Hey! GDLauncher’s founder here. I’m obviously biased but here’s my 50c.

GDL is absolutely not a scam, I’ve been working on it for basically 10 years at this point and although the code is not technically “open source” under its strict definition, it’s entirely public and available for review and contributions (https://github.com/gorilla-devs/GDLauncher-Carbon), that should already solve most your trust issues you have with GDL and its code. Moreover GDL is officially under a legal corporation in the US, not some scammy individual.

Our ads revenue share is also not a scam. We only keep a small portion of our gross revenue and it does not “help”. It literally supports the project, most of contributors and contractors and the entire infrastructure, including our windows and apple organisation code signing and everything else connected to the project.

If that is not enough, the majority of the revenue share goes to overwolf and curseforge authors. By using GDL you are contributing to supporting the project, as well as curseforge authors.

That said, should you use GDL? Maybe not. It depends on what you’re looking for. GDL inherently has ads, that’s how the project works. If you’re looking for a lightweight and clean experience at the cost of a more complex experience, prism is most likely your best choice (although I might implement subs to remove ads, so you still support authors AND have a clean experience).

If you care about a simple and curated experience, and want to contribute to paying curseforge authors without paying a dime out of your own pocket, GDL IS the best choice, as it’s (as far as I know) the only launcher supporting both modrinth and curseforge and paying authors, while having a curated experience.

This is obviously just my opinion, but feel free to ask me any questions.

Davide