ServerOps.gg
FREE FOREVER - A SERVEROPS PROGRAMME/OPEN APPLICATIONS

Genuinely free, for genuinely free projects.

Open-source projects and non-commercial game communities get permanent free access to the full platform - in exchange for attribution and a once-a-year confirmation that nothing has changed.

NOT A TRIAL
no expiry date
NO CREDIT CARD
ever
HOBBY-TIER LIMITS
all 4 products included
ANNUAL RE-VERIFY
one email per year
SECTION 01 - WHO QUALIFIES

Two paths. Pick the one that fits.

The programme exists for projects that genuinely give their work away. If money flows anywhere - donations, ranks, Tebex stores - the paid plans are the right home, and they start at $0 too.

PATH A - OSS

Open-source software.

Public GitHub repo - OSI-approved license - non-commercial
  • A public repository on GitHub (or comparable host).
  • Licensed under MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL, AGPL, MPL, or any OSI-approved license.
  • The project itself is not commercial - no paid pro tier, no hosted SaaS version selling the same code.
  • Maintainers can have unrelated paid work. The OSS project is the thing being free here.
TYPICAL APPLICANTS
CLI toolslibrariesself-hosted servicesgame modsdevtools
PATH B - COMMUNITY

Free-to-play game communities.

No Tebex - no paid ranks - no donation store - no VIP perks
  • A game-server community open to anyone, free of charge.
  • No paid ranks, no priority queue purchases, no cosmetic shops, no VIP perks.
  • No Tebex, no donation page with rewards attached, no Patreon tiers that change in-game.
  • Voluntary tips with zero in-game return are fine. Anything that flows back into gameplay is not.
TYPICAL APPLICANTS
FiveM RPMinecraft SMPRustRedMRobloxmodded servers
NOT A FITPersonal projects that are not public, closed-source side hustles, communities with any paid component, or a free org that is a sibling of a commercial server. The paid Hobby tier starts at $2.99/mo and the free tier of every product requires no application.
SECTION 02 - WHAT YOU RECEIVE

Hobby-tier access across all products, granted permanently.

G1 - PERMANENT FREE ACCESS

No expiry. No credit card.

Permanent free access across all four products. Not a 30-day trial, not a free-until-we-change-our-minds promise - it does not expire unless the conditions are broken.

G2 - CDN: MEDIA HOSTING

File hosting with a global CDN.

Upload files via API, get instant public URLs, and serve them from a global CDN. Drop-in for Discord webhook uploads. Hobby limits: 25 GB storage, 100k files, 500k requests/mo.

· 25 GB storage
· 100k files
· 500k requests / mo
G3 - LOGS

Log ingest and structured search.

Ingest, store, and query application and game-server logs. Keep events for debugging, audit trails, and player dispute evidence.

G4 - CASES

Staff moderation and evidence cases.

Build and archive moderation cases with file evidence, chat logs, and timeline events. Keeps your staff team organised.

G5 - APPLICATIONS

Custom application forms.

Build player application forms for whitelist, staff, or community roles. Response tracking and status management included.

G6 - ADD-ONS INCLUDED

Custom Domain and Upload Portals.

One custom domain for your CDN and one upload portal are included at no charge. These are normally paid add-ons.

· 1 custom domain
· 1 upload portal

Limits match the published Hobby tier and rise whenever we raise it. Open to discussing raised limits for larger projects - email [email protected].

SECTION 03 - THE CONDITIONS

Five conditions. They exist to protect the scheme.

The grant is permanent unless one of these breaks. We do not police every applicant line-by-line - we trust your application, and we revoke when something is clearly off.

01

Non-commercial use only.

No revenue inside the org. No paid tiers, no donation stores, no Tebex, no Patreon perks tied to the project or server. Voluntary tips with zero in-game or in-product return are fine.

02

Some form of credit, somewhere public.

A mention of ServerOps.gg somewhere publicly visible on your project. For OSS that is usually the GitHub README credits section; for communities it could be a website footer, server-list description, or in-game MOTD. The format is flexible - we are after credit, not banners.

03

Annual re-verification.

Once a year we send a one-question email: is anything different? Confirm with one click. If you do not respond within 30 days the grant pauses; reply and it lights back up immediately.

04

Self-report if things change.

If the project takes funding, opens a store, or otherwise becomes commercial, let us know. Honest self-reporters get a discounted conversion path onto the paid plans, not a surprise invoice.

05

Genuine independence.

The free org must be separate from any paid commercial work by the same person or team. A free dev-tool by someone who also runs a paid SaaS is fine. A free server that is a feeder for a paid sibling server is not.

SECTION 04 - HOW IT WORKS

From application to running in production.

01

You apply

Fill in the form below. Takes about three minutes.

02

We review

A human reads it - usually within 5 business days.

03

You add credit

Once approved, the dashboard tells you exactly what to add and where.

04

You use it

Same product, same docs, same SDKs. No watermarks, no rate-limit traps.

05

We email once a year

A single yes/no to confirm nothing has changed.

SECTION 05 - APPLY

The application.

Pick your path at the top of the form. The fields adapt to what we actually need. You can apply before or after creating an account - we will link them either way.

EXPECTED REVIEW TIME
5 business days
We email a yes or a why-not. No ghosting.
QUESTIONS BEFORE APPLYING
Email [email protected] - a person answers.
00
Which path applies?
The form fields below depend on this choice.
01 · ABOUT THE PROJECT
Organisation / project nameThe name you want this grant filed under.
Your emailWe email this address. One per applicant.
Brief descriptionTwo or three sentences. What is it, who is it for, what makes it free.
Your project’s public URLGitHub README, website footer, server-list - wherever you will credit us.
02 · OPEN-SOURCE DETAILS
GitHub repository URLPublic repo. We open it before approving.
LicenseMust be OSI-approved. If custom, choose Other.
03 · AGREEMENTS
APPLYING AS OPEN-SOURCE PROJECT
SECTION 06 - FAQ

The questions everyone asks first.

Is this really permanent?

Yes. The grant does not expire on a clock. It only ends if one of the five conditions stops being true: the project takes funding, becomes commercial, or does not respond to the annual email. We do not reserve the right to cancel for any reason.

What if my OSS project gets sponsored?

Sponsorship of the maintainers (GitHub Sponsors, OpenCollective towards salaries) is fine. Selling a closed-source pro tier, a hosted SaaS of the OSS, or paid plugins puts you into commercial territory - the paid plans with a discount for honest self-reporters are the right place.

My community has a tip jar with no rewards. Is that ok?

Yes, as long as there is genuinely no in-game return - no rank, no priority queue, no cosmetic, not even a Discord role. The moment a donation maps to anything in the game, the community has paid elements and is no longer eligible.

Why do you require attribution?

It is how new people find us. Paid customers pay with money; free orgs pay with credit. A mention of ServerOps.gg on a server list, a README, or a footer is a fair trade for permanent infrastructure.

What happens if I ignore the annual email?

After 30 days of no response the grant pauses - uploads return 402, but nothing is deleted. Reply to the email and it is back on the same day. After 12 months of no response we treat the grant as abandoned and archive the data per our standard retention policy.

Can I upgrade later without reapplying?

Yes. The grant lives on a normal ServerOps org, so flipping to a paid plan is one click. If you self-reported a commercial change first, you get the conversion discount automatically.