The economics of inspect.software follow one rule: inspection of software the public depends on is free, and depth and privacy are paid for. Revenue from paid services funds the free public record.
Free — the public record
Repositories of high public value are inspected free of charge:
- Full health report against the complete versioned methodology, published in the public record.
- An embeddable GitHub badge reflecting the current standing.
- Re-inspection when a new scan is submitted or scheduled by an operator.
Eligibility is assessed automatically at submission against documented public-interest thresholds (adoption, ecosystem presence, activity). Any GitHub account may submit a public repository for consideration.
Paid — certification and depth
Repositories outside the free thresholds, and organizations needing more than the public record offers:
| Service | For | What it provides |
|---|---|---|
| On-demand certification | Maintainers of niche public repositories | Full inspection and badge now, without waiting for free coverage; paid from an account balance directly at submission. Credits are purchased on the account profile, or granted by a code |
| Developer program | Maintainers inspecting their own work regularly | A subscription covering inspections of repositories the account owns or maintains, however niche — in place of per-inspection credits |
| Private repository audit | Organizations with closed source | Planned service; currently arranged only through a separate engagement |
| Continuous monitoring | Engineering and security teams | Scheduled re-inspection with alerts on regressions — band drops, security posture changes, bus-factor decline |
| Deep security review | Security-conscious organizations | Expanded supply-chain and static-analysis coverage beyond the standard posture signals |
| Enterprise reporting | Procurement, platform, and compliance teams | Portfolio views across dependencies and exportable, compliance-ready reporting |
| API access | Platforms and developer tools | Programmatic access to published results and metrics |
On-demand certification and the developer program are available today; current prices are shown on the account profile, and payment is handled by Stripe. The remaining services are being introduced in stages; terms are documented per engagement. Enquiries: mail@inspect.software.
What payment can never do
- Change a formula, weight, threshold, or published value.
- Remove or suppress an unfavorable published result.
- Buy placement or ranking in the public record.
Where a paid scan narrows the methodology (an agreed scan configuration), the report itself documents exactly what was measured and what was excluded.
Why free coverage is sustainable
Free inspection is bounded to genuinely popular, high-public-value software — the packages whose health is systemic. The reasoning is documented openly in the about page's principles.