Businesses can leverage open source software in several ways. Some may choose to deploy it as a standalone product or integrated into a bigger platform such as a cloud management system or the Kubernetes container orchestration framework.
Most open source business software can be downloaded free of charge. However, it does require someone on your team to install and configure it.
Access to the Source Code
Proprietary software can be a black box that doesn’t allow teams to peek under the hood. With open source software, teams can get detailed insight into functionality and potentially make changes themselves.
This is important because when a product evolves or requires a patch, your company can get it without the risk that a vendor may suddenly discontinue support. Additionally, you can avoid the hefty upfront costs and recurring subscription fees that come with proprietary products.
Especially for smaller companies, the ability to take advantage of community versions to test out functionality before committing to larger, professionally supported commercial products enables speed. It also prevents an organization from being locked into a pricing tier that can cause budget shock if needs change down the road.
Flexibility
There are many different ways to customize open source software, making it a flexible solution for businesses. This flexibility allows for businesses to tailor software solutions to fit their needs and avoid costly bloat from unnecessary features.
This freedom to modify software also means that businesses can easily scale their infrastructure, even as they grow. This eliminates the concern of vendor lock-in that can plague proprietary software.
Additionally, open source software is often less expensive than proprietary software and does not require yearly licensing fees. This can save businesses money on upfront and ongoing costs. It also helps businesses avoid a “sticker shock” from unexpected increases in licensing fees.
Scalability
Proprietary software can bind your business to a specific vendor, a phenomenon known as vendor lock-in. This can be difficult and expensive to overcome.
Open source software is designed to be scalable and flexible. This allows businesses to scale up their solutions and handle increased workloads without being restricted by licensing restrictions or vendor dependencies.
In addition, open source software is often cheaper than proprietary software. This can save your business money on upfront and recurring license fees. It also reduces hardware costs by running on lower-spec machines. These savings can help your business grow faster and remain competitive. It’s no wonder that even the big players are investing in open source solutions.
No Lock-in
One of the biggest disadvantages of proprietary software is vendor lock-in, which makes it more difficult to switch to alternative technologies in the future. Open source software does not require you to commit to a specific technology vendor.
With the right support services, you can customize open source software to your business needs without a significant investment. Moreover, there are no mandatory license fees associated with open source solutions, which saves you time and money.
Furthermore, you can launch new projects more rapidly with open source software. You can explore the community versions, understand whether they work for your strategic goals and then scale to a more extensive implementation in short timeframes.
No License Fees
Proprietary vendors tend to lock companies into their products with expensive up front and recurring charges. Open source software often comes with no licensing fees, allowing businesses to save on both implementation and operational costs.
In addition, communities are energized to continue adding features and innovations, so the software is likely to remain cutting edge as the company’s technology needs evolve. This is a key advantage over proprietary solutions, which are more likely to become outdated.
Additionally, open source software is frequently free to start with, enabling teams to test and implement a solution at a smaller scale before investing in a full enterprise-ready platform. This can reduce costs and accelerate the time to value.
Community Support
Using proprietary software can put a company at risk of vendor lock-in, which can increase costs over time due to the high cost of migration, integration and ongoing development. In contrast, open source solutions typically have large communities of developers that work together to make the product better, which can lead to faster and more efficient innovation and support.
In addition, compared to the steep up-front and ongoing fees associated with many proprietary products, open source solutions are often free of charge. Especially for smaller businesses that need more flexible and tailored software solutions, this can be a huge advantage. The community-based intelligence that open source products provide also makes it easier to troubleshoot and resolve issues quickly.