Forel Pro is coming. Forel stays 100% open source.

[lguichard]

Hi everyone 👋

Forel started as a small side project, built in my spare time because I wanted an open-source alternative to Hazel.
I never expected it to reach 800+ GitHub stars and 11,000 downloads. Seeing people actually use Forel every day has been incredibly motivating.

But as the project grows, so does the time needed to maintain it, fix bugs, review issues, and build new features.
I want to keep improving Forel for the long run, without turning it into a subscription-based product or closing the source code.
That's why I'm introducing Forel Pro.

I'd rather be upfront about what this means, including what changes for existing users.

What stays the same

• All the code stays open source, Pro features included.
  Nothing moves to a private repo.
• Forel Free is free, no trial, no time limit, no nagging.
• Still 100% on-device. License activation sends no data about you or your files.

What Free includes

• 2 watched folders
• 300 files processed per month
• Background watching, Run Now, Dry Run, history and Undo
• Move, copy, rename, tags, labels, trash, delete, uncompress, open app
• Conditions on filename, type, size, dates, tags, and download metadata
• Text matching inside documents and PDFs with a text layer

For most people organizing Downloads and Desktop, that's plenty.

What Pro adds

• Unlimited watched folders
• Unlimited files processed
• On-device OCR for images and scanned PDFs
• Custom scripts and Apple Shortcuts
• Imports into Photos, Music, and TV
• Planned for future releases: Scheduler, Sync actions, and more.

Launch price: $15, one-time. No subscription.

⚠️ If you use Forel today

Some things that are free and unlimited in the current version change with this update:
unlimited folders, unlimited files, OCR, scripts, Shortcuts, and media imports move to Pro.

If you update and stay on Free:

• Your whole configuration is kept. Nothing is deleted.
• Only your first 2 folders keep running. Reorder them to choose which ones.
• Up to 300 files are processed each month. When the quota is reached, watching pauses until the 1st of the following month. Dry Run still works.
• Rules using Pro actions are paused, not removed. They resume as soon as you activate Pro.
• Content conditions on images and scanned PDFs won't match without OCR.

Previous releases remain available if you prefer to stay on them.

The Free / Pro split is open for discussion

Deciding what goes in Free and what goes in Pro wasn't easy. I tried to find
the fairest balance: a Free version that's genuinely useful on its own,
and a Pro version worth paying for.

I'm sure I didn't get everything right. If a limit feels too tight,
a Pro feature feels like it should be free, or the other way around,
tell me below. This is a first version, and I'm happy to adjust it
based on your feedback.

Thank you ❤️

I know some of you have been using Forel since the early releases, reporting bugs, suggesting features, and helping make it better.

As a thank you to the community, I'm offering 40% off Forel Pro for the first 7 days.

Use code EARLY40 to get Forel Pro until October 28, 2026.

It's a one-time purchase, not a subscription.

Whether you stay on Free, upgrade to Pro, or simply keep following the project, thank you for being part of it.

Questions, concerns, pushback: drop them here. I read everything.

[jupe76]

Man, version 1.10 with the pro / free tier is a real bummer for me.
300 files and two folders is nothing more than a demo in my eyes.
I'm absolutely down to pay for good software, but I don't trust you with $15 "per version".
And "one seat" is really greedy.
So I'll use v 1.09 as long as it lasts, and I'm pretty sure it won't be long before we see attractive alternatives.

[lguichard]

Hey, thanks for the honest feedback!

Just to clarify, the $15 Pro license is lifetime, not a subscription or a payment for every new version.

The one-seat restriction seems pretty reasonable to me. Otherwise, a single license could simply be shared with everyone, which wouldn’t make much sense.

That said, I’m absolutely open to feedback on the Free tier. What limits would you consider fair? Remove 300 process limit files ?

I tried to set restrictions that would still cover normal, everyday usage while keeping some advanced usage for Pro. The goal isn’t to make the Free version a demo.

[Ep0chalypse]

While I don't specifically see you mention "one seat" in the original post and if I'm understanding it right, his concern is the pro license is only good for 1 computer/install? I think it would be better if the pro license was allowed to be installed on multiple devices(say, 3) and then have a "enterprise" license as well for installs on many computers(no idea how to price that).

I think you handled the announcement well and I like that you are soliciting comments/ideas on how to handle free/pro.

Just my 2 cents is that pro should be lifetime(I HATE subscription software) and have ~3 active installs per license. For free I think 2 watched folder is ok, kind of on the low side but still within reason. 300 processed files is again on what I would think is the low side, but then again if a user needs to process that many files I'd classify that as heavy usage.

I've actually never used forel and have been waiting on issue #34 which looks like a pull request was just created today, so once that's merged I'll likely purchase the pro version!

I hope you can find a good median to leave users happy and be able to buy yourself some pizza/beer. Best of luck!

[leontievilya]

The free / pro split makes sense to me, except for the OCR function. I feel like that's basic functionality that should remain free. I currently watch one folder and have 5 automations that are each used once a month. So 5 files/month. 4 of those rely on OCR. 5 files/month obviously do not justify a paid license, but with the current free/pro split it renders the free version nearly useless for me.

Will have to move back to v1.09 unfortunately. Would be very glad if you revised the split and at least brought back the OCR to the free tier.