OpenAlternative: open source alternatives, $6K MRR: #1 on Hacker News

OpenAlternative is a community-driven directory of open source alternatives to proprietary software and applications. Its $6K MRR is verified through the payment provider's API by TrustMRR (Stripe), as of September 30, 2026.

What it actually sells

OpenAlternative is a community-driven list of open source alternatives to proprietary software and applications. It curates open source alternatives to everyday SaaS products and describes the collection as hand-picked for reliable tools.

The directory provides filters, ordering controls and a health score based on repository metrics, age, activity and verification. The health score determines each open source project's ranking.

How it charges

The pages we read do not state a price. OpenAlternative has 23 active subscriptions, but the pages provide no currency amounts.

Month by month

Monthly revenue as read from the payment provider by TrustMRR, in US dollars, as of September 30, 2026.

Month	Revenue (USD)
2025-10	$9,080
2025-11	$6,178
2025-12	$5,161
2026-01	$5,432
2026-02	$6,885
2026-03	$6,314
2026-04	$5,962
2026-05	$7,851
2026-06	$4,101
2026-07	$4,916
2026-08	$6,582
2026-09	$5,520

Where customers come from

The site reports 100k unique visitors in one week and #1 on Hacker News. It also displays a newsletter subscription and says it is trusted by 12K+ people.

The site accepts community listing submissions and says it is supported by partners and sponsors. It also includes an advertising invitation: "Advertise with us".

What stands out

OpenAlternative reports that over 1 million users replaced their proprietary tools with open source software. It says the site reached #1 on Hacker News and recorded 100k unique visitors in one week.

The site combines a community-driven directory with ranking controls. Project health is calculated with a straightforward algorithm using repository metrics, age, activity and verification.

From the official site

OpenAlternative is a community driven list of open source alternatives to proprietary software and applications.

OpenAlternative uses a straightforward algorithm to calculate the health score of each open source project, which determines its ranking.

100k unique visitors in one week, #1 on Hacker News

Excerpts from the official website, fetched October 1, 2026.

Where it sits in the data

OpenAlternative's $6K MRR is higher than 91% of the 5,602 projects with payment-verified revenue in our dataset; the median across them is $150. Within the “Dev Tools” category (717 projects) it is higher than 94% (category median $100). Snapshot: 2026-09-02 to 2026-09-30. The dataset only covers founders who chose to publish their numbers, so it leans toward businesses that work; use it for scale, not as an average.

Currency

All figures are in US dollars as published. A rough yuan or euro conversion is not applied here because prices, taxes and acquisition costs differ by country.

Could you build something like this?

In my view, the demand is concentrated among people searching for alternatives to proprietary software products and applications. The buyer is a user looking for an open source service, while the distribution surface would need to reach that search intent.

Building the directory would require maintaining listings, keeping ranking inputs current and handling community submissions. The harder parts are ongoing curation, support load and competing for attention in a crowded discovery market; regulation is not the main challenge shown by the pages.

Verdict: Needs real work.

One thing to take from it

A directory can pair a community submission flow with ranking signals that make open source projects easier to compare. The visible product surface centers on search, filters, project health and newsletter distribution.

Sources

OpenAlternative official website, fetched October 1, 2026
OpenAlternative about page, fetched October 1, 2026
TrustMRR: revenue verified through the payment provider's API by TrustMRR (Stripe), as of September 30, 2026

Revenue, team and start-cost figures are what the founder reported at the interview date, not current figures and not a prediction of what you will earn. Product and pricing facts come from the business's own website as checked on 30 September 2026. Method & sources · Disclosure