I am trying to grow my project, and I am vaccillating between some examples.

Some options seem to be:

1. open sourcing the project to draw volunteer developers.

Pros

This would mean anyone can try and make some money off the code that would motivate them to contribute back and grow the project.

Cons

Existing bigger could easily copy and paste my work so far. They can also replicate without having access to the code, but that would take more time. I also thought of using AGPL license, but again, code can still be copied without redistribution. After all, enforcing a license costs a lot of money, and I cannot just say to a possible copycat that it seems you copied my code, show me what you got.

2. Keep the project closed source, but create some kind of a developer program where they get revshare

Pros

I keep the main rights for the project, but still generate interest by creating a developer program. Noone can copy code easily, just with some considerable effort, but make contributions easy as a breeze. I am also seeing many companies just open source a part of their projects, like Acquia does not open source its multisite setup, or github does not open source some of its core business.

Cons

Less attention from open source committed devs.

Conclusion

So option 2 seems the most secure, but would love some feedback.