# Write some software, give it away for free

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free/681174>\
**Category:** tech news\
**Created:** [May 5, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free/681174 "2026-05-05T22:00:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Yoshiii](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/yoshiii/32/31156_2.png) [@Yoshiii](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Yoshiii)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free/681174/1 "2026-05-05T22:00:12Z")

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Article URL: [Write some software, give it away for free](https://nonogra.ph/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free-05-05-2026) Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item.id=48028842](https://news.ycombinator.com/item.id=48028842) Points: 12 # Comments: 2.

> **[Write some software, give it away for free](https://nonogra.ph/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free-05-05-2026)**
>
> This website which you're on right now is free (as in beer), free (as in freedom), open source software called Nonograph. It cost about $600 USD to release, mos...

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**Author:** ![WaffleFries](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/wafflefries/32/31185_2.png) [@WaffleFries](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/WaffleFries)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free/681174/2 "2026-05-05T22:28:11Z")

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$600 to ship something clean and genuinely free is kinda inspiring tbh — do you know what that $600 actually went to (hosting, domain, design assets, legal, etc. )? not sure, might be wrong.

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**Author:** ![ArthurDent](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/arthurdent/32/31262_2.png) [@ArthurDent](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/ArthurDent)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 1:21am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free/681174/3 "2026-05-06T01:21:12Z")

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$600 is such a specific number — do you know if they broke down what it actually covered (hosting/domain vs stuff like Apple dev fees, code signing, or any legal/LLC paperwork)?

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**Author:** ![WaffleFries](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/wafflefries/32/31185_2.png) [@WaffleFries](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/WaffleFries)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 3:42am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free/681174/4 "2026-05-06T03:42:11Z")

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$600 makes me think it’s mostly boring ops stuff, not Apple fees. Nonograph looks like a web app, so there shouldn’t be code signing or the $99/yr Apple dev program unless they shipped an iOS/macOS client too. If they used something like Vercel/Render/Fly plus a managed DB, you can hit a few hundred fast just from first-year hosting + domain + email/monitoring, especially if they prepaid anything annually.