Opportunities › Crowdfunded open-source software development › Proposed app
Bountyard
Pledge money to the bug or feature you need. Maintainers get paid when it merges.
- Score
- 58
- confidence 38
- Evidence
- 3
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 1
- named in sources
- First version
- 35 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop app
- PWA: runs in the browser, installs on Mac and Windows
- Market since
- 2002
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop app: Maintainers claim work, scope tasks and manage escrow through detailed forms; pledgers browse issues and confirm merges in a task board view. Sample screens on a computer, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Mail client tasks
4 open tasks$1,240
About this appAI proposal
Bountyard lets people who use open-source software put money behind a specific bug fix or feature. Pledges are held in escrow and released to the maintainer once the work is merged and pledgers have had a short window to confirm.
It is built for maintainers who want paid, scoped work instead of sporadic donations, and for users tired of working around a bug that never gets fixed. Each task page shows what is asked, the total pledged and who is working on it.
Unlike a plain donation, a pledge is tied to an outcome. If nothing is merged by the deadline, pledgers can take their money back or move it to another task.
- Tagline
- Fund the fix you need. Pay when it ships.
- Voice
- PlainFairDirect
- Why this name
- A bounty is money offered for a result, and a yard is a shared place where work gets done. Two plain words that say what happens here.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Pledge to one issue
Link a bug or feature request, set an amount and add it to the pot. Others can top it up, so the total shows how much people care.
No member yet
Escrow until merged
Funds stay held until the maintainer's fix is merged. Pledgers are not paying for promises.
No member yet
Task board with amounts
Every project lists open tasks sorted by funding, so maintainers see what users value most.
No member yet
Maintainer claim and scope
A maintainer claims a task, states what will be delivered and sets a target date. Pledgers see it before work starts.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#1F5D4APine · primary#F7F4ECPaper · surface#1D2622Ink · text#E8A317Amber · accent#6B8F71Moss · data
Typography
Aa
Bountyard
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Fund the fix you need. Pay when it ships.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices. The 5-15% commission comes from the opportunity's monetization idea. The tiers and the $12 price are a starting point to test.
Backer
Free
- Pledge to any listed task
- Refund or reroute on expiry
- Pay the pledge plus card fees
Maintainer
Free
- List a project and claim tasks
- 10% commission on released funds
- README funding badge
Maintainer Plus
$12 a month
- Lower 6% commission on releases
- Project analytics
- Notifications on new pledges
- Priority support
Would you pay Maintainer Plus · $12 a month?
Your answer tells PWAS which prices people accept. It changes no score.
No answers yet.
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Shared outputs. Each task has a public page and a README badge. Maintainers and backers share the link in the issue thread, so other users of the project see the pot and can pledge or list their own project.
- Do they become customers?
- Visitors to a task page are likely users of that project and can become backers. Test how many who see a badge or issue link pledge, and how many maintainers then list their own project.
- First customers
- Maintainers of mid-sized open-source desktop and developer tools with long-open, much-upvoted bugs, and their active users.
- Where to reach them
- Issue threads: Find issues with many upvotes and ask maintainers to open a funded task, then invite commenters to pledge.
- Hacker News: Post a Show HN with a live board of real funded tasks, building on the discussion that asked for this.
- Maintainer communities: Offer a free launch to a few projects in open-source Discords and forums, and learn their payout needs.
- First milestone
- Ten real tasks across five projects, each funded by at least three backers, and three payouts released after merge.
Why people already pay for this
- Public claimUsers want a mechanism to fund specific bug fixes or features in open-source software.
- Public claimUsers encounter persistent bugs in open-source software that consume significant time and effort to work around.
- Public claimThe proposed system would display development tasks with associated funding amounts.
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Escrow paymentsStripe Connect with delayed payoutsHolds pledges and pays maintainers in many countries; needs onboarding and payout checks.
- This app · Code host linkGitHub and GitLab apps and webhooksRead issues and detect merged pull requests to open the confirmation window.
RisksAI inference
- RegulatoryHolding funds for others may need money-transmitter or marketplace licensing, plus tax forms for maintainers. Stripe Connect may cover much of it; legal review is needed before launch.
- CommercialTwo-sided cold start: pledges need maintainers, and maintainers need pledges. The evidence is only public claims on Hacker News, so willingness to pay is untested.
- CommercialPaid bounties can distort priorities or crowd out volunteers. Some maintainers may refuse paid tasks, and large projects may prefer their own funding channels.
- PlatformDepends on GitHub and GitLab APIs and webhooks. Changes to their terms or rate limits could break merge detection.
- TechnicalDeciding that a fix is done is subjective. Disputes, partial fixes and regressions need clear rules, or trust in the escrow breaks.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.