For over a decade, LibrePCB stood as a passion project for electrical engineer @ubruhin, developed during nights and weekends while he maintained a traditional engineering career. But in 2022, disillusioned with profit-driven corporate priorities, he made a pivotal decision: quitting his stable job to focus entirely on building a "proper open-source EDA tool"—despite having no clear income strategy. This marked the beginning of an unconventional three-year journey through grants, freelance work, and legal restructuring that illuminates the precarious economics of open-source sustainability.

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The Grant Gambit: When Betting on Open-Source Pays Off

Facing dwindling savings six months into his full-time open-source work, an unexpected lifeline emerged through NLnet Foundation—a European organization funding "next generation internet" projects. Despite initial skepticism about a hardware-focused project from non-EU Switzerland receiving support, LibrePCB secured critical funding that enabled the landmark releases of versions 1.0 and 1.1. The grant transformed development velocity:

"It was a game-changer... no need to look for another job, just focus on the development of LibrePCB all day (and night)!" — @ubruhin

The €60,000+ grant (distributed across two phases) delivered tangible technical outcomes: enhanced schematic editing, a revamped library manager, and improved manufacturing file generation—features benefiting thousands of hardware developers. Yet this funding model carried inherent volatility; when the first grant concluded in April 2024, income "suddenly stopped" despite the project's momentum.

The Freeline Bridge: When Open-Source Meets Commercial Reality

Facing renewed financial uncertainty, @ubruhin adopted a hybrid approach: establishing a GmbH (Swiss LLC) to accept freelance hardware design contracts while continuing LibrePCB development. Ironically, this led to validating the very tool he was building:

"In two [freelance] projects I even designed PCBs with LibrePCB—how cool is that!"

This dual-track strategy revealed harsh economic realities. Though freelance work consumed under 10% of his time during the second NLnet grant period, it generated a substantial portion of his income—highlighting the disparity between commercial engineering rates and open-source sustainability.


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visually underscores this imbalance, showing grants and donations sustaining core development while freelance work props up personal finances.

The Open-Source Tightrope: Lessons for Maintainers

@ubruhin's journey exposes critical truths about open-source infrastructure:
1. Grants enable leaps but not longevity: NLnet's support accelerated major releases but required constant reapplication amid competition
2. Hybrid models create tension: Context-switching between paid client work and project development fragments focus
3. Sustainability demands innovation: Future plans include exploring alternative funding to avoid perpetual grant dependency

With LibrePCB 2.0 development underway and the next grant cycle ending October 2025, the project stands at another inflection point. The maintainer's commitment remains unwavering—"I commit to push the LibrePCB project forward into a sustainable future"—but his story serves as both inspiration and cautionary tale for open-source ecosystems. As EDA tools become increasingly critical in the open-hardware revolution, the search for models that value maintainer time as much as corporate convenience grows more urgent.

Source: Building Income Through LibrePCB: A Personal Story