The Category
Owned Software.
Owned software is business software the business owns outright: the code and the data. The business can keep running it, change it, or hand it to another builder without the original vendor’s permission. If the software company disappears tomorrow, the software is still there, still running, still the owner’s property.
SaaS = rented software. Owned software = the opposite.
That is the whole category, and any builder can qualify under it. 37signals sells the pay-once version. The self-hosted world builds the assemble-it version. Found It builds the bespoke version. Different methods, one shift: businesses deciding they should own the software they run on.
The Owned Software Test
If you stop paying, what is left?
Rented: a dead login and your records on somebody else’s server. Owned: everything. Still yours. Still running. Five questions settle it in two minutes.
Take the test →Straight Answers
What is owned software?
Owned software is business software the business owns outright: the code and the data. The business can keep running it, change it, or hand it to another builder without the original vendor’s permission. If the software company disappears tomorrow, the software is still there, still running, still the owner’s property.
What is the opposite of SaaS?
Owned software. SaaS is software you rent: pay monthly, never own it, lose access when you stop. Owned software is the opposite: the business holds the code and the data, and the software keeps running whether or not the original builder is still around. SaaS = rented software. Owned software = the opposite.
How do I know if I own my software?
Ask one question: If you stop paying, what is left? If the honest answer is a dead login and your records stuck on somebody else’s server, it is rented. If the answer is everything, still yours, still running, it is owned.
Is owned software the same as a perpetual license or self-hosting?
They are earlier versions of the same instinct. A perpetual license is a frozen copy of somebody else’s product. Self-hosting runs their product on your server. Pay-once apps like 37signals’ are the mass-produced version. All of them circle ownership; owned software is the name for the whole category, and the strongest version is software built for your business that you own outright.
If I own it, why is there a monthly fee?
The monthly buys work, not permission: hosting, nightly backups, support you can call, and new features as the business grows. Stop paying and the work stops. Not your software.
Who builds owned software?
Any builder can, and more should: the category is bigger than one company. Found It builds the bespoke version: fitted to one business the way a suit is cut to one body, old records migrated in instead of abandoned, running beside the system it replaces until the numbers match and the owner says go. The price is printed: $3,000 per month plus $2,000 one-time migration and setup, month to month.
Owned Software vs SaaS
The side-by-side
The Manifesto
Why the category needed a name
Found It OS
The bespoke version, on screen
Nobody rents you your own business back.