{"rid":"compute/dartnode-open-source","card":{"rid":"compute/dartnode-open-source","eid":"dartnode","topic":"compute","slug":"dartnode-open-source","provider":"DartNode Open Source","url":"https://dartnode.com/open-source","domain":"dartnode.com","category":"cloud VM","tier":null,"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","vorder":1,"grp":"usable","confidence":"documented","binding":"write-gated","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"defaulted","needs_card":null,"needs_phone":1,"needs_id":null,"needs_institution":null,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":null,"egress_metered":null,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00.000Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-10-22","stale_on":"2026-11-21","n_evidence":3,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"A free KVM VPS for any public GitHub repository with 1,000 or more stars and at least 90 days of age: quoted 'Eligible projects have a public GitHub reposito...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":10},"record":{"topic":"compute","slug":"dartnode-open-source","provider":"DartNode Open Source","url":"https://dartnode.com/open-source","category":"cloud VM","free_tier":{"stated":"A free KVM VPS for any public GitHub repository with 1,000 or more stars and at least 90 days of age: quoted 'Eligible projects have a public GitHub repository with 1,000+ stars that is at least 90 days old (no forks or archived repos)', auto-approved once a verification code is in the README, on a plan shaped 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB SSD with IPv4 and IPv6 in Houston.","unit":"GiB","metered_on":"wall-clock","source_url":"https://dartnode.com/open-source","read_on":"2026-10-22","notes":"perpetual"},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not applicable","bytes":null,"source_url":"https://dartnode.com/open-source","notes":null},"retention":{"stated":"not applicable","days":null,"source_url":"https://dartnode.com/open-source","notes":null},"egress":{"terms":"not stated","metered":false,"free_allowance":null,"price_per_tb":null,"source_url":"https://dartnode.com/open-source"},"interface":["unknown"],"interface_detail":"inferred from the tooling the provider documents; not probed","tooling":"not stated","chaining":"A real KVM box with a routable IPv4 and no sleep is the only row in the OSS-sponsorship lane that gives a public address without NAT, which makes it the origin for a Cloudflare-fronted service rather than a jump host.","limits":[{"kind":"write-gated","value":"The 1,000-star repository is a hard gate that a new developer cannot satisfy tonight, and the operator has raised the threshold from 100 stars in June 2025 and has suspended issued boxes without stated cause, so the first thing that fails is the eligibility check and the second is the operator's discretion afterwards.","source":"https://dartnode.com/open-source"}],"limits_note":"The 1,000-star repository is a hard gate that a new developer cannot satisfy tonight, and the operator has raised the threshold from 100 stars in June 2025 and has suspended issued boxes without stated cause, so the first thing that fails is the eligibility check and the second is the operator's discretion afterwards.","binding":"write-gated","binding_note":"The 1,000-star repository is a hard gate that a new developer cannot satisfy tonight, and the operator has raised the threshold from 100 stars in June 2025 and has suspended issued boxes without stated cause, so the first thing that fails is the eligibility check and the second is the operator's discretion afterwards.","identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":"unverified: no page stating the signup requirement was read; the record's evidence covers the 1,000-star public-repository eligibility gate, the automatic check, and the badge plus HTML-comment verification code added to the project README, and states nothing about an email, phone, card or ID document","country":null},"reliability_note":"no reliability event recorded","confidence":"documented","evidence":[{"url":"https://dartnode.com/open-source","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"'Eligible projects have a public GitHub repository with 1,000+ stars that is at least 90 days old (no forks or archived repos)', 'Our checks run automatically', 'Projects Sponsored 1201+', quoted"},{"url":"https://dartnode.com/open-source","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"the application requires adding a DartNode badge to the project README and a verification code in an HTML comment, which is the write gate, quoted"},{"url":"https://dartnode.com/vps","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"the paid ladder beside it prices the same shape: 'VPS-1 $3.95/mo - 1 vCPU Cores - 1 GB RAM - 10 GB SSD - IPv4 + IPv6 - 1 Gbps Unmetered', quoted, so the free box is worth about USD 47 a year"}],"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","verified_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00.000Z","notes":"⛔ The page returned 403 through the probe with a Cloudflare challenge signature ('enable javascript and cookies to continue'), and the body came through the broker's provider route instead, so the shape is documented and not measured. This row is ranked low for a user despite being the largest shape, because 1,000 stars is not obtainable tonight. The published rule is automatic, which is the interesting part: the gate is reputation measured in stars rather than a human reviewer, so the failure is a number and not a person. Two things to settle. One, whether the 1,000-star floor is still 1,000 today, since the only first-party text is a page that a challenge wall hides from a plain fetch. Two, whether suspension without cause is systematic or was a single event; the Chinese forum reports one case and the sponsor wall lists 1,201 supported projects, which is not a mass-suspension pattern.","extras":{"wave2":{"class":"sponsored-vps-oss","free_tier_kind":"perpetual","shape":{"vcpu":1,"ram_gib":1,"gpu_class":null,"gpu_count":0,"disk_gib":10}}}},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":1,"unit":"GB","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:write-gated","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"}],"unknown":[["$.egress.metered","egress-unknown"],["$.egress.terms","not-stated"],["$.identity_cost.kind","identity-defaulted"],["$.interface","interface-unknown"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","process"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-applicable"],["$.reliability_note","none-observed"],["$.retention.notes","process"],["$.retention.stated","not-applicable"],["$.tooling","not-stated"]],"history":[],"drift":[]}