Laravel built Forge, a paid server tool for its free framework's users
Taylor Otwell made no money from Laravel for years, then automated his own server setup work into a paid product called Forge. Forge launched at Laracon in summer 2014. WorkOS reports thousands of paying customers within a month. By January 2015 Otwell worked on Laravel full-time. Otwell later said he had sold $10 million worth of software.
- Company
- Laravel
- Year
- 2013-2014
- Outcome
- Worked
What they ran
Taylor Otwell earned nothing from the Laravel framework for years. He set up test servers by hand every day, then automated the chore. In late 2013 that work became Laravel Forge, which sets up EC2 servers with the customer's own AWS credentials. Per Otwell's Laravel Podcast interview, Forge launched at Laracon in New York City in summer 2014. He hoped it might cover his mortgage and electric bill.
What happened
Otwell says far more people used Forge than he expected. A WorkOS profile reports thousands of paying customers within a month. By January 2015 he was on Laravel full-time. Otwell once said he had sold $10 million worth of software, and the podcast host later guessed the total was well above that. Another developer sold to the same users: Jason McCreary's Shift charged $3 to $7 per upgrade and reached about $3,000 a month within 10 months.
What the account does not show
The customer count is a WorkOS report with no revenue or churn figure attached. The $10 million covers all of Otwell's software sales, not Forge alone. The higher total is only the host's guess. The sources give no Forge price and no baseline to compare against.
Questions
How did Laravel make money from a free framework?
Taylor Otwell built Laravel Forge, a paid tool that sets up EC2 servers using the customer's own AWS credentials. He built it after years of earning nothing from the framework.
How fast did Laravel Forge get paying customers?
WorkOS reports thousands of paying customers within a month of launch. Forge launched at Laracon in New York City in summer 2014.
Where did the idea for Laravel Forge come from?
Otwell was setting up servers by hand every day to test Laravel, and he automated that routine into Forge.
Sources
- The Laravel Podcast | Transcript: How Taylor Otwell Came Up With Products That Have Earned Him Millions, The Laravel Podcast.
- Taylor Otwell built Laravel for himself. Millions of developers followed. — WorkOS, workos.com.
- Jason McCreary - Grinding to $1,000,000 in revenue over 6 years, Jason McCreary, 2021-11-23.