Frequently asked questions
What is MDN Plus?
MDN Plus is a premium subscription service launched in March 2022 by Mozilla. The service allows users to customize their MDN Web Docs experience through premium features such as Updates, Collections and MDN Offline.
Why are we working on premium features on MDN?
The extensive research we have done in 2020 and 2021 showed us that MDN users would appreciate a customized experience on MDN. We’ve got information on what you would find useful and what you would be interested in. All the premium features we propose today reflect that feedback. MDN Plus is an initial step towards making the experience on the site more interactive and helpful for our users.
How much does MDN Plus cost?
A three-tiered pricing model has been put in place in order to try and accommodate our users’ needs as much as possible:
- MDN Core - A free plan, for those ones who want to try out a limited version of the premium features.
- MDN Plus 5 - A $5/month or $50/year plan that offers unlimited access to the premium features included in MDN Plus.
- MDN Supporter 10 - A $10/month or $100/year plan for users who want to support MDN with a higher amount. On top of the MDN Plus premium features, MDN supporters will be able to contribute and shape the product moving forward, by having early access to premium features and a direct feedback channel with the MDN team.
Subscribing for a yearly plan activates a 20% discount for all the paid options.
Can I upgrade/downgrade my plan?
Currently, you can only upgrade your plan. For getting a downgrade, please cancel your current subscription first and then activate the new one.
What is happening with the existing MDN Web Docs?
Nothing. We will continue to develop & maintain our web documentation that will remain free and accessible for everyone. There will be no change there. Even more, we believe that MDN Web Docs will benefit from MDN Plus, as we plan to reinvest part of the gains from MDN Plus and improve our documentation as well as the overall user experience on the website.
Are we violating any OS license obligation by adding a paid product to MDN?
MDN content is made available under a CC BY-SA 2.5 license. That license doesn't preclude Mozilla (or other users of MDN content) from having a paid product. MDN Plus adds premium features like updates and collections on top of the free content. Regular users can still access and reuse MDN content under the Creative Commons license.
Where will the money from MDN Plus go?
Since its beginning in 2005, MDN Web Docs has been a project hosted and provided by Mozilla. Mozilla covers the cost of infrastructure, development and maintenance of the MDN platform, including a team of engineers and its own team of dedicated writers.
Mozilla wants MDN Plus to help ensure that MDN's open source content continues to be supported into the future. MDN Plus has been built only with Mozilla resources, and any revenue generated by MDN Plus will stay within Mozilla. We are looking into ways to reinvest some of these additional funds into open source projects contributing to MDN but it is still in the early stages.
Does the launch of MDN Plus impact the relationship with partners like OWD?
The existence of a new subscription model will not detract from MDN's current free Web Docs offering in any way. The current experience of accessing web documentation will not change for users who do not wish to sign up for a premium subscription. Open Web Docs (OWD) and Mozilla will continue to work closely together on MDN for the best possible web platform documentation for everyone. For more information about how our organizations work together, please check this article.
What regions is MDN Plus available in?
The free version of MDN Plus is available worldwide. Anyone can create an MDN Plus account and try out a limited version of the premium features. As for the paid plans, they are currently available as follows: in the United States, Canada (since March 24th, 2022), Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Singapore, Switzerland, Spain (since April 28th, 2022), Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia (since June 15th, 2022). We are working on expanding this list even further.
I have an idea for MDN Plus, who should I contact?
In case you have an idea you would like to share about MDN Plus, you can add your suggestions to our mdn-community repo.
If a subscriber, you can also leave us feedback by accessing the ‘Feedback’ option in the user menu.