Keeping Flosshaven free and sustainable

As Flosshaven grows, so do the costs of keeping it running. Hosting the site, storing project photos and pattern data, and maintaining the services that make everything work all come with ongoing costs. Those costs will naturally increase as more stitchers join and more projects, photos, and patterns are added.

I want to keep the majority of Flosshaven to remain free for everyone, so the community can continue to grow without putting core features behind a paywall.

After a discussion over on Discord about how to make that sustainable, I landed on including ads.

Google ads will start showing up on certain pages. I'm trying to keep their placement as non-intrusive as possible. I know ad's won't be everyone's first choice, they're not mine either, but they allow Flosshaven to remain accessible while helping cover some of the costs of running it.

As Flosshaven grows, I’m hoping to eventually replace Google ads with curated ads from shops, designers, dyers, and others within the stitching community. I think that could make advertising on Flosshaven more relevant and useful, while also providing another way to support the people and small businesses that make our community what it is.

However, if you’d prefer an ad-free experience, you can subscribe to Flosshaven Plus for $3 per month.

Plus members get an ad-free Flosshaven along with some additional benefits. To start, that includes higher-quality project image uploads. More benefits are in the works, but I want to be thoughtful about what becomes a Plus feature. The goal is to find features that feel premium without taking things that should be part of the main Flosshaven experience and putting them behind a subscription.

If you’d like to offer some additional support, you can also choose to contribute more than $3 per month. There is absolutely no expectation to do so, but the option is there for anyone who is in a position to and wants to help a little extra.

A membership is not just a purchase of extra features. It is a direct way to support an independent, community-focused project. Your support helps cover the practical costs of keeping Flosshaven online, gives me more room to improve it, and helps ensure it can remain a place made for stitchers.

Whether you use Flosshaven for free, subscribe to Plus, contribute a little extra, report a bug, suggest an improvement, add your projects, or simply share Flosshaven with someone who might enjoy it: thank you.

Every bit of support helps keep Flosshaven free, welcoming, sustainable, and, hopefully, a fun place to be.

If you do not want to commit to a monthly subscription but would still like to offer support, you can always buy me a coffee.