c64g.com is a free c64 games download platform.
And while it really is free, server, maintenance and development costs need to be paid every month.
Currently this is done with the Ads (Advertising) model, however I’m not satisfied with it because Google decided it wants to show those huge ads and there is no way to make them smaller (I tried). As a result of many ads people either find alternatives or use an ad blocker.
The better alternative would be recurring donations.
However for donations to work about 100€ worth of donations each month need to make it into the pot. That means 100 people donate 1€ pr 1000 people donate 0.10€ each month. And while it is a hobby project, server maintenance also needs to be done. Most can be automated but the human factor is still necessary. Typically this costs around 30€ / month. If you check prices of unmanaged vs managed servers, that’s usually the price difference.
Finally development, I know it sound ludicrous but I’d like to be paid, like anyone else, for my time, knowledge and effort in developing and extending this platform. Currently there is no way for you to upload images, add or edit descriptions or even play the games directly in the browser. There is no Android or IOS app. There are no statistics and no community features. How much would it cost? If you take a look at Kickstarter campaigns you can get an idea of how much development costs. So that’s to say there is virtually no limit, at least none I can put my finger on right now. A lot of time and effort already went into this site.
So to get rid of advertising at the very least 130€ / month in donations need to make it into the pot, if you don’t want any additional features.
Then there’s the question of how to collect donations.
Typically donation providers want 3-5% of the donation, which effectively means 130€*1.05=136.50€ / month worst case (Patreon) or 130€*1.03=133.90€ / month best case (Paypal / Stripe / Square).
What is your opinion?