I've always tried to run osu! exactly how I'd want to see it run if I were a player. While this does mean osu! will never be a super-profitable business, that was never the goal (nor will it ever be!). We intentionally avoid advertising, partnerships, etc because I feel that would detract from the core experience.
osu! is free-to-win – supporting osu! won’t give you any competitive advantage (but it might make you cooler amongst your friends!). I am hugely grateful, and honestly astounded, that we have come this far purely on donations, but this is where we are! Your contributions cover completely our small team's salaries, licensing efforts via the Featured Artist program, prizes and funding for official tournaments, but most importantly make sure we have quality servers and bandwidth available around the globe.
I would like to offer thanks and gratitude on behalf of myself and the rest of the team, to those who have supported osu!.
You keep osu! running.
Why should I support osu!? Where does the money go?
Support the Team
A small team develops and runs osu!. Your support helps them to, you know... live.
Server Infrastructure
Contributions go towards the servers for running the website, multiplayer services, online leaderboards, etc.
Featured Artists
With your support, we can approach even more awesome artists and license more great music for use in osu! View the current roster »
Keep osu! self-sustaining
Your contributions help keep the game independent and completely free from ads and outside sponsors.
Official Tournaments
Help fund the running of (and the prizes for) the official osu! World Cup tournaments. Explore tournaments »
Open Source Bounty Program
Support the community contributors that have given their time and effort to help make osu! better.
Cool! What perks do I get?
Automatic Downloads
Beatmaps will automatically download in multiplayer games, while spectating others, or when clicking relevant links in chat!
Upload More Beatmaps
How many pending beatmaps you can have at once is calculated from a base value plus an additional bonus for each ranked beatmap you currently have (up to a limit).
Normally this is 4 plus 1 per ranked beatmap (up to 2). With supporter, this increases to 8 plus 1 per ranked beatmap (up to 12).
Early Access
Gain early access to new releases with new features before they go public!
This includes early access to new features on the website too!
More Favourites
The maximum number of beatmaps you can favourite is increased from 100 → 1000
More Friends
The maximum number of friends you can have is increased from 250 → 500
Friend Leaderboards
Compete with your friends and see how you rank up against them!
