The open source software market has seen considerable growth due to a variety of factors.
• The open-source software market has expanded rapidly in recent years. It will grow from $41.83 billion in 2024 to $48.92 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.9%.
The growth is attributed to wider access to open-source platforms, increased emphasis on technology education, government initiatives, cost pressures, and the demand for collaborative software solutions.
The open source software market is expected to maintain its strong growth trajectory in upcoming years.
• The open-source software market is forecasted to see rapid growth, reaching $90.66 billion by 2029 with a CAGR of 16.7%.
Factors fueling this growth include increasing business use, availability of open APIs, the shift to cloud-based infrastructure, and awareness of security benefits. Key trends include technological advancements, ethical licensing, cloud-based open-source software, quantum computing frameworks, and low-code/no-code development.
The surge in small-scale businesses is anticipated to fuel the expansion of the open-source software market in the near future. Entities known as small enterprises, typically privately held, staffed by a limited number of employees, and generating comparatively modest revenues and profits in comparison to larger corporations, are at the root of this growth. The advancement in technology, globalization, shifting workforce dynamics, government initiatives, market prospects, cost-effectiveness, and entrepreneurial drive are all contributing factors for small enterprises. The adoption of open-source software by these small-scale enterprises presents an economical solution for their business requirements, offering them the ability to leverage premium software devoid of the exorbitant charges linked with proprietary systems. As reported by the Department for Business and Trade, a government department based in the UK, in October 2023, the number of small-scale enterprises surged from 217 in 2022 to 223 in 2023. Meanwhile, the count of medium-scale enterprises remained steady at 36 in both 2021 and 2022 before inching up to 37 in 2023. Hence, the proliferation of small-scale enterprises is acting as a catalyst for the open-source software market.
The open source software market covered in this report is segmented –
1) By Type: Shareware, Bundled Software, Berkeley Source Distribution (BSD)
2) By Application: Professional Services, Managed Services
3) By Organization Size: Small And Medium Enterprises, Large Enterprises
4) By End-User: Banking Financial Services And Insurance (BFSI), Education, Manufacturing, Healthcare And Life Sciences, Retail And Distribution, Other End-Users
Subsegments:
1) By Shareware: Trial Software, Freemium Software, Time-Limited Software, Feature-Limited Software, Subscription-Based Shareware
2) By Bundled Software: Operating System Bundles, Productivity Tool Bundles, Web Development Bundles, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Bundles, Database Management System (DBMS) Bundles, Security Software Bundles
3) By Berkeley Source Distribution (BSD): BSD Operating Systems, BSD-Based Web Servers, BSD-Based Network Tools, BSD License Software, BSD-Based Security Tools
Key players in the open-source software market are investing in the creation of edge-optimized operating systems like the Red Hat Device Edge to support open-source communities. The Red Hat Device Edge is a specially optimized system that operates at the network's edge, offering the required infrastructure and capabilities for seamless computing. For example, Red Hat Inc., a US-based open-source software firm, debuted the Red Hat Device Edge in October 2022. This product is specifically designed to allow businesses to install only the necessary software components, thereby minimizing potential cyber-attack surfaces and resource consumption. It also simplifies the management of edge devices and related workloads, which facilitates the deployment of workloads on resource-limited devices at the extreme edge. Additionally, it provides advanced security functions such as smart device upgrades, zero-touch provisioning, and rapid security patching.
Major companies operating in the open source software market are:
• Intel Corporation
• International Business Machines Corporation
• Oracle Corporation
• Transcend Information Inc.
• F5 Inc.
• Red Hat Inc.
• Mozilla Corporation
• SUSE S.A.
• Progress Software Corporation
• HashiCorp
• Acquia Inc.
• Canonical Ltd.
• Aptean
• Puppet Inc.
• TYPO3
• MariaDB Corporation
• The Linux Foundation
• Redpill Linpro.
• ClearCenter
• KDE
• Eclipse Foundation AISBL
• The Apache Software Foundation
• Python Software Foundation
• FossID
• RethinkDB
North America was the largest region in the open source software market in 2024. The regions covered in the open source software market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa.