At 10k stars you finally have a real audience — and a real obligation to run sponsorship like a small business. Two anchors hold the tension: Astro raised $836k all-time on Open Collective and Vite raised $162k — both with clean tier ladders and standalone sponsor pages. But komorebi (~10k stars) made only ~$155/mo in 2024 because it did no active sales. 10k stars still requires active sales. Stars are an audience proxy, not a vending machine.
All prices below are estimate / reference only — the 10000-star row of ../data/pricing-benchmarks.yml. Real drivers are unique monthly visitors (GitHub Traffic) + package downloads + audience-to-sponsor fit.
Anchor your ladder to the two cleanest public structures: Vite (Bronze $50 / Silver $150 / Gold $500) and Astro (Gold $250 / Platinum $1,000 / Exclusive $10,000). A realistic 10k-star program (slots from ../data/sponsor-types.yml; prices estimate / reference only):
| Tier | USD/mo (est.) | Inventory included | Mirrors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | $50 | README bottom text line | Vite Bronze $50 |
| Silver | $150 | README bottom logo (grid) | Vite Silver $150 |
| Gold | $500 | README top banner + release note | Vite Gold $500 |
| Platinum | $1,000 | Gold + docs site ad + featured on sponsor page | Astro Platinum $1,000 |
Astro's $10,000/mo "Exclusive" tier and Tailwind's $5,000/mo Partner tier are out of reach for most 10k-star repos — they require a flagship-brand pull most projects never get. Don't publish an Exclusive tier you can't fill; an empty top tier makes the ladder look broken.
Annual modifier (est.): annual paid yearly = ~10–12× monthly, discounted 15–20%. Sponsors prefer annual for budgeting; offer it from day one. See ../data/pricing-benchmarks.yml deal_model_modifiers.
Tier labels (Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum) do not belong inside the README. That is the dominant convention: Vue, Vite, Astro, and Homebrew all render a remotely-hosted dynamic logo grid in the README and keep the actual tier ladder on an external sponsor page. The README never needs editing — logos flow in from a sponsors endpoint/JSON. See ../data/sponsor-types.yml sponsor_page and readme_bottom_logo.
Build your-repo.tld/sponsors as the single source of truth. README links to it; the page renders tiers, goals, the public budget ledger, and the dynamic logo grid.
# Sponsors
Thank you to the companies and individuals keeping [your-repo] sustainable.
## Goals (this quarter)
- [ ] Fund [N] days/month of maintenance ($[X])
- [ ] Sponsor [contributor name]'s work on [area]
- [ ] Cover infra: CI runners, docs hosting (~$[X]/mo)
## Tiers
| Tier | USD/mo | Inventory |
|------|--------|-----------|
| Bronze | $50 | README text line |
| Silver | $150 | README logo grid |
| Gold | $500 | Top banner + release note |
| Platinum | $1,000 | Gold + docs ad + featured here |
## Public budget
Hosted on Open Collective (transparent ledger):
https://opencollective.com/[your-collective]
## Logo grid
<!-- Logos render dynamically from /api/sponsors.json — never edit this by hand. -->
<img src="/api/sponsors.svg" alt="Sponsors" />- Public ledger: use Open Collective (free Discover plan, transparent income+expenses) or Open Source Collective (US 501(c)(6), tax-deductible for US sponsors in many cases, automated 990s). 10k+ stars is exactly where a fiscal host pays for itself.
- Dynamic SVG grid: generate from a sponsors JSON endpoint so the README/page updates without commits. This is the Vue/Astro/Homebrew norm; a static grid you hand-edit rots.
## Sponsors
[your-repo] is sustained by our sponsors. 💛
[](https://your-repo.tld/sponsors)
[Become a sponsor](https://your-repo.tld/sponsor) · [Public budget](https://opencollective.com/your-collective)Two of six sampled repos (Tailwind, esbuild) keep the README minimal and route sponsorship entirely externally — also a legitimate "no-README-sponsor-block" pattern. Either works; pick one and be consistent.
At 10k stars your docs site likely clears the ~50,000 monthly pageview floor. Add EthicalAds — it is the privacy-first, dev-only default (cookie-free, one ad per page, above the fold, no newsletter/README/podcast placement).
Revenue math (estimate / reference only):
monthly_revenue ≈ monthly_pageviews / 1000 × ~$2.50
- EthicalAds publisher revshare = 70%, effective ~$2.25–$2.75 CPM (mid ~$2.50) for EU+NA traffic. Min payout $50 (PayPal / OpenCollective / GitHub Sponsors / Stripe bank).
- Worked numbers:
| Docs pageviews/mo | Est. revenue/mo (~$2.50 CPM) |
|---|---|
| 100,000 | ~$250 |
| 200,000 | ~$500 |
| 500,000 | ~$1,250 |
The docs-site-ad estimate grid for 10k stars is $300–1,500/mo — consistent with the CPM math at 120k–600k pageviews. This is the most honest dollar at any tier: it's tied to actual traffic, not a star proxy. See
docs_site_adin ../data/sponsor-types.yml.
Carbon Ads (carbonads.NET) is the curated, sales-assisted alternative — advertiser entry $5,000–$10,000/mo over 60–90 days, 350+ hand-picked dev sites, $120M+ paid to publishers cumulatively. Realistically you graduate to Carbon (it approaches you / you apply and are vetted) once your docs traffic is substantial; you do not self-serve onto it. Publisher payout terms are not public.
BuySellAds (buysellads.com) is the parent umbrella (Carbon + Coin.Network are sub-networks) for multi-format deals (email/native/sponsored/display/podcast/custom) — relevant only if you also run a newsletter or podcast; no pricing transparency, contact required.
| Project | Stars (approx) | Sponsorship outcome | Lesson |
|---|---|---|---|
| komorebi | ~10k | $1,861.88/yr (~$155/mo; range $92→$229) | 10k stars ≈ $155/mo with no active sales. The single most important anchor in this file. |
| Astro | 10k+ | $836,294.61 all-time; ~$438k/yr est.; tiers up to $10,000/mo | Clean tier ladder + standalone page + fiscal host = the ceiling for a well-run program. |
| Vite | 10k+ | $162,400.34 all-time; ~$102k/yr est.; Bronze $50 → Gold $500 | A simpler ladder also works; you don't need an Exclusive tier. |
| Sentry | n/a (giver) | $155k→$750k/yr OSS outflow; $2,000/engineer/yr via Open Source Pledge | What a sponsor budgets — useful when you pitch enterprise prospects. |
| PostHog | n/a (giver) | ~$6,609/mo across tailwindcss/Django/rrweb/Tiptap | Real enterprise per-project spend sits in the $500–$2,500/mo band — i.e., your Gold/Platinum tiers. |
Takeaway: the same 10k-star footprint can yield ~$155/mo or ~$10,000/mo depending entirely on whether you run active outbound. Build the program, then sell it.
- GitHub Sponsors (org account): up to 6% = 3% card + 3% service; the 3% card fee is removed with invoiced billing — push org sponsors to invoiced billing to drop to 3%. Max 10 one-time + 10 monthly tiers, max $12,000/mo, prices immutable after publish (retire + recreate to change). Mainland China not supported (HK/Macau SAR are). See ../data/platforms.yml.
- Open Collective / Open Source Collective: the public ledger + 501(c)(6) fiscal host. At 10k stars this is table stakes for enterprise credibility. Multi-country/currency payouts, automated 990s.
- EthicalAds on the docs site (above).
- .github/FUNDING.yml:
github(single or array up to 4) +open_collective+custom(array up to 4, quoted if it contains a colon) pointing to/sponsorand/media-kit. See the project's .github/FUNDING.yml. - thanks.dev / StackAid: inbound channels for sponsors who want to fund your whole dependency tree automatically. thanks.dev takes 5% commission; StackAid subscriptions from $15/mo, self-cap 7.5%. Real corporate adoption: Canonical committed $120k/12mo across 358 users/orgs via thanks.dev. List them as supplementary inbound, not your primary rail.
Even at 10k stars, inbound alone = komorebi's $155/mo. Run the first-50-DMs plan continuously, scaled up:
- Maintain a rolling 50-prospect pipeline, scored with ../tools/sponsor-fit-score.md (pursue 61–100).
- 3-touch-then-close cadence (initial → +4d → +9d → close), tracked in ../tools/outreach-checklist.md.
- Tier your outreach: pitch Gold/Platinum to
ecosystem/devrel/company_directprospects; pitch Bronze/Silver to individuals and small users. - Publish a sponsor case study (4–6 paragraphs) after each Platinum deal — it compounds.
- No Carbon Ads self-serve. You apply and are vetted; it's sales-assisted with a $5k–$10k/mo advertiser floor.
- No newsletter revenue without a list. The newsletter slot is $1,000–2,500/issue (est.) at 10k stars — but only if you actually publish to tens of thousands of subscribers. JavaScript Weekly's $3,590/issue sits at 179,802 subs / 41% open. No list, no slot.
- No Exclusive-tier money without flagship pull. Astro's $10k/mo and Tailwind's $5k/mo require brand gravity most 10k repos lack.
Bottom line: at 10k stars, ship the tier ladder + standalone sponsor page + EthicalAds on docs, then keep selling. The program is the easy part; the outbound is what separates komorebi's $155/mo from Astro's $400k/yr.