---
title: Billing FAQ
---

I'm Drew DeVault, and I maintain sr.ht and wrote this FAQ. You can reach me any
time for any reason via [sir@cmpwn.com](mailto:sir@cmpwn.com). I usually respond
within a few hours if I'm awake. I'm also generally available for chat on IRC:
join [#sr.ht on irc.freenode.net][irc]. Let me know if you have any questions.

[irc]: https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23sr.ht&uio=d4

## Why do I have to pay for sr.ht when GitHub, GitLab, etc are free?

Providing high-quality services for the free and open-source community cannot be
done for free. There are lots of ways services like sr.ht can be funded. Most
are funded through venture capital, which is why you see them in the news after
raising millions of dollars to support their growth. These services are
incentivized to create a return for their investors, and can be expected to
optimize towards that end.

On the other hand, sr.ht is funded entirely by its users. This creates a much
healthier relationship between you and the service. I am only accountable to
you, and my only concern is with making the service as useful as possible for
you. sr.ht's business model is designed explicitly to prioritize user needs over
investor needs.

Your subscription fee stays in open-source: sr.ht is 100% free software, mostly
licensed under the GNU Affero General Public license (aka AGPL 3.0). I integrate
patches from the community and we work together to build the best open-source
service we can. Your fee pays for the cost of operations and to keep someone
online to maintain the site, develop features, and provide support for a
reliable site.

## What are the differences in the plans? Which should I pick?

There are no differences between the plans, all of them have equal access to
sr.ht's services. You should choose the plan which best matches your financial
needs and investment in sr.ht.

## What are the limitations on free accounts?

During the alpha, free accounts are not limited in any way. After the alpha,
free accounts will not be allowed to own resources, including git repositories,
bug trackers, mailing lists, etc, nor submit builds on builds.sr.ht. They will,
however, be able to contribute to projects maintained by paying users.

## I can't afford an account. Am I out of luck?

Just send me an email explaining your circumstances and I'll help you out. Part
of the fees from paid accounts are used to subsidize users who aren't able to
pay.

## Earning service credits for contributing to sr.ht

As an open source project, sr.ht accepts patches from its users. In exchange for
having nontrivial patches merged to sr.ht, free service can be issued to your
account. [Send me an email](mailto:sir@cmpwn.com) to claim your account credit
after your patch is merged.

[Read more about contributing to sr.ht here](/installation.md).

## Can I cancel or change my plan?

Yes, you can cancel or modify your plan at any time. Visit the [billing
page](https://meta.sr.ht/billing) to make changes. Your current billing period
will be completed and the changes will take place at the start of the next one.

## Can I get an invoice?

You can download invoices from the [billing page](https://meta.sr.ht/billing).

## How much money does sr.ht have/spend/make?

We publish quarterly financial reports on the sr.ht-discuss mailing list - you can
read them here:

[Financial
reports](https://lists.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/sr.ht-discuss?search=financial+report)

## Can I deploy sr.ht on my own infrastructure instead of paying for an account?

Yep! [Here are instructions](https://man.sr.ht/installation.md).

## Do you offer paid support plans?

Yep! Paid support is available for both users of the hosted service and users
who deploy sr.ht to their own infrastructure. [Send me an
email](mailto:sir@cmpwn.com) summarizing your needs.