ZimaOS 1.5 & Plus: Our Commitment, Your Questions Answered

Following our recent announcement of ZimaOS v1.5 and the introduction of ZimaOS Plus, we’ve been closely listening to the conversations happening across our community. Your feedback, questions, and concerns are invaluable. We understand that change can bring uncertainty, and our goal with this post is to provide absolute clarity, reinforce our core principles, and answer your most pressing questions directly.

This is our pledge to you.

Our vision for ZimaOS is ambitious but our principles are simple and unwavering. They are the foundation of every decision we make.

ZimaOS rejects subscription models and their variants — Lifetime Only!

Many community members are concerned that ZimaOS might gradually evolve into a subscription-based model.

Principle: As a NAS OS, subscriptions are unacceptable. They go against the core value proposition of hosting and should be rejected by the community.

We’ve studied various commercial pricing models in the market: some charge hundreds of dollars by binding users to cloud accounts, others use “upgrade and maintenance” schemes to indirectly create subscription effects. We believe these approaches are unacceptable, and that’s why we stand firmly against them. Our choice is clear: a one-time fee, lifetime license, device-based activation, plus a free edition.

Why can community members receive Plus activation? How are they identified?

Principle: The scope of benefits is designed with the interests of the community — the driving force behind our growth — at the center.

ZimaOS would not be where it is today without the continuous support of our community. As long as you have used ZimaOS before v1.5.0, you are considered a community member. That means you can upgrade to v1.5.0 for free and automatically receive Plus activation. This is our most direct way of giving back to the community.

Community benefit validity?

Principle: Same — community-centered principle.

ZimaOS has surpassed 1 million downloads+ thanks to your support! To help our long-time community members smoothly migrate to ZimaOS 1.5 and future versions, we will keep the free upgrade window open until June 30, 2026. This means that before this date, all existing members will be able to successfully obtain Plus activation. If any issues arise, you can always contact us for manual reissuance of your entitlement.

Why is it $29 for a lifetime license?

Principle: Sustainability. IceWhale’s vision is to serve 400 million households worldwide.

With that vision at the center, our pricing strategy has never been about maximizing revenue. The $29 lifetime price is set to ensure we have just enough income to sustain product development and community growth, while keeping ZimaOS accessible and sustainable for the long term.

Why start charging now?

Principle: Sustainability with incentives.

From CasaOS to ZimaOS, over the past four years we have co-created with the community and gradually built a system with solid real-world value. This adjustment is, on one hand, about establishing a sustainable foundation so our vision can go further. On the other hand, we’ve always wanted to give back to our core contributors — those who have long supported and contributed to the community. We plan to discuss with Community Mods to allocate 33% of OS revenue to community contributors, driving healthier and more positive growth. This will be a complex and challenging plan, so please stay tuned for our future updates.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

We’ve compiled the most common questions from Discord and other channels to provide quick, clear answers.

From Day 1, we have always put the community at the center. If one day IceWhale strays from our stated principles, please question us — we welcome your oversight. We are still learning and embracing the many ways you use ZimaOS, and we’re working hard to make the scope of benefits closer to real needs. We hope you can share your usage scenarios, ideas, and feedback on our benefits design directly in the community. Based on all recent feedback, we will have serious discussions and correct any inappropriate designs.

Thank you for being on this journey with us.

The IceWhale Team