Partner programs for hosts
This page is for managers and business developers at hosting companies who want a closer relationship with the Exponential project. It answers: what partnership options exist according to the sources, what a host can do on its own, and what must not be claimed without an agreement.
Note
The Partners section of this help describes partner programs in detail. This page covers the questions that are specific to hosts and points there for the rest.
Contents
- The organizations
- What the sources document today
- What a host can do without any agreement
- Asking for a partnership
- What not to claim
- A partnership request to copy
The organizations
| Organization | What it is | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 7x | the company that "maintains, develops, supports and hosts" Exponential; it also sells hosting itself | Who is 7x? |
| The Exponential Foundation | a nonprofit that operates the project and funds its development, documentation and community | Who is the Exponential Foundation? |
| The community | users, developers and companies on the forums, Telegram, GitHub | Community places |
A host is in an unusual position: 7x offers managed Exponential hosting too (Who is 7x?). The software's license gives every host the same rights to host it (Licensing for hosts); whether 7x works with a given host as a partner is a question for 7x.
What the sources document today
- Sponsorship of 7x and of the Foundation is open to anyone and documented (How to support or join).
- Contribution of code, documentation and translations is open to anyone: every pull request is merged, under
its author's name, once the author has squashed and rebased it onto
main(Contributors and pull requests). - Other companies' work is credited in the product and its history, for example Netgen, Mugo Web and CJW Network (Contributors and friends of the project).
- Formal partner terms (tiers, fees, listings, referral rules) are not in the repository. If a program exists when you read this, its terms are described in the Partners section of this help or by 7x and the Foundation directly; do not rely on this page for them.
What a host can do without any agreement
| Action | Effect | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Host Exponential sites | allowed by the license, no fee | Licensing for hosts |
| Sponsor the Foundation or 7x | funds new features, documentation and community work | How to support or join |
| Contribute fixes you make for customers | the fix is maintained upstream instead of by you | Working with the project and 7x |
| Improve this documentation | your hosting experience helps every host | Free documentation |
| Report bugs and security issues well | faster fixes for your customers | Security updates and disclosure |
| Take part in the forums and chat | visibility in the community | Community places |
Tip
Contributing the hosting fixes you would otherwise keep as local patches is the cheapest partnership there is: a local patch is work at every update, an upstream fix is work once.
Asking for a partnership
- Write down what you offer (your plans, your regions, your support) and what you ask for.
- Contact 7x through the contact ways on its website, or the Foundation through its site; the addresses are on Who is 7x? and Who is the Exponential Foundation?.
- Agree in writing what each side may say in public, including the use of names and logos.
What not to claim
| Without an agreement, do not say | Say instead |
|---|---|
| "Official partner", "certified host", "recommended by the project" | "We host Exponential" |
| "Supported by 7x" | "Support by <your company>" |
| That your plans are endorsed by the Foundation | nothing; or quote a written statement you received |
Use the names correctly: Brand and naming rules.
A partnership request to copy
To: <7x or the Exponential Foundation, through their published contact>
Subject: Partnership request from <company>
Who we are: <company, country, what we host today>
Our Exponential offer: <plans, engines, databases, regions>
What we contribute: <sponsorship, code, documentation, translations, community work>
What we ask for: <listing, referral, joint marketing, early release notes, ...>
Contact: <role and address>Related pages
- Working with the project and 7x
- Marketing Exponential hosting
- The community and ecosystem as a selling point
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
Become an Exponential Partner
Partners share their information, provide funding, contribute back and develop the products with us, and that is how Exponential grows. A partner website and dashboard are planned for mid-2027: please become a partner today to speed up our growth rate and land new features faster.