Request for Consideration: New Support Tier

[surfrock66]

I'm a homelab Proxmox user. I have 2 physical servers with Proxmox on them, each with 2 physical sockets. I'm not using a subscription, but that's fine, I don't need the enterprise repository, I don't need the support....

...Except for the nag. The nag is super effective, I feel bad. I want to support the project. I generally try to pay/contribute/donate to open source when I can. But I can't do that here, the price at this time is 440 Euros (I'm USD) for my setup per year, and that's absolutely out of the question.

So, I have 2 options. Find a nag-buster solution (of which there's enough out there), or dive deep into my HW upgrade bucket, which I'm frankly not going to do.

What would people think of an additional tier? I know the existing lowest tier is "Community" which is the term I'd have used, but in my mind it's a $5/month or $50/year to just remove the nag and support the project without access to the enterprise repos. I have 4 projects I support at that price now, and I really enjoy supporting the projects I use even if I gets me no additional benefit other than contributing and making sure the project will continue on. At this time, there's no reasonable way for me to financially support Proxmox, but I would if there were some more low-level options available.

 

[leesteken]

Maybe you can just buy one single socket subscription and not use it, and just live with the "nag screen" like I do?

EDIT: IMHO, it's also fine to accept that Proxmox decided to provide the software freely and sustain themselves by small and large enterprises that pay for (the availability of) support.

PS: This has come up several times before, and everybody can find a reason why they can't pay a subscription right now and it's not their fault (and sometimes they even claim it's Proxmox that is preventing them!)... I'm not saying this is you or that you are thinking this way, and you probably really wan to help, but I fear such threads always go down this route.

 

[surfrock66]

Yea, this was meant with good intentions, I'm asking if there is a way to create a price tier which does let me help the project without getting any additional benefit or removing any existing tiers. Ultimately the nag will go away, but if there's a way for me to do that and also find a new spot to support the project, I would be very happy to do that.

 

[pvps1]

I think the forum does not reflect the position of proxmox within the hypervisor market very well.
you could think that many users are homelab or very small..many questions about networking e.g. are very very low profile...

so. i think that pve is a player in a quite professional and wealthy market segment and the prices are veeeerry low. the option to use it for free with a nag screen or minimal community licence is a big commitment to opensource and floss.

 

[zzz09700]

You should think this way:
If you feel like the subscriptions are too expensive then the free community version is meant for you.
The subscriptions are for those who run a business and need virtualization on their endeavors and when you are in that shoes the pricetag on PVE subscription is somewhere close to overwhelmingly cheap.

I mean my company could buy like 50% more servers if we don't have to pay for VMWare license. (Since I'm poking around here guys probably can guess what is happening, new servers coming in lol.)

 

[zzz09700]

But yeah I think PVE can have a "buy me a coffee" on their website. Ubuntu has one there, asking if you would like to donate some money to them after you started downloading the ISO. That never hurts.

 

[Ramalama]

There is already a 110 Community Subscription.
As far i remember, it was in the beginning 50€ if im not wrong. (Years ago)

110€ is a bit expensive for the mass of home-Servers i have (2 at my Sisters home, 1 at mums home, 1 at my home, 1 at my nephew's home), to pay for 550€ yearly is a bit expensive for the home needs, im sorry.

If there would be sth like 50€, without any access to enterprise repo or any support, it would be amazing
I think there are more such prosumers like me

EDIT: I think tbh, that the proxmox team would benefit from this too, a 50€ license for the home is a no brainer for most people.
Especially since we don't want anything more, as we already have for free.

Cheers

 

[bbgeek17]

But yeah I think PVE can have a "buy me a coffee" on their website. Ubuntu has one there, asking if you would like to donate some money to them after you started downloading the ISO. That never hurts.

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/subscription-cost-disappointment.113205/#post-489345

---

Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[zzz09700]

Ok then would anyone kind enough to point out where that button is? I personally did not find it. Maybe that's why nobody pressed it, because people simply couldn't find it?

 

[esi_y]

I think the forum does not reflect the position of proxmox within the hypervisor market very well.
you could think that many users are homelab or very small..many questions about networking e.g. are very very low profile...

so. i think that pve is a player in a quite professional and wealthy market segment and the prices are veeeerry low.

So why not increase prices for those tiers with support, go by cores instead sockets, etc.? The issue might simply be that the Community subscription is cannibalising sales for the support tiers. But this is all commercial decision that is neither users' call or fault.

the option to use it for free with a nag screen or minimal community licence is a big commitment to opensource and floss.

The option to use it free comes at a cost to be tester for those who pay for the access to the better tested repository.

The AGPL forces anyone using the code freely (not the same as for free) to contribute back - this might be such a high "cost" to some entity they will request proprietary licensing just so they do not have to.

The nag is super effective, I feel bad.

It almost feels like the nag screen is penalizing those who test.

Meanwhile a commercial entity may simply re-license tomorrow or sell off and disappear with all the future versions of the sources. If that happened, there would be no more "feel bad", it would be simply "it's business, it's not personal and get over it".

I want to support the project.

You already do.