 | |
Type of site | Crowdfunding platform |
|---|---|
| Available in | 30+ languages[1] |
| URL | liberapay |
| Launched | February 3, 2016; 9 years ago (2016-02-03) |
Content license | open-source software, mostlyCC0 andMIT licensed[2] |
| Written in | Python |
Liberapay is a non-profit platform for recurrent donations.[3][4] It is maintained by a non-profit organization of the same name, registered inQuerrien,France in 2015.
Liberapay is primarily aimed at fundingfree and open-source software,artists andcontent creators, though other uses are allowed.[5]
The service doesn't charge a fee on donations.
There is agit repository for both its source code and the non-profit organization's information.[6][7]
The service does not charge a fee on donations, aside from that required by the underlyingpayment processors. Instead, Liberapay is supported by donations handled by its own service.[4][8] As of October 2020, Liberapay used payment processorsPayPal andStripe.[9][10]
Liberapay has been compared to Patreon.[11] Unlike other crowdfunding platforms, Liberapay does not allow creators to reward their patrons. This difference in the nature of the transactions has tax implications. For example,Patreon collectsVAT on all payments made from inside theEuropean Union[12] whereas Liberapay does not.[13]
Started in 2015 in France, Liberapay began as an open-sourcefork of the now-defunctUS-based platform Gratipay.com (originally known as Gittip), which had undergone changes after facing legal issues.[14] At the end of that year, the operators of the platform established a nonprofit organization under the1901 law of associations.[15]
Initially, Liberapay's only supported currency was theeuro. Support for theUS dollar was added in December 2017 (one month after Gratipay announced that it would shut down);[16] support for 31 other currencies was added in 2018.[17]
In 2018, Liberapay had to respond to Mangopay withdrawing its services as payment processor.[18][19] Support for two other payment processors was added, but the way the platform works had to change.[20] In the same yearMedium briefly suspended the organisation's blog account, claiming they were publishing articles aboutcryptocurrencies.[21]
In January 2021, Liberapay announced donations reached €8000 per week, a 150% year over year increase, with 5977 patrons and 912 creators.[22][23]
In 2022, Liberapay started usingmachine translation services to automatically complete the translations of its website.[24]
In 2018, Jason van Gumster writing forRedHat's Opensource said distinguishing factors of Liberapay were target audience, Open Source, lack of fees on payments, and non-profit status.[25]F-Droid announced support for Liberapay and integration of support for apps.[26]
Liberapay was one of six funding platforms recommended by Elaine A. Clark in her 2020 bookVoice-Overs for Podcasting: How to Develop a Career and Make a Profit.[27]
