Open source

An open-source or open-core project as the top of the funnel, paid for through a hosted or enterprise product.

Counts as evidence: The company maintains the open-source project and sells a product on top of it.

Who ran it

MongoDB · A free database for developers · 2009 to 2013
Open source Primary
Community Server was a free download under an open source licence (the AGPL at the time). MongoDB owns the code it wrote and describes the free version as analogous to freemium, not as crowdsourced R&D.
MongoDB · Atlas, usage pricing, and the licence change · 2016 to 2019
Open source Supporting
In October 2018 new Community Server releases moved from the AGPL to MongoDB's Server Side Public License, which makes anyone offering MongoDB as a service open source their service stack; MongoDB blamed cloud vendors capturing value. The OSI does not recognise the SSPL. Downloads rose from 30 million at the IPO to over 700 million by January 2026, and customers from over 13,400 (January 2019) to over 65,200, though the filings do not isolate the licence's effect.
GitLab · Open source project and monetization experiments · 2011 to 2015
Open source Primary
Dmitriy Zaporozhets created GitLab in 2011, and the project absorbed more than 300 outside contributions in its first year. The company was founded in 2014.
GitLab · Open core and buyer-based tiers · 2015 to 2019
Open source Primary
A free open source Community Edition shipped alongside a proprietary Enterprise Edition. Features for individual contributors are open source; features for managers, directors, and executives go into paid tiers.
GitLab · Enterprise sales, partners, and the IPO · 2019 to 2021
Open source Primary
The S-1 describes the free tier as targeted lead generation for paid customers and the large open source installed base as the source of paying customers.
GitLab · AI agents and hybrid pricing · 2024 to now
Open source Supporting
Open core is still the stated model, and users contributed more than 6,500 merge requests in calendar 2025.
Lovable · Open-source proof, then a waitlisted web app · 2023 to 2024
Open source Primary
gpt-engineer, an open-source project from mid 2023, became the fastest growing code repository on GitHub to that date with over 50,000 stars. Its traction led to a commercial web version for non-technical users and to founding the company in late 2023.
Vercel · Deploy tool plus an open-source framework · 2016 to 2019
Open source Primary
Next.js was open-sourced in October 2016 as a small framework for server-rendered React apps, and its launch post showed deployment with now as the final step. The company later called it the most notable of its open-source projects.
Vercel · Vercel for frontend teams: free tier, Git integration, Next.js Conf · 2020 to 2022
Open source Primary
Funding was framed as money to keep investing in Next.js. By November 2021 Next.js had more than 1,800 contributors and over 2 million weekly installs.
Vercel · v0: an AI product-led front door · 2023 to 2025
Open source Supporting
The AI SDK repeated the Next.js pattern for AI apps, growing from 446,012 to 3,209,817 weekly downloads in a year. The CEO calls the open-source bet a powerful flywheel.
Vercel · AI Cloud and enterprise AI governance · 2025 to now
Open source Supporting
Next.js published a public Adapter API that Vercel's own adapter uses with no private hooks, and a quarterly program gives outside maintainers $3,600 in platform credits.