5% of the salary (+ $50 per advert?) and make enough money and also undercut every recruiter out there. I know hashnode charge $300 now? for posting a job advert. And because Hashnode is specialised for developers I like how targeted this is - it helps everyone involved. So this should definitely be done.
π‘[Devblog] Training and Courses
For me this would be a no - just because I don't believe in paying for training or courses unless they are highly specialised and proprietary, e.g. how to setup a cisco contact centre with a hybrid cloud model and remote agents.
However, I can see the appeal and I know some would use it - just not sure how many. But it also does something weird to talking about ideas; I don't wish to be locked out of discussing points in an article or something just because it's behind a pay wall.
π‘[Devblog] Revenue Sharing via ethical ads
No. As a general rule I'm really against the idea of any ads. I believe this will detract from the community and the experience that hashnode are building. Inserting any kind of ads would damage the flow and look of the blog posts regardless of how ads may be inserted.
Additionally - were devs - who doesn't have ads blocked or turned off in their browsers lol.
Finally, I wouldn't consider it a viable business model option from a value perspective - yes revenue can be made from it but not much.
how can i haz gud dev blog and the like.I'm glad Hashnode is sorting out monetization. I want Hashnode to grow and continue to be around. Overall, Hashnode have many options to monetise the site and the end result will probably be an amalgamation of some or maybe even all of the above (apart from ads :P). I hope my thoughts help with choosing a direction. :)
Although our promise is to keep Hashnode ad-free, we can consider inserting "ethical ads" into the blog posts and share the revenue with authors.
If you are going to use a platform like codefund or similar to them I have no problem with inserting ads into blog posts. Their ads are developer-focused and they kinda look nice.

Finally, I know how Hashnode is going to make money :p
Sandeep Panda All ideas are good except the last one "Revenue Sharing via ethical ads" Even its opt-in feature, I feel a bit odd about it.
Making money from blogs by putting ads or popups is not our business model. We are committed to offering a paywall-less and ad-free experience to publishers and we are going to stick to it
Best of luck Hashnode Team.
Saleh Mubashar
Web Developer
Hi Sandeep Panda
I read all of the options and here is my opinion:
i think ethical ads will be useful as they will provide revenue and motivation to bloggers.
If not ads, then sponsors should be expanded to more countries, (like mine: Saudi Arabia).
Maybe an in built adsense system or carbon ads integration etc.
Would really appreciate that thanks