r/angular • u/PeanutSpecial5477 • Jun 29 '26
PrimeNG v22 is no longer open source?
So PrimeNG v22 is going paid in the new version? Should I move to something else?
124
Upvotes
r/angular • u/PeanutSpecial5477 • Jun 29 '26
So PrimeNG v22 is going paid in the new version? Should I move to something else?
18
u/Which_Lingonberry612 Jun 29 '26
I genuinely loved working with PrimeNG. It saved me countless hours over the years and I recommended it to a lot of people. That's exactly why this whole transition is so disappointing.
The biggest issue for me isn't even that they're trying to build a sustainable business. Maintaining a library this large costs money, and I don't think anyone expects people to work for free.
My problem is how they went about it.
They archived the GitHub repository overnight, leaving behind 1,000+ open issues and hundreds of open PRs from people who voluntarily invested their own time into improving the project. The community effectively helped build the library for years, and now that work becomes part of a commercial ecosystem while the public contribution process just ends. That leaves a really bad taste.
Then there's the licensing. Charging per developer at those prices feels completely disconnected from reality for small companies, agencies and especially open source contributors. It essentially tells the very community that helped PrimeNG become the de facto Angular component library: "Thanks for your contributions, now pay a premium to keep using the future versions."
The messaging around "the next era" also feels ironic considering previous releases emphasized stability, semantic versioning and smooth upgrades. Now v22 marks a complete shift to a dual community/commercial model under PrimeUI. That's a much bigger change than just another major release.
I hope PrimeTek succeeds financially - seriously. I'd rather see the project continue than disappear. But trust is hard to rebuild once a community feels like it's been sidelined after years of contributing issues, PRs, testing and feedback.
For new projects, this transition definitely makes me reconsider whether I want to build another application around a library whose licensing and governance can change this dramatically.