I hope this is on topic, if it isn't, please let me know and I will delete.
I am a CS student and I love to make useful and fun software. I was in the process of putting together a website to use as a portfolio, when I realized I don't want to make a portfolio. I want to make a store (that could serve as a portfolio to those who are interested).
I have many different software ideas, some are big and those would obviously not be free. However, some are smaller. I have a few that would be useful to regular users but could also be viably sold to web development companies and turned into an actual product.
Anyways, I am not sure on how to price my products. My specific question is if it is possible to give software out for free and still make money, perhaps by asking for donations at the time of download initiation or through advertisements. If so, how viable of an option is this.
This is mainly for software that is not application specific. (i.e. it couldn't be sold through the chrome store or anything like that)