Noodl is transitioning to a completely free open-source model. Here are a few things you might be interested in about the changes and why we're moving this way.

Why:

Last year we announced our plans to release as an open source platform. At the time platform adoption was accelerating significantly, with extended periods of time seeing up to 50% month-on-month growth in key areas like time on platform and new users. Unfortunately, revenue growth has been slower and the capital markets slowed, and investors openness to non-revenue based growth metrics disappeared - a massive change from just a year prior.

The road to pivoting the company is a long one. Our bets on community-based revenue or expansion into SMEs haven't materialized in a meaningful way. Bootstrapping the company through expert services leaves little to no margin for platform development, and creates a conflict of interest with our solution channels.

Long story short, in order to give Noodl a future, we need to take a more radical leap - if there's not a great way to fund the project from within our team, let's accelerate our open source plans, and take the big leap to a free open source model, where the future will be driven not just by us, but by community and commercial actors alike.

Despite the revenue challenges, Noodl is one of the most mature and powerful platforms available. While we know it's no simple path, with community engagement Noodl should be seen as a leading alternative in the low-code sector.

Open Source Release & Hosting Changes:

Presently, all focus is on the editor release targeting the end of January, 2024. We are having discussions with key contributors and partners as well, but those will become more public as we near that date.

• Release Date: The open source version of Noodl is scheduled for public release at the end of January.
• Hosting Services: Post-transition, Noodl will no longer offer hosting services. We will provide detailed migration guides by mid-January to help you manage your hosting and deployment.
• Hosting Transition Period: We'll continue hosting services until March 31, 2024. Post-January, these services will utilize the existing commercial build of Noodl, which will be deprecated in favor of the open-source release.

Licensing and Monetization:

• GPL Licensing: Most of the Noodl editor codebase will likely be released under the GPL license, encouraging community contributions and core software alignment.
• Forks and Plugins: You're free to create forks. We anticipate directing the project towards a plugin-friendly platform, which would enable proprietary plugin development and monetization.

Contributing to Noodl:

• Code Contributors: Contribute to the editor's core or create modules and templates. Technical requirements vary based on the contribution type.
• Community Contributors: Assist with Discord/forum administration, events, and marketing activities.
• Contribution Opportunities: We'll release a backlog of tasks on Github as we make the release at the end of January.

Management and Governance:

• Founding Team's Role: Mikael, Michael, Anders, and James will continue guiding Noodl. This project is driven by our belief in Noodl's value, not as a revenue source.
• Expanding Leadership: We're actively seeking advisory and founding members to bolster our leadership team.

Communication and Timeline:

• Operational Focus: We're dedicated to meeting our January release goals.
• Community Engagement: Office hours on our Discord server will resume in January (exact date TBD). Join the conversation [here](Discord Link).

Your support and involvement are crucial during this transition. We're enthusiastic about Noodl's future as a community-driven, open-source platform.

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