# HTTP Toolkit is joining the Open Source Pledge

DevFeed: [HTTP Toolkit is joining the Open Source Pledge](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/http-toolkit-is-joining-the-open-source-pledge-19091.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://httptoolkit.com/blog/open-source-funding-pledge/>)

Author: HTTP Toolkit; Tim Perry

Published: 2024-12-31T15:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [HTTP Toolkit](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/http-toolkit.md>)

Topics: [Open Source](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/open-source.md>), [Maintainers](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/maintainers.md>), [Software](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software.md>)

Tags: [announcements](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/announcements.md>), [business](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/business.md>), [dependencies](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/dependencies.md>), [funding](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/funding.md>), [maintainers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/maintainers.md>), [open-source](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/open-source.md>), [open-source-software](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/open-source-software.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>)

## AI overview

HTTP Toolkit announces that it is joining the Open Source Pledge, committing to publicly fund the maintainers of the open-source software it depends on at a minimum of $2,000 per full-time developer annually.

## Source excerpt

The Open Source Pledge is a new push to make companies commit to funding the maintainers of the open-source software they depend on, and to publicly recognize the ones that do. HTTP Toolkit has donated back to maintainers for a few years now, but joining the Open Source Pledge today means formally committing to that, and to doing so publicly with a sustainable minimum level ($2000 per full-time developer, or higher) indefinitely into the future. What is the Open Source Pledge? HTTP Toolkit (and effectively 100% of other software businesses) depends on a huge quantity of open-source code for much of its fundamental functionality & infrastructure. Most of this is tirelessly maintained by volunteers, completely for free. Astonishingly, that basically works, and we've built an entire software industry on top of it. But it's not a fair deal, and over the years it has become increasingly clear that businesses replying on people maintaining their critical dependencies for free is not a good or sustainable approach (for either the businesses or the maintainers' mental health). Plenty of important open-source projects have been abandoned as maintainers moved on with their lives, while some have been actively removed entirely or even replaced with malicious content. For businesses these are big problems, but for maintainers it's not reasonable to expect that they'll continue actively supporting their projects for free indefinitely just because your business chose to use it. There have been many attempts to fix this, from the organizational (internally forking key dependencies, avoiding dependencies entirely where possible) to the purely technical (dependency locking & mirroring, security scanning of new releases). At the end of the day though, the only real solution to open source sustainability is to fund the maintainers you depend on. The Open Source Pledge aims to commit businesses to doing this, and to build a wider culture where that becomes the norm. The actual mechanis