Service-based monetization may be simpler for open AI models than revenue sharing

A service-based model may be a simpler way to monetize open AI models than revenue sharing, according to an assessment based on MongoDB’s experience. MongoDB made the core product free for developers and charged for management tools, but drawing the line between free and paid features was difficult: giving away too much constrained monetization, while giving away too little could slow adoption.

Offering the product as a service made usage billable. Customers were described as paying $10 a month or “$1 million $100 a month”—an unclear figure—and could still download and run the product themselves. For AI models, concerns about intellectual-property rights may lead users to run models on-premises. Revenue sharing then raises questions about how much to pay; auditing users was described as infeasible, leaving the arrangement dependent on trust.