What the Duck is DuckSubs?
Buy once. Own forever.
DuckSubs is a marketplace for software you actually own. No subscriptions, no recurring charges, no “we’re updating our pricing” emails. You pay once and the software is yours.
The Short Version
Most software today is rented. You pay monthly, forever, and if you stop paying you lose access to your own work. DuckSubs is the opposite: a curated marketplace where every tool is a one-time purchase. Developers set their own prices. Buyers own what they buy.
There are two shelves. The Open Shelf is curated by DuckSubs — these are tools we’ve selected that replace common subscription software (think timers, note apps, invoicing tools). The Closed Shelf is open to any independent developer who wants to list their own product. Prices range from $1 to $500. The developer keeps 90% of every sale — DuckSubs takes a flat 10%.
Every developer also gets a Booth — a personal storefront at ducksubs.com/you with themes, blocks, and a live preview editor. It’s their home on the platform.
Open Shelf products can be forked — anyone can build an improved version and sell it. The forker keeps 70%, the developer they forked from gets 20%, and DuckSubs gets 10%. Forks can be forked again, with no depth limit. Read What the fork is forking? for the full breakdown.
You Just Learned to Vibecode. Now What?
Here’s the thing nobody is talking about yet: millions of people are learning to build software right now using AI tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Copilot. You describe what you want in plain English, the AI writes the code, and suddenly you have a working app. They call it vibecoding.
But once you’ve built something cool — a better budget tracker, a recipe organizer, a focus timer — what do you do with it? You can’t sell it on the App Store without a developer account, a review process, and Apple taking 30%. Most other marketplaces lump software in with ebooks and Notion templates. Nobody has built a marketplace specifically for the software that people like you are making.
That’s DuckSubs. You vibecoded a tool that replaces a $10/month subscription? Put it on the Closed Shelf for $15. You keep $13.50. Someone else gets to own useful software forever. You made money building something instead of paying someone else to use theirs.
If you’re brand new to this and the words “GitHub” and “deploy” still feel foreign, we wrote a complete beginner’s guide that takes you from zero to selling on DuckSubs — including setting up GitHub, understanding what a repo is, and pushing your first project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why 'DuckSubs'?
Duck subscriptions. You buy software once and duck the monthly charges. Also there’s a duck.
What's the platform fee?
Flat 10% on every sale. That’s it. No tiered pricing, no “enterprise plans,” no hidden transaction fees beyond what Stripe charges. The developer keeps 90%.
What's the difference between the Open Shelf and the Closed Shelf?
The Open Shelf is where any developer can list forkable software. Anyone can improve (fork) an Open Shelf product. The Closed Shelf is for closed-source or proprietary tools — no forks allowed. Both shelves charge a flat 10% platform fee.
What does 'forking' mean here?
On the Open Shelf, anyone can fork an existing product — meaning they build an improved version and sell it. The fork builder keeps 70%, the immediate parent’s creator gets a 20% royalty, and DuckSubs gets 10%. There’s no depth limit — you can fork a fork, and that fork can be forked again. The 20% royalty always goes one level up to whoever you forked from. You can even fork your own product as an upgrade mechanism. When someone forks your product, you get notified so you can check it out and decide if you want to fork it back. This creates a natural back-and-forth between builders, each improving on the other’s work. Every product shows its full lineage — who created the original, who forked what — and originals display a fork counter as social proof.
What stops someone from forking without improving anything?
You must attest that you’ve made meaningful changes before listing a fork, and your improvement note is displayed publicly on the product page. But the real enforcement is the market: if your fork is identical to the original, nobody will buy it when the original already exists with more trust and reviews. Lazy forks die on the vine.
Where does the software actually live?
Developers host their source code and releases on GitHub. When you buy a tool, DuckSubs generates a secure, signed download link just for you — it expires after 48 hours and is limited to a handful of downloads. You never see the raw GitHub URL. The software itself downloads to your machine, your server, wherever you put it. If your link expires, you can always generate a fresh one from your My Purchases page. DuckSubs is a marketplace, not a hosting platform — the code lives on GitHub and your copy lives on your machine. If DuckSubs disappeared tomorrow, you’d still have everything you bought.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. There’s a 7-day refund window on all purchases. If the software doesn’t work as described, you get your money back. The developer covers the refund cost.
What's a Booth?
Every seller gets a personal storefront — their Booth — at ducksubs.com/username. It has a block-based editor with themes, custom CSS, product listings, bio sections, links, embeds, and charity badges. Think of it as your home page on DuckSubs.
What about charity badges?
Sellers can designate a charity on their Booth. When they do, a badge appears on their page and product cards showing that proceeds benefit that charity. It’s optional and configurable per-product.
Do I need a Stripe account to sell?
Yes. Stripe handles payments and payouts. You’ll connect your Stripe account through the dashboard. Buy buttons on your listings won’t activate until Stripe’s KYC process clears.
What happens if a developer abandons their product?
If a product goes unsupported, DuckSubs may open it for succession — another developer can pick it up and continue maintaining it. Buyers aren’t left stranded.
Do I need to be a 'real' developer to sell here?
No. If you vibecoded something useful with Claude Code, Cursor, or any other AI tool — and it works — it belongs on DuckSubs. We don’t care how you built it. We care that it solves a problem and that someone would pay for it. If you’re new to all of this, read our
beginner’s guide to vibecoding — it walks you through everything from setting up GitHub to publishing your first product.
Is there an API?
Yes. Developers can manage products, listings, and shop data through a REST API. Docs are coming — for now the endpoints are in the codebase.
