Ask HN: Make money on browser extension – possible? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Make money on browser extension – possible?

4 pointsjasiek-net13 comments

Is there anybody out there making money on browser extensions? I wonder if any business models are based on that (most browser extensions are free / just an addition to the main product).

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Products making money from browser extensions aren't traditionally thought of as browser extensions. 1password, bitwarden, and others are a good example. These are password managers, but the most common way of using them is via an extension.

Thanks! That's exactly my point! Browser extensions are rarely an independent business model, they are usually connected with some bigger project / platform and the extension is just an additional thing.

I am willing to pay for this translation plug-in I use. For example, if I type this word and click the space three times, you can see it in English.

In this reply box, I just need to press space three times

Yep, I use Grammarly and it has similar functionality

How about developing and supporting a browser extension for some company?

Have you researched what extensions are able to do? For example extensions for VPN service which is never free.

I would like to pay for adBlock if it becomes paid, I do not use any other extension regularly.

VPN and adblock are good examples of extensions that give real value to the user. When it comes to writing code for someone, I was more interested in the idea for a startup and its business model.

VPN is not just a browser extension, this is properly configured someone's computer and an improper way of receiving VPN service.

Adblock is also not just a browser extension, this is a result of some community willing to reverse engineer whatever the web throws at me.

I've seen multiple products that let teams collaborate/leave comments on any website. Examples that I found now:

- ruttl.com/website-annotation-tool

- xaviesteve.com/common

but I remember seeing others in the recent months on r/SaaS and r/SideProject.

Do you mean reddit or are there threads on HN?

Here, I found the most recent one that got my attention: https://www.justbeepit.com/

I sometimes post on Reddit about https://www.pageshare.dev/ . It's more suitable for web apps because it copies websites.

Disclaimer: I'm the author of it.

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