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Show HN: Reflio – Open-source affiliate program creator for SaaS

reflio.com

21–30 of 58 posts

Re: Show HN: Reflio – Open-source affiliate program creator for SaaS

#21
post #11

What exactly makes this privacy first?

You can enable “privacy mode” in your Reflio script, where it will automatically request that users based in the EU confirm that they accept the use of cookies (it’ll show a small popup banner asking the user to confirm consent).

All data is processed in the EU, and our company is registered in the UK.

Re: Show HN: Reflio – Open-source affiliate program creator for SaaS

#23
post #22

I’m sorry guys, but you will need to work out the pricing. The existing solutions offer much better functionality and being managed-hosted for the same price.

Hey thank you for your feedback - I agree, it’s still early days, but in terms of being the same price I don’t think that’s quite right. We’re about 30-60% cheaper than other solutions right now. Our solution is also managed, so you get your own affiliate signup page and affiliate dashboard etc.

Our landing and pricing page isn’t as clear as it needs to be right now, I will be updating it soon with all of the different functionality we offer that’s also unique.

Re: Show HN: Reflio – Open-source affiliate program creator for SaaS

#24
post #14

I tried an affiliate service called LeadDyno recently for my SaaS. A lot of the companies I looked at all have very similar pricing (starting around ~$50/mo), but not all of them worked with Stripe promo codes, which I needed for my app. I ended up cancelling my account when I found out that affiliates were only getting attributed for the first purchase, and not subsequent charges on the subscription. Now I use a cus…

Hey thank you for your comment! Ah yeah that’s annoying about the attribution problem. With Reflio, you can define how you long you want your affiliate to keep receiving commission for on subscription payments. Default is 12 months. So for each payment taken in the subscription, your affiliate will continue to be paid out :)

We do support promo codes right now but it’s manual, however, a direct sync with your available Stripe coupons in the future would be cool. I’ll get it added to the roadmap!

Re: Show HN: Reflio – Open-source affiliate program creator for SaaS

#25
post #15
post #12

Your license is very sketchy considering this product is aimed at businesses. You have parts of the app licensed under a proprietary license called "ENTERPRISE" and other parts licensed under GPL. I suggest you either separate those into specific repos or stop calling it "open source".

We’ve taken our commercial open-source licensing from other larger commercial open-source products. I think it’s fair. The licensing states that you’re allowed to use Reflio 100% for free, as long as you keep the codebase in a public repository. Otherwise, if you want to use Reflio in a closed repo, you have to obtain a commercial license.

Can you clarify, is everything in your repo (https://github.com/Reflio-com/reflio) AGPL like it says in the readme, or are there parts of the repo under a different license, as this file seems to imply- https://github.com/Reflio-com/reflio/blob/main/apps/reflio/L...? I don't see any license header or anything else that would indicate that some files are under a different license?

Second, what license is the Reflio referral tracking script under? It appears that this script should be integrated into the SaaS product itself? Having that script AGPL would be a poison pill that no sane non-AGPL SaaS would swallow.

Re: Show HN: Reflio – Open-source affiliate program creator for SaaS

#26
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’ve taken our commercial open-source licensing from other larger commercial open-source products. I think it’s fair. The licensing states that you’re allowed to use Reflio 100% for free, as long as you keep the codebase in a public repository. Otherwise, if you want to use Reflio in a closed repo, you have to obtain a commercial license.

Can you clarify, is everything in your repo ( https://github.com/Reflio-com/reflio ) AGPL like it says in the readme, or are there parts of the repo under a different license, as this file seems to imply- https://github.com/Reflio-com/reflio/blob/main/apps/reflio/L... ? I don't see any license header or anything else that would indicate that some files are under a different license? Second, what license is the Reflio…

Hey thank you for your comment. I took the idea of Reflio’s licensing from other larger commercial open-source products, but I understand now that it’s a bit confusing.

The idea was that Reflio is 100% free to self-host in your own public repo. If you wish to make the code private, then you need to purchase a commercial license. That’s how I plan to set up the licensing. I’ll be changing the licensing file and README shortly to reflect this.

Re: Show HN: Reflio – Open-source affiliate program creator for SaaS

#27
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify, is everything in your repo ( https://github.com/Reflio-com/reflio ) AGPL like it says in the readme, or are there parts of the repo under a different license, as this file seems to imply- https://github.com/Reflio-com/reflio/blob/main/apps/reflio/L... ? I don't see any license header or anything else that would indicate that some files are under a different license? Second, what license is the Reflio…

Hey thank you for your comment. I took the idea of Reflio’s licensing from other larger commercial open-source products, but I understand now that it’s a bit confusing. The idea was that Reflio is 100% free to self-host in your own public repo. If you wish to make the code private, then you need to purchase a commercial license. That’s how I plan to set up the licensing. I’ll be changing the licensing file and README…

Looking at cal.com, which I noticed you said is what you are basing this on, it appears they are 100% AGPL... the other license file in your repo seems to imply that some of your code is not AGPL... but it isn't clear what that might be.

The AGPL on everything should accomplish that, and you can just note that commercial licenses are available for those wanting to keep their fork private.

But I suggest you license any javascript or client side libraries under a more permissive license, probably MIT or similiar-- because your SaaS customers probably don't want to make their entire SaaS app AGPL (Unless you only want to serve AGPL licensed SaaS customers). I think you use Sentry- look at the way they have their server under a NOT open source-available license, but the client libraries are under a permissive open source license- you can have the server under the AGPL, while using a more permissive library on the client libraries.

Beyond that, you should consider that there are many successful open source companies that use more permissive Open Source licenses and many companies that refuse to even consider AGPL licenses software. Personally not a huge fan of the AGPL due to to many uncertainties involved with it.

It is your project and you can license it however you want, and I appreciate that you have chosen an Open Source license, even if it is the AGPL. I just want to help you be more clear about the licensing and maybe put some consideration into if the AGPL is really the right license, rather than just following others :)

Also, consider that you can state your intent in the readme and that is great- you should- but it is the license that companies look to to decide if they want to use it or not, and generally to determine what they can and can't do

Re: Show HN: Reflio – Open-source affiliate program creator for SaaS

#29
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey thank you for your comment. I took the idea of Reflio’s licensing from other larger commercial open-source products, but I understand now that it’s a bit confusing. The idea was that Reflio is 100% free to self-host in your own public repo. If you wish to make the code private, then you need to purchase a commercial license. That’s how I plan to set up the licensing. I’ll be changing the licensing file and README…

Looking at cal.com, which I noticed you said is what you are basing this on, it appears they are 100% AGPL... the other license file in your repo seems to imply that some of your code is not AGPL... but it isn't clear what that might be. The AGPL on everything should accomplish that, and you can just note that commercial licenses are available for those wanting to keep their fork private. But I suggest you license an…

One other thing to consider is a CLA- if you plan to accept contributions from outsiders, and you stick with AGPL+Commercial, you will want any contributors to sign a CLA that grants you the right to sell their contributions under the commercial license. This would be a hard stop for me, and others like me, to contributing to the code... but is necessary if you want to accept outside contributions while offering a commercial license option. (Another good reason not to use the AGPL, if you want to encourage community development- many commercial open source products simply forbid outside contributions of code, though, or don't care about outside contributors).
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