NuGet.org Adds Sponsorship Links to Support Package Maintainers -- Visual Studio Magazine

NuGet.org Adds Sponsorship Links to Support Package Maintainers

By David Ramel
10/30/2025

The .NET team announced that NuGet.org now supports maintainer sponsorships, introducing a new way for developers to financially support the people who maintain and publish open source packages across the .NET ecosystem. The new feature adds a "Sponsor this package" button to NuGet.org package pages, connecting users to funding links provided by the package authors themselves.

With the new Sponsorship feature, maintainers can configure up to 10 funding URLs for each package through the "Sponsorship Links" section on the Manage Package page. Approved platforms include GitHub Sponsors, Patreon, Open Collective, Ko-fi, Tidelift, and Liberapay. After saving the entries, a heart icon or "Sponsor this package" button automatically appears in the package's About section, allowing users to open a popup that lists the maintainer's support options.

Microsoft described the change as part of a broader push toward open source sustainability. "This feature is a step toward a more sustainable and resilient .NET ecosystem," the team said in the announcement. The feature enables package authors to add sponsor links directly within NuGet.org, ensuring visibility without requiring separate hosting or promotion efforts.

Users who click the Sponsor button are redirected to the external funding platform selected by the maintainer. NuGet.org itself does not process or track donations. Instead, it acts as a neutral platform for maintainers to highlight where users can contribute, without handling financial transactions or analytics data.

Microsoft said the addition of sponsorships aligns with ongoing efforts to improve the health and longevity of the .NET open source ecosystem. By giving maintainers an integrated way to showcase funding links, the new feature helps encourage community appreciation and practical support for those maintaining widely used packages that power many enterprise and developer workflows.

About the Author

David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.

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