FreeBSD on EC2 / Tarsnap

"Long-running open-source infrastructure project maintaining FreeBSD on AWS EC2, born out of the need to run FreeBSD for Tarsnap (an encrypted backup service), now sponsored by Amazon."
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Maker: cperciva
no rev. info provided; creator receives Amazon sponsorship and smaller Patreon income)

Marketing Channels

Primary

Open source community

The project grew organically through the FreeBSD and AWS communities over many years (2006-present).

Ongoing

Corporate sponsorship (Amazon)

Amazon sponsors the creator's work on FreeBSD EC2 and release engineering.

Secondary

Patreon

Creator set up a Patreon a few years ago for additional community-based funding, described as a 'much smaller amount'.

Growth Levers

  • Expand Patreon outreach to the broader FreeBSD and cloud infrastructure communities
  • Document the FreeBSD/EC2 story as a case study for developer advocacy and conference talks
  • Seek additional cloud provider sponsorships (Azure, GCP) for FreeBSD platform support
  • Leverage the long track record (2006-present) as credibility for consulting engagements

First Customer Strategy

The project originated from the creator's own need (scratch-your-own-itch): wanting to use FreeBSD in EC2 for Tarsnap. The utility to the broader FreeBSD community attracted Amazon's sponsorship over time.

Pricing Insight

Revenue comes from corporate sponsorship (Amazon) and community patronage (Patreon) rather than direct product pricing, reflecting the open-source infrastructure nature of the project.

Key Takeaways

  • • Scratch-your-own-itch projects can evolve into long-term, sponsored open-source work over a decade+
  • • Corporate sponsorship is a viable monetization path for critical open-source infrastructure
  • • Patience and persistence matter: this project took 5 years (2006-2011) just to get working
  • • Being the sole maintainer of a critical platform component creates a durable competitive position
  • • Side projects that serve real infrastructure needs can outlast and outgrow the original motivation

Sentiment Analysis

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