Introducing LibVLCSharp Commercial Licensing

Today we are introducing a Commercial License for LibVLCSharp, the .NET SDK for the multimedia and cross-platform LibVLC framework.

OSS Sustainability

I have written before on the topic of open-source sustainability. This is a subject I find personally very interesting and solutions to these problems can prove tricky.

Donations just do not work.

And for developer tools, another approach seems particularly fitting: Dual licensing.

Dual licensing

LibVLCSharp packages (and LibVLC) will remain licensed under the LGPL2.1 license. However, an additional Commercial License is now available for commercial .NET users.

This is very much like the approach our friends at Six Labors, makers of ImageSharp¹, have chosen, and I believe it strikes a good balance between keeping an open and accessible license for individual developers, and inviting companies who critically rely on open-source projects to contribute financially.

Pricing

Our initial pricing is a single plan set at 99$/year per developer² (including VAT).

We may introduce additional plans in the future, depending on your feedback. This is very competitive pricing considering the years of work that have already been put in LibVLCSharp (not to mention LibVLC), and the additional guarantees you will get for that small price:

• priority support,
• priority bug fixes, feature requests and documentation improvements,
• continuous updates of the current and future NuGet packages.

If your company builds commercial products using LibVLCSharp, we strongly encourage you to purchase one (or several) LibVLCSharp Commercial Licenses. Doing so will help support the project’s long term viability.

¹ Btw, we have a nice and short LibVLCSharp/ImageSharp code sample!

² If you require special pricing plans, such as Enterprise or Non-Profit, feel free to contact us.