Heads up for the Zeus users in here.

[Brent N9BC]

As my favorite Weather Man Frankie McDonald would say "Be Prepared!"

I fired up Zeus for the first time in a while and instead of my radio I got a QRZ login prompt. App won't open without one now. That seemed odd for a piece of free software so I went digging to find out when that happened.

It came in with 0.10.9, which was also the one update you couldn't skip. And while I was in the source I found that on July 4 they added Stripe payment code too. Plugins can be given a monthly price and billed against your callsign. Nothing costs money yet but it is coming from what I can see.

I checked the changelog and there's nothing about payments in it. Nothing about Stripe. The login lock got one line calling it "QRZ-backed user validation" which is a funny way to put it.

Brian left the project end of June and archived his repos last week. His copy is still up at github.com/brianbruff/openhpsdr-zeus if you want to verify any of this, the payment stuff is in the July 4 commits. The new official repo only has code from before June 18 in it.

Not telling what people think but seems a bit shady forcing down that road.

[Paul-M1TZR]

Now I am no expert and may be talking out of my rear (well typing at least) but if Zues is open source then the source code must be made available as per the GNU License agreement. So what is to stop someone removing any code that's points to any method of payment, recompiling and releasing for others?

Haven't tried Zeus yet but do follow its development along with all the others that seem to have popped up around the same time. Did make me start wondering why Zeus had gone to https://zeussdr.com this week from the usual GitHub page.

As I say I am no expert and may be completely wrong in my assumption/understanding.

[John Williams]

It is very easy to run afoul of the GPL. I have to wonder what the strategy is to monetize what is essentially a free open-source core implementation. The plugins must really need to show value above the base functionality. 

My biggest issue is the requirement to log into an external web site to launch. Not good for non-connected users such as POTA/SOTA, 

---

From: herme...@googlegroups.com <herme...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Paul-M1TZR <wcha...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2026 11:07 AM
To: Hermes-Lite <herme...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Heads up for the Zeus users in here.

 

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[gareth]

The paywall is the api for qrz.com as it will not give its api out for free, so if your already a paying subscriber to qrz it will work fine. If your not then to hell with qrz.com

[gareth]

You are bot paying for ZEUS period.

[Paul-M1TZR]

From Gareths response am I right in thinking you can only use Zeus now if you have a paid QRZ account ?

[gareth]

The latest release requires a login to use it, and off you go. To me this is the wrong way forward. I made the comment on his latest youtube channel as you can see. So yes im using other software.

68CT080
27 minutes ago
Having to sign in to use the app? this will not do you any favours in my opinion.
Reply
kb2uka575
24 minutes ago
Don’t need any favors lol. Theres many other pieces of software you guys can use.

Reply

[Ron Lewkowicz]

QRZ has an API that is free to use as well. It just provides less detailed information.  It would be easy enough to support both. I use this API in a logging app that I wrote for myself.  Last I tried Zeus it seemed to not support using the free QRZ  API and I've just left the QRZ panel closed.  I've only tried Zeus just long enough to see how it is coming along.  It hasn't progressed far enough to be usable as yet. 

[Ron Lewkowicz]

It would seem there was a mutiny on the project.  The original developer is out.  They are still calling it open source but all the links to their source point to old archived repos that are not being updated. If they are still publishing source I can't find it.  

[Paul-M1TZR]

Hi Ron 

On there shiny new web site it says you can request the source code and they will provide it, free of charge as well.

All you need to do is 

Source code for released versions

Zeus is licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or later, and the complete corresponding source for any released version is available on request at no charge. Email sup...@zeussdr.com with the version number shown in the About panel, and we will send you the full source for that release. See the PLUGIN-NOTICE.txt file included with every install for the full written offer.

I do wonder what the motive for this approach is when all other similar projects just offer it via GitHub

[Luke Williams]

I have not even used Zeus and don't really have interest, especially now. This does make me almost want to write a job that emails them every time there is a new release and then commits it to a public GitHub repo.

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[John Williams]

Spent part of my career in open source. They are following the letter of the law but not the spirit. All they have to do is make the gpl part "available ". They will try to monetize the plugins which is also allowed if they link to the gpl code in approved ways. In my opinion, they will fail, but they are free to try. Thetis is free and adequate. Lyra is very good. Free competition will be stiff. An uphill battle to show clear differentiation.

John Williams 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 14, 2026, at 4:05 PM, Luke Williams <lukeaw...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Gary Abercrombie]

That sounds a lot like what FlexRadio did when they stopped supporting the GPL project.  They wanted you to register to get the download.

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[Jim Ancona]

I feel the same way. Someone could also use that technique to maintain a fork with the authentication/monetization stuff removed. But as you say,, I'm not interested enough to do that.

Jim

N1ADJ

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[Ron Lewkowicz]

There is no money in this. Too small of a user base.  Forks are fine but when you see the original creator of the project pack up and shut down you know that someone got screwed over.  Reminds me of OpenWebRX and Kiwi.  In that case thankfully someone picked up the original project and continued.  It would be nice to see Brian pick this back up and continue.  It was an interesting idea.  

[Ron Lewkowicz]

I see Brian is not in their list of credits.  No credit given to the authors of the audio chain plugins they use. A couple were Zam. Another was LSP.    This is total BS.  

[Joshua Roy]

There are a couple of the developers who left.Two of the remaining developers I have seen online in the last couple of days, and they are just plain a-holes. That coupled with the direction the project seems to be taking means that I will be waiting for somebody, hopefully one of the good developers who left, to fork the project.

[Ron Lewkowicz]

I asked in their Facebook group why they do not list Brian Keating in the credits or give any credit to the developers of the audio chain plugins that they use.  As expected I am now blocked from the group.  These guys are not just a-holes they are first class a-holes.  They've taken all this code from others and blatantly claim it as their own.  Anyone who continues to support Zeus after knowing what they have done deserves what ever bad thing happens as a result.  

[Vanderlei Santos]

Wow, seriously?!

If I recall correctly, Brian started this project, and Douglas Cerao joined later on...
I wonder what happened?

I also found it odd that they're asking users to create a login and password to access the system!
Zeus SDR has been doing well and gaining users all over the world, and now this happens!
It could be the end of ZeusSDR if it loses user credibility.

[Joe Word]

Douglas Cerrato wrote this 8 hours ago on Facebook:

We have decided to only allow users we choose to have access to Zeus. We believe it’s best for the super majority of you to use Thetis. 

[Joshua Roy]

Yeah, the writing was kinda on the wall. Do a bunch of shady things, and drive away the majority of your good developers, including the founder, and it's not usually too long before the whole thing circles the drain. That is what we are watching right now, unfortunately.

[Joshua Roy]

Also, a heads-up for anybody thinking they were abiding by the open source license, they are now charging for access to the source code.

https://github.com/Zeus-SDR/openhpsdr-zeus#source-code-for-released-versions

[Captain Ron]

Personally Zeus has some interesting features but my opinion is that it is cumbersome to use and therefore  will remain on Thetis...It reminds me too much of Uno that I used years ago with the SDR Play...No thanks!...Also I would never purchase an ANAN radio again after the issues I had with mine!...Presently using the Brick 2 for about 1/6 the cost of an ANAN!!

73,

Ron/HP4RWE

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