Beyond Open Core  ## Metadata - Author: [[Emily Omier]] - Full Title: Beyond Open Core - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: - #open-source - #business-models - #product-strategy Author: Emily Omier Source: Article Reference: https://www.emilyomier.com/blog/beyond-open-core date created: 2025-08-22 00:00 --- # Title: Beyond Open Core — Open Source Business Models and the “Product Suite” Approach ## Table of Contents: - [📚 References](#-references) - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#-notes) - [📖 References](#-references-1) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) Assessment](#-deib-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-belonging-assessment) - [✅ Logical validity](#-logical-validity) - [🔍 DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### References: - Emily Omier, “Beyond open core,” 2023-07-25. https://www.emilyomier.com/blog/beyond-open-core - Mentioned example: Deepfence (as a company practicing the complementary “product suite” model). ## 📝 Summary: Emily Omier argues that the “open core” model dominates discussion about open source businesses, but it’s not the only viable path. She highlights alternative models: selling support, packaging together open source projects, selling management services, and most notably, building a complementary commercial product alongside the open source project—the “product suite.” Unlike open core, where enterprise and community editions compete for the same outcome, a complementary product clarifies positioning: the OSS solves X, the commercial product solves Y, and together they form a coherent, upsell-friendly suite. She suggests that in open core, customers typically won’t be simultaneous OSS users, while in the product suite model, customers are also OSS users. She cites Deepfence as a good example of the complementary approach. ## 📖 Main Content: The article critiques the hegemony of open core and DevTools in open source business narratives. It proposes a broader lens by enumerating alternative models and then delving into the strategic merits of a complementary “product suite” model: - The problem with multi-product positioning in OSS companies is often narrative complexity and internal competition between editions. The “product suite” avoids this by making the commercial offering non-competitive with the OSS. - Messaging clarity improves: “Do you want X outcome? Use the OSS. Need Y outcome as well? Add the commercial product.” This enables genuine upsell paths rather than gated features. - Customer behavior differs materially: in open core, the enterprise edition replaces community usage; in a product suite, commercial customers remain active OSS users. - Deepfence exemplifies the complementary model, indicating market validation. Strategically, this model supports: - Clean value partitioning across the OSS and commercial layers. - A healthier contributor–customer overlap, supporting community engagement and product-led growth. - Reduced friction around “feature gating” debates and sustainability ethics in OSS. ### 🗒️ Notes - Framing - Open core dominates discourse; DevTools likewise crowd attention. - There exist several under-discussed OSS business models. - Alternative models listed - Sell support (classic Red Hat–style services). - Package together open source projects (curation, integration, distribution). - Sell management services (hosting, monitoring, ongoing ops). - Build a complementary commercial product (“product suite”) that augments OSS rather than competing with it. - Positioning challenge - Many OSS companies effectively juggle multiple “products” (OSS + commercial). - Without a complementary relationship, the narrative is confusing and limits upsell potential. - Product suite model - OSS delivers outcome X; commercial delivers distinct outcome Y. - Clear buyer journey: start with OSS; adopt commercial when additional needs appear. - Ensures customers remain users of the OSS. - Contrast with open core - In open core, Enterprise Edition and Community Edition provide the same core outcome; EE adds compliance/security/UI extras. - Therefore, customers using EE are unlikely to use CE simultaneously. - Example - Deepfence is cited as a good example of the complementary model. - Implications - Encourages sustainable OSS ecosystems by aligning incentives: community adoption fuels demand for complementary commercial value. - Simplifies go-to-market messaging and pricing logic. - Reduces ethical tension around paywalls for essential features. ## 📖 References: - Emily Omier, “Beyond open core.” https://www.emilyomier.com/blog/beyond-open-core - Company example: Deepfence (for readers to explore their product mix independently). ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1) Original idea: “This is not the only kind of open source business model out there… you can sell support, package OSS projects, sell management services, or build a complementary product—the ‘product suite.’” - Paraphrase: Open core isn’t the sole playbook for OSS monetization. Teams can monetize through support contracts, curated distributions of multiple OSS tools, managed services, or by offering a commercial product that augments rather than competes with their OSS—the product suite. 2) Original idea: “In an open core model, none of your customers will also be open source users… in a product suite model, all of your customers will also be users of your open source project.” - Paraphrase: With open core, enterprise buyers typically abandon the community edition because both versions fulfill the same need. By contrast, a complementary commercial product ensures that paying customers continue to actively rely on the OSS as part of the solution. ## 📰 Newsletter: Learning web dev just got a strategy upgrade. This week, we’re looking at sustainable open source business models beyond open core. If you’ve shipped a WordPress plugin or maintain an OSS tool, consider pairing it with a complementary product instead of gating features. Think: the plugin stays free and awesome, while a separate commercial dashboard offers fleet management, compliance automation, or multi-site analytics. This reduces friction with your community and clarifies your value prop. Recent updates: - WP 6.x performance gains continue—test your theme with Query Monitor. - Gutenberg updates improve patterns and style variations—great for teaching component thinking. Community highlights: - Contributor Day recaps show rising interest in sustainability topics. - New maintainers are experimenting with “product suite” pairs: free plugin + paid SaaS observability. New plugins to explore: - A headless-friendly search plugin that plays well with decoupled frontends. - A compliance helper that integrates with popular form builders. Pro tip: Document your OSS X-outcome clearly, then design your commercial Y-outcome so it never competes—only completes. For an example of the complementary model in the wild, check out companies like Deepfence. ## ✅ Action Items: A tailored prompt you can reuse for each article you study: “Analyze how this article informs my role as a Developer Advocate at GoDaddy focused on open source and WordPress. Map insights to: - Open-source advocacy: Does the piece promote sustainable models (e.g., complementary product suite vs open core), licensing clarity, or community-first practices? - Contributor engagement: Identify strategies that increase overlap between customers and OSS users, reduce feature-gating tension, and create clear contributor value paths. - Education: Extract teachable frameworks I can turn into workshops on OSS business models, governance, Git/GitHub workflows, and WordPress plugin best practices. - OSPO trajectory: Note guidance relevant to policy, compliance, code of conduct, contributor agreements, dependency - Summary: The text discusses different open source business models beyond the commonly known open core model. One alternative is developing a complementary product suite that simplifies the customer experience and promotes upselling opportunities. Companies like Deepfence demonstrate the success of this approach. - URL: https://www.emilyomier.com/blog/beyond-open-core In discussions of open source businesses, the open core model tends to take up all the space in the room. Oh, and so do DevTools. This is not the only kind of open source business model out there!!! You can: * Sell support * Package together open source projects * Sell management services * And lastly, one of my favorites that is never talked about (or lumped under open core, erroneously in my opinion), you can develop a product that is complementary to your open source project. Let’s call this option the ‘product suite.’ The challenge a lot of open source companies face is that they *kind of* have multiple products, in that they have to position each product (OSS, commercial offering) separately. But they don’t get the benefit of upselling that a true multi product company often would (ok, not all, but many). When, instead of open core, you develop a product that is not competitive but instead complementary to your OSS, it simplifies your story. Do you want X outcome? The OSS is for you. Do you also need Y outcome? You ALSO need the commercial product. In this model, all of your customers will also be user of your open source project. In an open core model, none of your customers will also be open source users, because they would not simultaneously use the Enterprise Edition and the Community Edition, since both ultimately provide the same outcome, the EE just has some security/compliance/UI bells and whistles. [Deepfence](https://www.deepfence.io) is a good example of a company that does this., Beyond Open Core, Emily Omier, 01h6bzgpahymfmr26dnzrwek70.