I maintain a wordpress plugin that is actively used by 50,000+ websites and makes me $10,000+/month. Here's what has worked for me. - Provide a paid version +

I maintain a wordpress plugin that is actively used by 50,000+ websites and makes me $10,000+/month. Here's what has worked for me. - Provide a paid version + support: The free version on its own does everything. The paid version saves you time. I have a full time support staff that helps Premium customers (they get first priority) as well as Free customers but we won't hop on a call and provide you one-on-one support. That's simply not sustainable. - I've got bills: As much as I would love to provide everything for free, I can't. I don't have another job, maintaning the plugin and charging for support is how I make money. - Put money to good use: I use the money I make from the paid version to improve the free version. That way, its a win-win situation for all the parties involved.