OccupySaaS: Laid-Off Engineers Launch Open-Source SaaS Replacements
A protest movement framed as code, laid-off tech workers are building clean-room open-source alternatives to expensive cloud platforms using AI.
What to know
- OccupySaaS frames open-source SaaS alternatives as a protest movement by laid-off engineers, starting with identity and CRM replacements built via clean-room reverse engineering from public APIs and documentation.
- The movement uses AI to accelerate development while maintaining strict separation of spec-writers from builders to avoid intellectual property violations, with compatibility validated against vendor SDKs.
- Commenters are divided: some see economic potential (price pressure similar to Deepseek), while others argue the real value of SaaS is service and support, not software, and question whether volunteer projects can sustain competition.
- Key criticisms include Apache 2.0 licensing as insufficient for anti-corporate ideology, the irony of an AI-written manifesto for a human-focused movement, and skepticism that attacking SaaS addresses actual power concentration in cloud providers and chip manufacturers.
The dispute Whether open-source SaaS alternatives represent viable competition or constitute misguided effort that mistakes software for actual power, and whether the movement's framing and execution align with its anti-corporate ideology. · positions read across 54 posts and comments
Open-source replacements could disrupt SaaS pricing and create real competition, particularly for non-critical use cases.
-
“This put a cap on the upper price. Basically it forced the SAAS pricing to dive similar to what Deepseek is doing to OpenAI and Anthropic.”
Haven880 · Hacker News ↗
SaaS value is primarily service and support, not software; open replacements cannot replicate that and will struggle to attract enterprise customers.
-
“Baffling choice to start with auth and CRM, both of which are mission-critical components to many businesses.”
david_shaw · Hacker News ↗
The movement misidentifies the real sources of power; SaaS is not the problem, cloud providers and chip manufacturers are.
-
“While tearing down Adobe you've probably paid Nvidia, Anthropic, and Microsoft in the process, while at the same time no amount of Claude will make a dent in any of these behemoth strongholds.”
refactor_master · Hacker News ↗
The Apache 2.0 licensing and apparent AI authorship undermine the movement's stated anti-corporate ideology.
-
“This entire website screams "Authored by AI". It is ironic and lazy that the manifesto of a movement nominally for humans would be written by AI.”
Mike_weinberg · Hacker News ↗
OccupySaaS Movement organizerLaid-off engineers (collective) Movement participants
How it unfolded 8 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump postscomments
-
8
Critic questions movement's efficacy against actual power concentration
A commenter argues the movement mistakes which actors wield real control, noting that layoffs and infighting among engineers distract from genuine power held by cloud providers and chip manufacturers, and that open-source replacements won't change material economics.
“While tearing down Adobe you've probably paid Nvidia, Anthropic, and Microsoft in the process, while at the same time no amount of Claude will make a dent in any of these behemoth strongholds.”
— refactor_master -
The problem with the idea is that there is no right solution. What they do are free alternatives. Free software is not a new idea. Secondly, even if SaaS companies get all developers back then competitors with less devs may be more agile as they as well have AI tools and without all this people be more lean.If anything, regulation is the more…
2 more of the top 3 · 26 posts in this stretch
-
While admirable in vision this is just the masses tearing each other apart, with the feudal lord 1%-ers just looking on.While tearing down Adobe you’ve probably paid Nvidia, Anthropic, and Microsoft in the process, while at the same time no amount of Claude will make a dent in any of these behemoth strongholds. Adobe, evil as they are, aren’t the…
-
The technical infrastructure of Bending Spoons is interesting.For people who don't know Bending Spoons, their strategy works as follows:1. Buy SaaS company2. Set up new product team of 15 people in Europe3. Re-implement backend on Bending Spoons technical platform4. Make the original company (100 people?) redundantBut what I find interesting is…
-
-
7
Commenters argue open-source SaaS model mirrors support services like Red Hat
A commenter suggests that open-sourcing SaaS isn't novel; service providers already monetize by offering support and service around FOSS (comparing to Red Hat's Linux model), avoiding rent-seeking only if the software itself can't be held hostage.
-
Thats easy: service providers can train on the spftware to offer the service. Its literally what theyre for. Redhat didnt make linux but charges a reasonable price to support it. Like lets open source slack or something, and enterprises could self host it, or get it served by one of the service providers that pop up. And if there are bugs that are…
2 more of the top 3 · 4 posts in this stretch
-
> The software built by the 99% belongs to the 99%.Aren't the 99% received salary for their work and produced this after being fully paid what they agreed voluntary for their work?If my house was build by 10 people, can they just get the house back after I've paid them?
-
Apache 2 seems like an odd licensing choice for the ideology, surely GLM or some other copyleft license is more fitting for the whole "stop companies exploiting our labour" idea.
-
-
6
Alternative visionDesktop and local-first apps over self-hosted SaaS
A commenter proposes a different approach to the SaaS problem—leveraging LLMs to enable personal, customized desktop applications with peer-to-peer or minimal cloud infrastructure rather than recreating SaaS platforms.
“The solution is not another SaaS. But desktop apps. Less dependence on a cloud. Of course we need backups. And we need networking. Perhaps peer to peer.”
— brainless -
I am working toward similar goals but with a different approach. With LLMs, software can become more personal, customized, quirky even. Software will fit the last mile better than ever.The solution is not another SaaS. But desktop apps. Less dependence on a cloud. Of course we need backups. And we need networking. Perhaps peer to peer. Or run a…
2 more of the top 3 · 7 posts in this stretch
-
Baffling choice to start with auth and CRM, both of which are mission-critical components to many businesses.I wish these projects the best of luck, but it's hard to see people choosing a proudly AI-developed "drop in replacement" -- with no track record, avenues of support, or accountability -- over behemoths like Okta or Salesforce.Then again…
-
it's a bit naive to think that you can make any harm to those corporations just by recreating their software :( they have much more than software (power, service, structure, organisation, contracts, etc.)on the other hand building this stuff would be a nice portfolio project for those laid-off people and it might help them find a new job :)
-
-
5
Commenters raise concerns about responsibility and AI authorship
Critics note that SaaS value includes human accountability and support, not just software. Others observe that the OccupySaaS manifesto itself appears AI-written, creating irony for a human-focused movement.
“This entire website screams "Authored by AI". It is ironic and lazy that the manifesto of a movement nominally for humans would be written by AI.”
— Mike_weinberg -
Maybe for enterprise box-checking. I'm sure that can be outsourced to some separate liability-shield or narrow consulting service instead. For a lot of companies, the software bit is actually all we need. I hope the current shakeout lays bare the "SaaS" whose only reason to exist as a SaaS is gluttony. ArtCraft is doing a great job illustrating…
1 more of the top 2 · 2 posts in this stretch
-
Where is "OccupyResponsibility"? The point of SaaS is not anymore the software, but a team of humans still being responsible when something goes wrong.
-
-
4
Discussion splits on pricing pressure versus service value
Commenters diverge on whether open alternatives will force SaaS price cuts (comparing to Deepseek's impact on AI pricing) or whether the real value proposition of SaaS lies in service and support rather than software alone.
-
I haven't personally been affected by layoffs, but I imagine the emotional turmoil is pretty brutal. That said, I do find it sad to see this level of bitter vengefulness in our industry. It seems like exactly the kind of attitude that makes one tricky to work with, which given the current climate, feels like an unwise strategy.Expanded on this…
2 more of the top 3 · 6 posts in this stretch
-
This put a cap on the upper price. Basically it forced the SAAS pricing to dive similar to what Deepseek is doing to OpenAI and Anthropic. Easily 30% of any SAAS are not companies. So over time that portion will not grow and chip away. And further more this encourage other smaller companies to vye for the same enteprise customers forcing the price…
-
This is a really nice idea, but most of these types things die as a nice idea unless they reach critical mass. 99% of people (to use the 99% idea from the website) just want to pay a fee to get a product and know that there is good documentation/training material and customer support behind it. Sometimes that "support" comes in the form of…
-
-
3
Debate emerges over licensing and project strategy
Multiple commenters criticize the Apache 2.0 licensing choice as insufficient for protecting against corporate exploitation, with some suggesting GPL or copyleft licenses would better align with the movement's ideology. Others question whether recreating software alone can harm major corporations.
-
Specifically, they pay for the cronyism aspect of the service. They pay because they're friends with the founder (or at least expect kickbacks), not because they need the features of the software. The features are only there to provide narrative support (I.e. justification for the money being paid). You can see that this is the case when the…
2 more of the top 3 · 4 posts in this stretch
-
I feel like this would be better as a federation. Each project on its own. Some shared resources and interconnection.Even better if there was a tiny seed funding mechanism.And then some clever growth funding.There's prior attempts in this general area, pre AI, like Zebras Unite that have some lessons.
-
Given how many FOSS alternatives exist, I'd hope that such projects could turn their attention towards the AI models themselves, creating an open-weights model from an existing proprietary model, or somesuch.Unfortunately, that won't be a low effort thing where you can burn $100 to create an imitation of something, so all we get is vibe-coded…
-
-
2
Commenters debate viability and competition concerns
Early Hacker News discussion surfaces skepticism about the projects' ability to compete with established vendors and questions about support models, while some commenters highlight existing FOSS alternatives and point out similar prior initiatives like Zebras Unite.
-
I’m already building this:https://openship.orgI built the e-commerce[0] and restaurant[1] ones by guiding AI heavily but now have a software factory building the rest[2].0. https://e-commerce.openship.org1. https://restaurant.openship.org2. https://{{gym, hotel, grocery, rental, pharmacy, coffee-shop, etc}}.openship.org
2 more of the top 3 · 5 posts in this stretch
-
This seems inevitable in one form or another. A lot of talented devs are struggling to find employment at the same moment that there is a tool that can guide you through the parts of launching a product that are outside of your expertise. That's just more time to tinker out of curiosity or necessity.I believe the next few years are going to see a…
-
I wish them success but doubt it will work for the simple fact that you need some semblance of reliable support which generally requires ownership. That is at odds with the spirit of this, at least from first page.Or to put it another way, if money isn’t an issue why would you use Salescompel over Salesforce?Running a business isn’t just about…
-
-
1
OccupySaaS movement launches with identity and CRM projects
OccupySaaS publishes its manifesto describing a movement of laid-off engineers building clean-room open-source replacements for expensive SaaS platforms. Initial projects target identity (ZeroAuthy, compatible with Auth0) and CRM (Salesforce replacement), with public documentation and open standards as the foundation.
“OccupySaaS borrows that spirit and swaps tents for terminals. No marches, no property damage — just working software, published under an open licence, that anyone can run.”
— OccupySaaS
What people are saying 9 voices from 1 site · best of 54 · verbatim
- How will open-source projects maintain compatibility and security over time without the resources large vendors command?
- Can volunteer-built software ever compete on support, reliability, and legal accountability for mission-critical systems like authentication and CRM?
- Why Apache 2.0 instead of GPL if the goal is to prevent corporate exploitation?
- Nov 3
-
i think this is wrong-headed: it seems to be a movement to rebuild open-source bundles based on existing closed-source saas, but AI will precipitate an "unbundling" of existing saas feature sets according to the needs of individuals.if i'm only using 20% of the features of a saas service, i don't need a bundle that reimplements 100% of it.
- Nov 2
-
I don't understand this expectation to never be laid off.Any other kind of a project - construction, hardware design, media production - has an end. Once it's done people have to switch to another project.But with software there's an expectation that it's never done, it's always subtly broken, and I can't help but think that this expectation gets…
-
For a protest to really do its job you need to hurt capital. I think making replicas of existing infra tech won't hurt capital because businesses won't change their tech just because.If anything, you got to take this to the streets. Make the discomfort visible and so large it gets known, let it be known that firing workers has consequences.I guess…
-
I don’t think this is a new idea: along with people building in-house, new competitors arising that can afford to massively undercut on pricing is exactly what SaaS companies have been worried about.It’s been pub chat amongst my friends for months. We’re too much of a bunch of slackers to have actually done anything about it, but it’s been…
-
> It upsets me somewhat that they’re protesting things like lock-in only after being laid offI would say it is even more ironic. Many years before, SaaS companies and IT in general were the ones making people fired. New software reduces the need for manual labour, hence less people are hired and somebody is fired as well. Accounting, marketing…
-
You need to take it a step further and control the so called "cloud" by using this shared self reparing mesh.https://github.com/peterretief/yggstoreI am using it for hosting at the moment, there needs to be a greater adoption and then the developent will be back in the hands of the developers
-
I think most people don't even think about where software comes from, I am a software engineer and if I find a product that I like and solves a pain for me and does it correctly , my first thought isn't "I could do this mnyself" , I buy it, more so if it is like 15-20 dollars. My time is more precious than spending 2 weeks makins sure whatever…
-
To some extent, but for the most part, they're paying to shift responsibility to somebody else.The people who buy software are not the ones who pay the bill. If you hire a contractor to build custom-tailored software:- If it is buggy or lacking, you'll be blamed.- If it gets hacked, you'll be fired.- If it works well and saves the company…
-
My first impression when reading the landing page is that this was made by one guy, but on Github, I can see two contributors: one guy and Claude.Why use plural ("us", "Laid-off engineers") when this is just one guy's idea and none of the questions are about a group of people, there does not even seem to be a plan for others to join? Thousands…