How the revenue share model works

When we tell people that CodeHost automatically funds open-source maintainers, the first question is always: "How?" Not morally — mechanically. How does the money actually move from a customer's credit card to a maintainer's bank account?

The allocation engine

Every month, we allocate a fixed percentage of each app's hosting fee to the revenue share pool. Currently, that's 5% of gross revenue. A $5/month Small app contributes $0.25; a $50/month Large app contributes $2.50.

That pool is then distributed to maintainers based on deployment activity. Each app's contribution goes to the maintainers of that specific app. Deploy Supabase on a Small tier and the Supabase maintainers receive a share of that app's $0.25 — funding tied directly to what you actually run.

Weighted distribution

We don't split evenly. We weight by resource consumption. If your Supabase instance uses 40% of your allocated resources and Ghost uses 5%, the Supabase maintainer receives proportionally more. This isn't perfect — resource usage isn't the same as project value — but it's a reasonable proxy that doesn't require subjective judgments.

The payout pipeline

Payouts run monthly via Stripe Connect. Maintainers register once, link their bank account, and receive automatic deposits. There's a minimum threshold of $5 to reduce transaction fees — smaller amounts roll over until the threshold is met.

We also provide maintainers with a dashboard showing exactly where their funding comes from: how many CodeHost users are running their app, which regions, and the total allocation. Transparency builds trust.

We've distributed over $2.4M to 1,200+ maintainers since launch. The average maintainer receives $200/month. Some receive over $2,000.

Why it works

The model works because it's automatic. No opt-in, no donation campaigns, no decision fatigue. If you deploy an app, the maintainer gets funded. The friction is zero. And because it scales with our customer base, the funding grows as we grow — aligning our business incentives with the health of open source.

This isn't charity. It's a business model that treats open-source maintainers as what they are: critical infrastructure providers who deserve to be paid.