> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.penthera.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sponsor tiers

# GitHub Sponsors tiers (proposal)

> **Project page.** For users and companies asking "how can I support Penthera,
> and what does that buy?"

Status: live on [GitHub Sponsors](https://github.com/sponsors/danoszz) since
28 October 2026. This page is the source of truth for what each tier gives;
the tier descriptions on GitHub follow it. Prices are in US dollars because
GitHub Sponsors tiers are priced in USD.

## Tiers

| Tier | Monthly | For | What you get |
| - | - | - | - |
| Individual | \$5 | People who use Penthera on their own projects | Thanks, and your name on the sponsors list on GitHub if you want it. |
| Supporter | \$25 | Freelancers and consultants who use Penthera for clients | The above, plus a mention in the release notes of the next minor release. |
| Startup | \$100 | Small teams and startups | The above, plus your name and a link in the README under "Sponsors". |
| Company | \$500 | Companies that rely on Penthera or build on it | The above, plus your logo in the README under "Sponsors", and a 30-minute call per quarter to talk through the roadmap. |

One-time sponsorships of any amount are also welcome.

## What sponsorship pays for

Maintainer time. Specifically, in rough order:

1. Keeping detection rules current: new AI provider key formats, new
   supply chain attack patterns, new checks for developer tooling.
2. Security fixes and releases for Penthera itself.
3. The roadmap in [ROADMAP.md](https://github.com/danoszz/penthera/blob/main/ROADMAP.md).

## What sponsorship does not buy

Written down so nobody is surprised:

* **No influence over findings.** Sponsors' products are scanned and reported
  the same way as everyone else's. A sponsor cannot have a rule removed or
  softened.
* **No roadmap control.** The quarterly call is a conversation, not a vote.
  Priorities stay set by evidence of what users need.
* **No support contract or SLA.** Penthera is maintained part-time. Bug reports
  are handled in public issues, in the order the maintainer judges best.
* **No early or private access to vulnerability information.** Security issues
  follow [SECURITY.md](https://github.com/danoszz/penthera/blob/main/SECURITY.md) for everyone.
* **No certification or endorsement.** A logo in the README means the company
  supports the project. It does not mean Penthera has assessed or approved that
  company's security, and the README will say so next to the logos.
* **No change to the principles.** No telemetry, offline first, MIT license.
  Sponsorship will never add a feature that sends data off the user's machine.

## Logo rules (Company tier)

* One logo, at most 160 px wide, in the README "Sponsors" section, linked to the
  company site.
* Logos are listed in the order sponsorships started.
* The logo is removed in the first README update after a sponsorship ends.
* The maintainer may decline or end a sponsorship, for example for a company
  whose product is malware or surveillance tooling. Any payment for a month not
  yet started is then refunded.

## Fees and money, for transparency

From the GitHub Sponsors docs: GitHub charges no fees on sponsorships from
personal accounts. Sponsorships from organization accounts carry up to 6% in
fees (3% card processing and 3% GitHub service fee; invoiced billing avoids the
card fee). Tier prices cannot be edited after publishing; a tier has to be
retired and replaced. Source:
[https://docs.github.com/en/sponsors/receiving-sponsorships-through-github-sponsors/about-github-sponsors-for-open-source-contributors](https://docs.github.com/en/sponsors/receiving-sponsorships-through-github-sponsors/about-github-sponsors-for-open-source-contributors)

The maintainer intends to publish a short yearly note on total sponsorship
income and what it paid for.

Penthera stays free and complete. Pro is a separate experiment that measures
whether teams need more; sponsorship is not tied to it
([GOVERNANCE.md](https://github.com/danoszz/penthera/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md#money)).

## Open questions for the maintainer

* Are $100 and $500 right for startups and companies? They are deliberately
  modest. Raise them if the first sponsors suggest so.
* Is a quarterly call something you want to commit to? If not, drop it from the
  Company tier before publishing, because published tiers cannot be edited.
* Check with a tax adviser how sponsorship income should be reported in the
  Netherlands before the first payout.


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