Fund your work.
Sell access.
While GitHub Sponsors helps you receive donations, Unlicensed.dev lets you sell actual repository access with subscriptions, advanced permissions, and automated billing.
unlicensed-dev
Monetize your repositories with advanced access control
Popular repositories
GitHub Sponsors vs Unlicensed.dev
Both platforms help developers monetize their work, but they serve different purposes and use cases.
GitHub Sponsors is a donation platform that helps maintainers receive financial support from the community. It's great for open source projects and general funding.
Unlicensed.dev is a repository monetization platform that lets you sell actual access to private repositories with subscriptions, advanced permissions, and automated billing.
Feature comparison
See how repository monetization compares to donation-based funding.
| Feature | GitHub Sponsors | Unlicensed.dev |
|---|---|---|
Repository Access Control Gate access to private repositories and specific files | ||
Subscription Billing Recurring revenue with automated billing management | Donations only | |
One-time Purchases Sell lifetime access or specific releases | ||
Automated Provisioning Instant access on payment, auto-revoke on cancellation | ||
Regex Access Rules Fine-grained file-level permissions with pattern matching | ||
Revenue Analytics MRR, churn, subscriber metrics, and growth tracking | Basic | |
Community Support Connect with supporters and build community | ||
GitHub Integration Native integration with GitHub repositories | ||
Payment Processing Secure payment processing and payouts | GitHub handles | Stripe Connect |
API Access Full REST API for custom integrations | Limited | |
Team Collaboration Multi-user repository and subscriber management | ||
Release Management Gate releases and manage version access |
Pricing comparison
Compare donation-based funding with subscription-based revenue models.
- Great for open source projects
- Community-driven support
- No access control or gating
- Sustainable recurring revenue
- Advanced access control
- Automated billing and provisioning
When to use each platform
Both platforms serve different needs in the developer ecosystem.
- You maintain open source projects
- You want community-driven support
- Your work benefits the entire community
- You don't need access control or gating
- You're comfortable with unpredictable income
- You want to sell premium code or templates
- You need predictable recurring revenue
- You want to gate access to specific repositories
- You need advanced permission controls
- You want automated billing and access management
Ready to monetize your repositories?
Move beyond donations and start building sustainable revenue streams with repository access control.
Use both platforms together • GitHub Sponsors for community support • Unlicensed.dev for premium access