- Open source software is now worth an estimated $7.7 billion a year
- Average organizational spending positions exceed half a million
- Most investments are in the form of human labor, not cash.
The continued rise in popularity of open source software (OSS) has turned it into a multibillion-dollar industry attracting investment from companies around the world, new research claims.
The 2024 Open Source Software Funding Survey found that organizations around the world contribute approximately $7.7 billion to open source projects each year.
The research, which came from Github, the Linux Foundation, and Harvard University, noted a clear divide, with the majority (86%) of investments coming from workers’ time. Only 14% revolved around direct financial contributions.
Companies support open source
The research used data from 501 respondents, who together contribute a combined total of $1.7 billion to OSS annually. The average organizational spend on OSS was valued at more than $520,000: $345,000 for labor and $175,000 for direct financial contributions.
More than half (57%) of direct financial contributions went to contractors, and less than a fifth went to specific projects (17%) and foundations (16%). Communities (4%), maintainers (4%), and bounty platforms (1%) also received cash injections.
However, it also raised so-called blind spots in investments. More than two in three (68%) did not answer how much financial support they gave to different OSS goals, and almost four in five (78%) did not (or could not) share how much of their organization’s budget is allocated to OSS.
Despite the best efforts to quantify the market, the figures come from a handful of organizations and are a mere estimate or best guess. Accordingly, researchers call for employees to self-report their contributions and for contribution tracking to be incorporated into organizational workflows.
That said, there is a clear understanding that open source software helps drive innovation, and GitHub, the Linux Foundation, and Harvard want to encourage better oversight and transparency to ensure the sustainability of OSS going forward.
