4. Add-ons, License, and Support

Duration: 3 minutes

Add-ons

In addition to our core package (CRUD), we have quite a few packages you can install or download that deal with common use cases. Some have been developed by our core team, some by our wonderful community. For example, we have plug&play interfaces to manage site-wide settings, the default Laravel users table, users, groups & permissions, content for custom pages, using page templates, news articles, categories and tags, etc.

Take a look at:

• all official add-ons
• all community add-ons

License

Backpack is open-core. The features you'll find in our docs are split into two packages:

• Backpack\CRUD is the core, released under the MIT License (free, open-source) FREE
• Backpack\PRO is a Backpack add-on, released under our EULA (paid, closed-source) PRO

Backpack\CRUD is perfect if you're building a simple admin panel - it's packed with features! It's also perfect if you're building an open-source project, the permissive license allows you to do whatever you want.

When your admin panel grows and your needs become more complex, you can purchase our Backpack\PRO add-on, which adds A LOT of features for complex use cases (see list here). Our documentation includes instructions on how to use both Backpack\CRUD and Backpack\PRO, with all the PRO features clearly labeled PRO

Support

We offer free support for all our packages. If you report a bug, we will do our best to fix it in a timely manner. We publish a new patch version weekly, launch new features every month and major versions yearly. But please note that support does not mean we can help with debugging, implementation issues specific to your project, brainstorming on solutions for your project, jumping on Zoom/Meet calls etc. We'd love to, but we just cannot do that, with thousands of developers using Backpack and such a small price. But. We do have good documentation and have been blessed with a great community, where people help each other out. If Backpack becomes your tool of choice, I highly recommend you join our gang. Help others with your experience, report bugs, create cool stuff and even influence the direction of Backpack. Use:

• StackOverflow tag for help requests. If you need help creating something using Backpack, post your question on StackOverflow using the backpack-for-laravel tag. We've been blessed with a great community that is happy to help. Who doesn't like getting StackOverflow points?
• Community Forum Issues for bugs. Found a bug? Great! Please search for it on GitHub first - someone might have already found it. If not, open an issue, we're happy to make Backpack better.
• Community Forum Discussions for showing off your work, asking for opinions on implementation, sharing tips, packages, etc.

Thank you for sticking with us for so long. This is the last Backpack lesson in this series. Now you have absolutely no excuse - time to start your first Backpack project! But first, here are a few more links, if you are still not sure whether you are ready:

• Go through the demo and play around
• Read this CRUD Crash Course and do the steps yourself
• Take a look at the CrudController API Cheat Sheet

CRUD Crash Course Demo Cheat Sheet