To Be Free
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Supporter program

Promote or sponsor us, and your name goes on the wall

To Be Free runs no ads and charges nothing for listings. Hosting, and testing and fact-checking every tool, happen on spare time. If it ever helped you find good software, there are two ways to support it: recommend it to more people, or sponsor a little. Do either one, fill in a short form, and once approved your name appears on the supporter wall below.

The wall is a thank-you, nothing more

  • It never affects which tools are listed, how they rank or what the reviews say. Sponsoring cannot get a tool that fails our standards onto the site, and promoting cannot move your own tool up.
  • Links on the wall carry nofollow / sponsored attributes and pass no search ranking.
  • All supporters share one list, ordered by date. No tiers by amount.

Promote

Any public post that recommends this site and links to it counts.

  • An article or answer on your blog, Medium, Reddit, Hacker News or a forum
  • A video on YouTube or another platform, or a mention in its description
  • A post on X, Mastodon, Bluesky or Threads
  • A mention in a newsletter or podcast episode
  • Adding this site to an awesome list on GitHub (counts once the PR is merged)

Bought traffic, mass messaging, comment spam and link farms do not count, and entries found doing this are removed.

Sponsor

Any amount — a coffee is plenty. Remember to fill in the form afterwards, or we have no way of knowing it was you.

GitHub Sponsors Monthly or one-time, works worldwide Sponsor on GitHub →
WeChat Pay WeChat Pay Scan with WeChat
Alipay Alipay Scan with Alipay

The WeChat and Alipay payee shows as "智通", the site’s maintainer. In the form, give the payment time and amount so we can match it; please do not upload screenshots or account details. If you would rather sponsor without being listed, skip the form.

How to get listed

  1. Promote or sponsorEither one of the above.
  2. Fill in the form on GitHubYour display name and homepage, plus the link to your promotion or the sponsorship channel and payment time.
  3. Listed after reviewUsually within a week. We reply on the issue once it is approved.
Apply on GitHub ↗ Our Standards

Supporter wall

Nobody is on the wall yet. The first person to promote or sponsor the site will be listed here.

Frequently asked questions

Can sponsoring get my tool listed, or ranked higher?

No. Inclusion depends only on our standards — genuinely free, ad-free, no forced sign-up or tracking — and ordering and reviews are decided independently by the editors. Tool authors are welcome to sponsor and be listed, but the wall and the tool directory are completely separate.

I don’t have a GitHub account. How do I apply?

The form lives on GitHub so that approvals are public. Without an account, add a line such as "To Be Free wall: <display name>" to your post or payment note, and we will add you by hand.

Can I support anonymously?

Yes. Skip the form and you will not be listed, or use "Anonymous" as your display name.

What if my post is deleted?

Promotions need to stay public. If a periodic check finds a dead link, we ask on the issue first and remove the entry once deletion is confirmed. Sponsorship entries are not affected.

Where does the money go?

The domain and hosting, and the time spent testing and fact-checking each tool and maintaining the site.