Where there's shadow there's yang, where there's action there's reaction, where there's proprietary software there's an open source alternative, and so on.
The issue of “openness” in technology has rarely been more central to the public consciousness than it has been in the past few years. The steady decline of Twitter has led millions of people to seek alternatives, many of which are open source, and last year's OpenAI power struggle has put a spotlight on what “open source” actually means in the context of the burgeoning AI revolution.
The consumer software world has long offered “open” alternatives to existing software: LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office, GIMP instead of Photoshop, Thunderbird instead of Outlook, etc. There are many reasons why individuals and businesses choose the open source route. Perhaps it's because of the increased transparency and security compared to proprietary players, or the increased customizability. Or maybe they simply want to espouse an ethos of software development that values freedom and collaboration over walled gardens and vendor lock-in.
Open source software has potential drawbacks, including a lack of formal customer support, limited functionality, and technical hurdles to adoption. But if you're looking to bring a bit more openness to your app stack without sacrificing too much productivity, it's good to know your options.
With that in mind, TechCrunch has rounded up some open-source alternatives to popular productivity apps that might appeal to prosumers, freelancers, or small businesses looking to escape the clutches of big tech companies.
Penpot: Design and Prototyping
Penpot in action. Image courtesy of Penpot
Penpot is an open-source web-based design tool that offers a variety of plans aimed at everyone from individuals to businesses.
Adobe's proposed $20 billion acquisition of Figma last year was ultimately called off due to regulatory headwinds, but sign-ups for Penpot surged once news of the plans first broke, and the startup used that to raise $8 million.
Excalidraw is another great open source whiteboard tool with built-in collaboration features that's also worth checking out.
Cal.com in action. Image courtesy of Cal.com
Everyone loves Calendly, the scheduling platform (valued at $3 billion) that helps people organize meetings without the back-and-forth of emails, messages, and phone calls.
Another open source challenger is Cal.com, which bills itself as “scheduling infrastructure for everyone.” Cal.com offers multiple plans that can be self-hosted or hosted by the company as part of a SaaS service. The company also raised a sizeable $25 million Series A investment round in 2022.
Screenity: Screen Recorder
Screenity. Image credit: Screenity
Loom emerged as one of the beneficiaries of the rapid shift to remote work, enabling asynchronous video communication through a myriad of screencasting, recording, and sharing features. Like many startups, Loom struggled as the world began to return to normal, and was sold to Atlassian last year for just under $1 billion.
Still, remote work isn't going away, and those looking for an open-source Loom alternative that isn't backed by a multi-billion dollar corporation might want to check out Screenity, though it's currently limited to the Chrome browser.
Jitsi: Video conferencing
Jitsi in action. Image credit: Under Jitsi license.
Zoom has been one of the big success stories in the rapid transition to remote work, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for a fully self-hosted and configurable video conferencing alternative. That's exactly what Jitsi, an open-source, community-driven project started by founder Emil Ivov in 2003, offers.
Users can visit meet.jitsi.com to instantly start a meeting. Jitsi is open source and free for anyone to deploy, but parent company 8×8 offers a paid service with additional features. It's worth noting that 8×8 acquired Jitsi from Atlassian in 2018.
Nextcloud: Cloud storage
Nextcloud. Image courtesy of Nextcloud
Nextcloud is both a client-side and server-side solution for file storage. Other cloud storage providers, such as Shadow Drive, use Nextcloud's infrastructure under the hood.
Users can self-host their Nextcloud instance or use third-party providers suggested by Nextcloud, which allows users to manage the setup and maintenance process.
Nextcloud can be used by hobbyists and businesses who care about privacy, security, and data sovereignty and want to avoid industry incumbents like Dropbox.
Ghost: Publishing
Ghost dashboard. Image courtesy of Ghost
Substack has built its business around giving writers the tools to create newsletters and similar content, but like Medium, Substack is a closed ecosystem.
Ghost is an open-source publishing platform developed by former WordPress engineer John O'Nolan in 2013. WordPress is also an open-source solution, but Ghost offers a cheaper alternative with managed hosting instances and doesn't charge any subscription fees from publishers.
Ghost first raised $300,000 through crowdfunding in 2013 from high-profile backers including Seth Godin, Leo Babauta, and Microsoft during the project's early stages.
TabbyML: Your Coding Copilot
GitHub Copilot has emerged as a leader in the AI-powered pair programming space, with Google and Amazon introducing similar smart features.
Either way, none of these incumbents' coding assistants are open source or self-hosted. TabbyML wants to solve that problem. Founded last year by two ex-Googlers, TabbyML raised $3.2 million to fund development of the initial version of what it calls a fully self-hosted, open source alternative to GitHub Copilot.
Chatwoot: Customer Support
Chatwoot. Image provided by: Chatwoot
As one of the leading companies in the customer relationship space, Zendesk doesn't need much of an introduction. However, the private equity-owned aspect of Zendesk might not be to everyone's liking. Plus, Zendesk is completely unique.
Chatwoot, on the other hand, touts its open-source capabilities that allow businesses to host their customer engagement platform themselves and keep all their data in-house.
PhotoPrism: Photo management
PhotoPrism. Image courtesy: PhotoPrism
In 2020, Google Photos ended its unlimited free plan, and that same year, a Berlin-based team going by the name PhotoPrism emerged as an alternative of sorts, with the ability to run a self-hosted server on your desktop (Windows, Mac, or Linux) alongside DigitalOcean, Raspberry Pi, FreeBSD, and a number of network-attached storage (NAS) devices.
PhotoPrism includes support for photo backups, as well as tools for converting files, detecting duplicates, recognizing faces of friends and family in photos, etc. The company offers a range of plans designed for both individuals and organizations, with self-hosted and hosted options available.
Bitwarden: Password management
Bitwarden. Image credit: Bitwarden
There are plenty of password managers out there, from LastPass to Dashlane to 1Password, that generate hard-to-guess passwords and store them in a secure digital vault, but Bitwarden sets itself apart by operating primarily on an open-source model, raising a whopping $100 million in funding along the way.
Bitwarden's core components are open source, meaning anyone can view, modify and distribute the code, although some features are only available under proprietary “source available” licenses, which place significant restrictions on what end users can do, but ensure transparency.
AppFlowy: Task Management
AppFlowy. Image credit: AppFlowy
AppFlowy is an open source alternative to Notion, a $10 billion workplace productivity and collaboration tool.
Founded in 2021, AppFlowy offers a self-hosted solution packed with tools for managing projects, taking notes, creating documents, and tracking the status of individual project items and deadlines. The company raised $6.4 million in funding last year from notable investors, including the founders of Automattic and YouTube.
Dub.co: Link Management
Dub.co. Image courtesy of Dub
When it comes to shortening and managing links, Spectrum Equity-owned Bitly is one popular tool, but Google recently put the final nail in the coffin for its URL shortening service. If you’re looking for an open source alternative, Dub.co might be the answer.
Former Vercel employee Steven Tey started it as a side project in 2022 and turned it into a company two years later. Dub.co offers a number of unique URL management services, including how to use time-series data, personalization, and branded links, but you can also self-host the solution.