How to sell source code you own: license it to AI labs, keep the code and get paid each time it is licensed. Six steps, no clean-up needed.
Free to join. No public listing. A real estimate in minutes once Git is connected.
License to AI labs
The one route paying for real source code at scale today. Non-exclusive, so the same repo can earn again.
You sell source code today by licensing it to AI labs. You sell a license and keep the code, so the same repo can be paid for again each time it is licensed. Check you hold the rights, pick the repos, request access, sign once and connect Git read-only, with no clean-up and payment within 15 days of each license closing.
Selling source code today means licensing it. The buyers paying for real code at scale are AI labs, which use it to train and evaluate coding models. A license to use a copy is all they need, so you keep the original and everything you can do with it.
That changes the process. There is no listing to write, no buyer to find and no handover. You prove you hold the rights, choose the repos, connect them read-only, and the licensing program does the rest. These are the six steps, start to finish.
Only license code you or your company own. Your own products, internal tools and side projects usually qualify. Client work usually belongs to the client unless your contract says otherwise.
Choose which repositories to put forward. Shelved, unfinished and abandoned code all count. Leave out anything you do not own or would rather keep back.
Say who you are on the valuation form. You get set up and sent everything you need. There is no fee to join and no commitment.
Free to join. No public listing. A real estimate in minutes once Git is connected.
Read the agreement before you sign. You sign once. It is a non-exclusive license, so you keep ownership and full use of your code.
Give read-only access to GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket and select the repos. A real per-repo estimate appears within minutes. Your repository is never changed.
Your code is scrubbed and graded on a review copy, then taken to buyers in batches. Each time a license closes and the buyer pays, you are paid within 15 days.
No. Submit the repos as they are. Most owners expect to spend a weekend removing keys and tidying history before anyone sees their code. You do not have to. Within the repos you select, secrets and personal data are stripped from a review copy before any buyer sees it, in the code and in the history. Your own repository is untouched.
The messy parts are often the valuable parts. Labs want to see how real software changes over time, including the fixes, the reverts and the work that never shipped.
Keys, tokens and credentials are stripped from the review copy, in code and in history.
Stripped for youNames, contact details and other personal data are removed and checked before a buyer sees anything.
Removed and verifiedReverts, dead branches and late-night commits are part of what labs pay for. Leave them in.
Keep it as it isThe code does not need to compile or run. Shelved and unfinished repos qualify.
Submit as isNo README, write-up or tidy file tree needed. The code and its history speak for themselves.
Not requiredYes. The whole process runs online. You request access on a form, read and sign the agreement, and connect your Git host with read-only access. Nothing is posted publicly. There is no listing and no profile, and buyers only ever see a scrubbed review copy.
Because access is read-only, nothing moves out of your control. You pick which repos are included, and you can withdraw a codebase at any time. Licenses close in batches as buyers take code, so you do not have to negotiate with anyone or answer questions about your code.
If the code came from a company, the company signs. If it came from you, you sign. The one rule that never bends is ownership: only submit code you hold the rights to.
Value per license is set by tokens. Source code pays $100 per million tokens and git history pays $40 per million. History is usually the bigger part, because a repo with years of commits holds far more history than source. Across the program, history makes up 79% of licensed tokens.
In practice, a typical repo earns about $1,000 to $1,500 per license. A light repo with a short history earns about $400 to $700, and a deep, long-lived repo with tests about $2,500 to $4,000. These are illustrative, conservative figures. Your real per-repo estimate appears in minutes once you connect Git.
Licenses are non-exclusive, so those amounts can recur. The same repo can be licensed again, and you are paid each time. For the working, the depth table and what drives the number up, read how much is my code worth. For why labs pay at all, read sell code for AI training.
Usually, yes. Licensing income is normally taxed as business income, whether it is paid to you or to your company. The rules depend on where you live and how you hold the code, so ask an accountant in your jurisdiction before the first payment arrives.
And it is yours, which is exactly what makes it licensable. You decide what is shared: only the repos you choose, only code you hold the rights to. Secrets, customer data and third-party code stay out. Within the repos you submit, secrets and personal data are stripped from the review copy before anything reaches a buyer.
Yes. Only submit code you hold the rights to. Client work usually belongs to the client unless your contract says otherwise.
You see a real per-repo estimate within minutes of connecting Git. Licenses close in batches. You are paid within 15 days of the buyer paying.
Yes. There is no commitment. You can withdraw a codebase at any time.
Holding the rights to what you submit, and keeping third-party code and customer data out of the repos you select.
Yes. You read it first and sign once.
Request access. Connect Git. See a real per-repo estimate in minutes, then decide.
Free to join. Nothing upfront. You can withdraw a codebase at any time.