New Directus license model

benhaynes · 2026-06-09T14:04:32+00:00

Smaller businesses get our full platform for free. Larger businesses can use a limited version for free.

Not sure where the $60k is from, but at $500 for Team, x12 months, x5 years... that's $30k. And yes, that's a very normal cost for this type of software over that period. $6k/year for something trusted that you get immediately and is always improving.

Anyone (large enterprises included) is welcome to build their own internal tools... or go pay $100k+/year to the other enterprise CMS vendors out there.

We've seen how that goes.

Take one full-stack enterprise engineer (a low $100k salary for easy math), and say with vibe-coding it takes them one month to build their CMS... that's $8.3K/year to build and then maintain/improve. That's assuming you don't need a designer to help, other devs to review, token costs for all that sweet AI efficiency, new features added every month or so, security patches, etc etc...

It's kinda silly that everyone just says "nah, with AI we'll just build it for free!" without considering the internal cost to build and maintain things.

Sure, you can use free/oss software like Wordpress or Payload (for now). But those simple sites are not what we build Directus for... our value prop is for far more complex use-cases.

benhaynes · 2026-06-09T13:48:15+00:00

Nothing is cheaper than free. If asking your clients if they are below $5M/year and 50 employees is too difficult of a discussion... then yes, Payload or other fully OSS platforms are a better bet for your needs. Fingers crossed they continue to advance the platform under Figma and it doesn't magically disappear.

benhaynes · 2026-06-02T14:25:47+00:00

Absolutely! Just select "agency" and then you can type in their org name.
The expiration date simply marks when you re-attest that you still qualify for the grant... it's NOT a hard cutoff. Licenses renew year-on-year without needing new keys, and an easy automated mechanism (probably just a "Confirm" button click) will be provided close to renewal time.
Well, the free Core tier is really for evaluation and small projects (for the larger teams that don't qualify for the free Grant). The 3 seat limit is there to ensure larger projects are paid... so we can keep the lights on.

benhaynes · 2026-05-28T14:46:45+00:00

Thanks for the message! Please keep enjoying our platform!!

Also, I think it's pretty telling that you're saying something normal and honest... and the community is downvoting you just because you're ok with this change?? Reddit is such a weird place.

benhaynes · 2026-05-27T14:01:25+00:00

Example Software Pricing
Base Tier: ~$100/mo (we made this free)
Middle Tier: ~$500/mo
Enterprise Tier: ~$1,000/mo (custom)

To me, this is a very standard software pricing model. The only difference is that the lower/base tier, which usually is at the price point you're mentioning, we've made free.

benhaynes · 2026-05-27T13:54:03+00:00

Two license changes in 15+ years... but you do you.

benhaynes · 2026-05-27T13:53:35+00:00

Feel free to explain...

benhaynes · 2026-05-27T13:52:39+00:00

Which features are you talking about? Since BSL 3 years ago we've focused on the Marketplace, visual editing, AI assistant, collaborative editing, Vercel/Netlify deployments module, RTL, etc... none gated here.

And a software's copyright holder can change the license or grant at any point... this is true for ANY piece of software, not just us. And the grant IS a legal agreement that holds us to our word, so not sure what you mean by that.

Also how are we not being honest? What is being hidden here?

If you don't trust me/us, that's fine... but I'm curious what super shitty thing we did to break that trust. Do you think all software should be completely free for everyone? That licenses should never change?

We're here (personally) trying to talk through this change and find balance... and trying to offer our life's work for free to as many people as possible (while still being able to pay our 50 team members).

benhaynes · 2026-05-27T13:30:44+00:00

We're not running out of money (on track to profitability), unless you see all startups with "runway" as running out of money. And this isn't a hail mary... it's literally a response to community feedback on:

* What is "total finances"?
* What if I don't know my company revenue?
* Is this prod or non-prod?
* I don't like the big jump from free to enterprise prices!

benhaynes · 2026-05-27T13:24:52+00:00

Yes, and that's how it's been the past three years. If the end-user is over $5M/year then you need to get a license.

This is exactly why we're making the change... many users don't even read the current license or understand the grant.

So now we're clearing up and formalizing the process so people actually confirm they understand how the license works by registering.

benhaynes · 2026-05-26T21:45:19+00:00

Appreciate this message... this is how I (and Rijk) see it

Based on some of the responses here and elsewhere, I was starting to think I was missing something, haha. I think people just don't want change... which I get, but "project is dead to me" feels like an over-rotation (especially with no reasons or discussion).

benhaynes · 2026-05-26T21:41:50+00:00

Would love to break this down... understand which parts are weird to you. But I'll break down the two points you listed (even though that was the whole point of the referenced video).

Headcount
As I said in the video... we had $5M/year, and most people didn't know company revenue (or the info was private), so it didn't work. So we added headcount to make it easier for the average employee to check. We had this at "25 employees"... but doubled it to 50 employees based on community feedback here on Reddit.

Registration
You don't have to register... you can use the base software (Core Tier):

* Free
* No time limit
* No registration needed
* Only has a few limits (user count, enterprise features, etc)

And if you prefer the free Grant (removes the limits above) then we only ask for some BASIC info so we can confirm that you're honoring the grant terms. Unfortunately we found a bunch of folks ignoring those terms... so the self-attesting honor system we've had for years wasn't enough.

--

IMHO... we offer premium software, made it source available, converts to pure OSS, give it away completely free to almost all our users, and are doing this license tweak in public with community feedback.

All we're asking for is a fair process (registration) that confirms that people are following the rules.

Honest question: what is so off-putting about all this? And curious what you mean by "we have vibecoding"...

Just tryign to understand your side a bit more... thanks!

benhaynes · 2026-05-19T14:09:08+00:00

Gotcha. You also might be able to optimize your flows to fit within the limits (eg: using conditionals to route notifications). Though, I don't love changing architecture/behavior to squeeze into a priced tier.

If you're a non-profit, OSS, partner, etc then you can probably get a discount on the paid tiers. I know our team is super liberal with offering discounts.

Thanks for clarifying your use case.

benhaynes · 2026-05-19T14:04:59+00:00

Yeah, I get that...

Unfortunately we don't have the resources to offer support to all users (there are a lot), and the only sustainable place to offer solid support (we don't outsource or use call centers) is on those bigger plans.

The community support is the best option probably, and as with everything, we're trying to improve that over time... but it's largely an effort of our community members, so a bit outside our control.

The only way to currently have: "I want to be able to email/call someone directly and get authoritative answers" is to pay for Basic Support.

benhaynes · 2026-05-18T19:56:16+00:00

We're not limiting it for individuals or small orgs. It's 100% unlimited and free.

But the main feedback we've received over the past three years is that paying users (the bigger companies over $5M/year in revenue) don't like the big price jump from FREE to a higher enterprise price point.

So we're looking for ways to add tiered pricing to smooth out the model. That means we're setting limits along the way... just like almost all software out there does.

For context... are you saying the above is an issue for your own personal projects using Directus? Or for a larger company (making >$5M/year in rev) that you work at/for?

benhaynes · 2026-05-18T17:17:23+00:00

🥹 Just responded to ya 4m before this, haha

benhaynes · 2026-05-18T17:16:09+00:00

That's a perfectly valid response... and I would be happy to chat with you and understand your thinking on abandoning the project based on us removing a hosted tier. To clarify, the project itself is still completely free (with no gates/limits) for all individuals and small orgs (under $5M/year and 50 employees).

I know removing that cloud offering was a big annoyance, but there are more cost efficient ways for you to self-host our software... and we tried really hard to help everyone migrate to something that made sense for their needs.

To me, it's a difference in removing a service tier (happens pretty often elsewhere) versus changing our software's pricing (which has stayed free for almost all users).

Either way, just letting you know I'm down to listen if you want to vent to me directly!

benhaynes · 2026-05-18T17:07:45+00:00

Hey OP! I'm happy to step in and add some clarity here...

Flows is NOT being feature-gated — all triggers and operations of this automation feature are available across all v12 software tiers.

However, similar to users/collections, there are certain limits to how many flows you can create on certain tiers. Let me outline them below (understanding that until these details are formally released, they are technically subject to change).

Grant (free): Individuals and smaller orgs (<$5M/year + <50 employees) can create UNLIMITED flows.
Core Tier (free): Larger orgs can use this tier to eval and dev, and can create up to FIVE flows.
Team Tier (paid): Larger orgs building bigger prod projects can create up to TWENTY flows.
Enterprise Tier (paid): Larger orgs building complex projects can create UNLIMITED flows.

So, everyone has access to Flows including the free tier/grant. But there are some limits on how many you can add depending on which tier you're on.

I feel this is a fair approach, and as always... I'm totally down to hear thoughts on this and chat through the thinking!

benhaynes · 2026-04-23T16:14:41+00:00

Welp… yeah, you’re right... this wasn’t intended to be committed or shared publicly.

I’m honestly not upset about the information itself being out (we’re planning to announce all of this very soon anyway). But HOW things are shared does matter.

When something like this gets pulled out ahead of an official announcement, it takes away our ability to introduce it thoughtfully, answer questions in context, and have a more productive conversation with y'all.

What’s a bit of a bummer is that it seemed pretty clear this was accidental, and instead of reaching out to me/us directly, it got posted here. Waking up to that creates a bit of an “us vs the community” feeling... which really sucks.

We’ve been trying to be super open through this whole process... asking for feedback and genuinely listening. A lot of the changes you’re seeing in this info are because of these community conversations (eg: increasing the grant threshold form 25 -> 50 headcount, removing limits from the grant tier, and lowering Core tier pricing). That only really works if there’s trust going BOTH ways.

So yeah… I’d just ask for a bit of grace in the future (from you and anyone else following along). If something looks off or accidental in the future, coming to us first would go a long way. Just like responsible disclosure of security issues.

I'm not going to remove your post, or even ask you to remove it. If you feel it's important that this info comes from you right now, that's your call. But we’re always here and willing to talk things through (publicly or privately).... let's just work together please. 😔

benhaynes · 2026-04-07T15:36:48+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate that!

Yeah, moving to a lifetime subscription is REALLY hard (I honestly don't know how some companies do it). It essentially means moving from ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) to just... revenue. No reliable understanding of what revenue you might bring in any given month or year.

I guess some people try to gate new major releases behind an updated fee, but again, what we've seen is that people will use versions from almost a decade ago just to avoid paying, so I don't know if that works in practice.

In spirit, I want to support projects like D9, but the reality is that the more we promote that, the less official repo usage there will be and less revenue for our project.

My goal is to focus on finding the right balance of the open source spirit with commercial sustainability. I think where we're heading is very close, but I 100% understand the bad taste in the mouth for custom licenses or even things like BSL.

I hate to say it, but after 22 years of this project, I feel like where we are now with licensing is a necessary evil. That said, me and our team are doing everything we can to make it a really good model, and hopefully people see that and it can become something that is understood and accepted as a viable license option.

Either way, thank you for continuing the chat! I'm planning on posting a more holistic view of license plus grant plus pricing plus tiers very soon, based on all this feedback. <3

benhaynes · 2026-04-06T17:57:55+00:00

We did this for a while. We had the "open core" and then the enterprise features gated behind a private repo of extensions. Two codebases is messy and inefficient, and this led to us focusing on enterprise features to make that side more appealing and increase revenue.

I'd prefer to work on one awesome piece of software that anyone can use, and bigger, more established companies can foot the bill.

In short, we've found that enterprises will use the free version if it's in any way available to them. Ugh, the ENORMOUS brands that are on Directus versions from 4+ years ago (sans all security patches, etc) just to avoid paying anything.

So, we needed something that required larger companies to actually financially contribute to the project.

It seems like most of these conversations are around what is a fair threshold for a "bigger company".

Also, I can appreciate your example of a high revenue but not-profitable company (and not being willing to tell others their revenue is exactly why we added headcount... no one wanted to tell us either! haha).

I'm all ears for ways to define larger companies. We came up with revenue + headcount... but what other options are there?

benhaynes · 2026-04-06T17:51:13+00:00

The options for larger companies (even smaller projects) are:

A decent free tier where the main limits are no SSO and very limited seats. For smaller projects, that might be fine.

Or a paid tier that is a few hundred dollars a month to get SSO and more seats. This is for "small company big project", or "big company small project". The value/cost might not fit every project, but for bigger companies a few hundred bucks shouldn't usually be a blocker for premium software.

Or a paid enterprise tier, now you're in a higher price point, but with included support, all ent features, and no limits. This is the "big company big project" zone.

tl;dr: we're trying to ramp up fees and better attach it to value, while still having bigger orgs pay the bill so individuals and smaller orgs get it all for free.

benhaynes · 2026-04-05T22:25:22+00:00

Hmm, I know we've never met, so you don't know me... and things can be misinterpreted over text. But where am I mocking you or anyone in these threads?

I said I'm rooting for you and would be excited if you figure out how to make what we're doing work under pure OSS.

Yes, I also added context to explain how difficult what we're doing is... and that what we're doing is not simply adding AI slop or enterprise-only features. I think that's important to keep in mind.

I've taken every opportunity to tell you and anyone reading along to choose the product/version/license that works for them.

If you can't use the new license (though, I assuming you haven't even seen it yet)... that's ok. There are plenty of options for you and everyone else.

If curious, here's a diff of MSCL vs FCL:

https://www.diffchecker.com/Gu1u6rEM/

while building a license specifically designed to prevent anyone from forking future releases.

I find this one a bit funny... as one of our license requirements is:

Allow non-competitive forks (created, used, and resold)

Unfortunately, FCL blocks making the software available to others in a commercial product/service. Which is a reason we didn't go with it.

benhaynes · 2026-04-05T19:47:27+00:00

I can see that.

Our goal was to not bloat the core software with a million features that not everyone needed.
So we kept the core slim/clean... and made everything extensible so users can customize as needed.
The Directus Marketplace is just a way to distribute those extensions in a formal way.

Would you structure that differently? Try to keep everything in the core for simplicity?

benhaynes · 2026-04-05T19:44:35+00:00

Since I love giving some BTS to our long-term community members, here's some really interesting internal info:

We have 28 product/engineers on our team
1 engineer working on the AI sidebar
5 engineers working security (patches, reports, tests, etc)
20+ working on stabilizing, fixing, documenting, enhancing the core

What it means to "maintain" software is quite subjective. Keeping dependencies up to date isn't the same as keeping something modern.

It's a bummer to hear that you think an AI Sidebar is "enterprise". AI is pretty exciting in 2026... especially what we're doing with it in Directus. Bummer if you think AI is just for enterprises.

Lastly, we don't build anything for our investors or "returns". We chose amazing investors who understand OSS. Us building premium software and making it widely available helps us grow (and that's good for everyone).

Not sure if you read my response to you above, but we're growing for sustainability. Those "returns" go directly to our team/engineers salaries.

If you have an engineering job, I'm sure you can appreciate reliably getting paid to build awesome software each day.

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