ReadonlyREST plugin is the most credible, 100% free and Open Source alternative to X-Pack.
This project is developed by one person - for now - as a side project and generate very low income.

This is a security plugin, and for it to continue being secure it needs a lot of attention. This is what constantly needs to be done:

• Fixing vulnerabilities immediately as soon as they are reported
• Loads of automated testing
• Porting code to new versions of Elasticsearch
• Maintaining backwards compatibile builds with the previous 4-5 version
• Supporting you in Github issues

Why to donate?

For the ponies.
Well, also. But also because the alternative would be to pay for a basic X-Pack license: many tens of thousands dollars for a handful of nodes.

So, because there's nothing worse than half assed security: either it's done seriously, or it's better to shut it down.

Roadmap

• ✅ LDAP support  
• Companion Kibana plugin (logout button, etc)
• Document level security
• Field level security
• YOUR IDEA HERE (become a patron!)

None of these will be possible without contribution. Please help this plugin to keep the permissive license it has and mostly, keep on existing!