Open Source Software

Whether you choose Linux, Windows or Mac, there are numerous free & open-source software (FOSS) applications available that do the same thing as the expensive software you may be used to. Here are some highly-recommended alternatives.

by Iwan Gabovitch on Flickr

FREE vs OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

The terms free software and open source software do mean different things, though the categories of software they refer to are almost exactly the same.

  1. Free Software is Open Source Software that is free of both cost and restrictions.

  2. Open Source allows the coder more control over his program compared to Free Software.

  3. Open Source software can work with other proprietary software, while Free Software does not allow the same.

Adapted from http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-open-source-and-free-software/

ABOUT FREE & OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

  1. 1 Why Open Source Misses the Point of Free… 31
  2. 2 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 4
  3. 3 The Open Source Initiative 9
  4. 4 What is open source software? 4
  5. 5 Open Source vs Free Software 5
  6. 6 Portal:Free and open-source software 11

AUDIO & VIDEO

Free Open Source Software for Audio / Video / Multimedia applications.

TOP 10 RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. 1 Clementine Music Player 92
  2. 2 Chromium Browser (OSS of Google Chrome) 55
  3. 3 Ubuntu Linux OS 25
  4. 4 LibreOffice 8
  5. 5 KDE Desktop Environment 25
  6. 6 The GNU Image Manipulation Program 13
  7. 7 Mozilla Thunderbird email client 8
  8. 8 WordPress › Blog Tool, Publishing… 7

INTERNET & WEB

Free Open Source Software for Internet & Web applications.

Audio / Music Players

  1. 1 Clementine Music Player 107
  2. 2 Audacious 46
  3. 3 Rhythmbox 34
  4. 4 Banshee 26
  5. 5 Amarok 28
  6. 6 Exaile 18
  7. 7 Guayadeque Music Player download 11
  8. 8 Qt-based Multimedia Player 14

EDUCATIONAL / ACADEMIC

Free Open Source Software for School & Research.

CMS/Blogging Software

  1. 1 WordPress › Blog Tool, Publishing… 18
  2. 2 Drupal 16
  3. 3 Joomla! The CMS Trusted By Millions for… 11
  4. 4 WebGUI 42
  5. 5 OpenCms, the Open Source Java Web Content Management System 12
  6. 6 Jekyll • Simple, blog-aware, static sites 10
  7. 7 Plone CMS 19
  8. 8 XOOPS Web Application System 8

Audio Recording/Editing

  1. 1 Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder 39
  2. 2 Sweep 56
  3. 3 Frinika 36
  4. 4 WaveShop 27
  5. 5 LMMS • Home 20
  6. 6 Rosegarden: music software for Linux 22
  7. 7 Sonic Visualiser 18
  8. 8 Ardour 24

Coding for Kids

  1. 1 Scratch 60
  2. 2 An easy to use BASIC language and IDE for education. 44
  3. 3 Snap! Build Your Own Blocks 28
  4. 4 International Colobot Community. Official… 9
  5. 5 PythonTurtle 53
  6. 6 KTurtle 18

Email Clients

  1. 1 Make Email Easier. 23
  2. 2 Evolution 25
  3. 3 Claws Mail 25
  4. 4 Geary 27
  5. 5 Kmail 14
  6. 6 The Mutt E-Mail Client 14
  7. 7 Nyla's N1 4
  8. 8 ProtonMail is free encrypted email. 1

Media & Video Players

  1. 1 the xine project 84
  2. 2 VLC media player, the… 8
  3. 3 Mythbuntu 23
  4. 4 Kodi/XBMC Home Theatre Software 20
  5. 5 SMPlayer 10
  6. 6 MPlayer 7
  7. 7 Dragon Player 8
  8. 8 Mpv 8

Educational Software

  1. 1 Marble 72
  2. 2 GeoGebra 32
  3. 3 Step 31
  4. 4 The KDE Education Project 21
  5. 5 GCompris Educational Software 14
  6. 6 Tux Paint 15
  7. 7 Moodle 8

File Transfer Clients

  1. 1 The free FTP solution 13
  2. 2 jMethods.com 19
  3. 3 Free FTP software for your browser 8
  4. 4 Cyberduck 7
  5. 5 Free SFTP and FTP client for Windows 4

Screen Recorders

  1. 1 Kazam Screencaster in Launchpad 43
  2. 2 Projects/Istanbul 18
  3. 3 vokoscreen 16
  4. 4 Free Screen Recording Software 16
  5. 5 SimpleScreenRecorder 10
  6. 6 Open Broadcaster Software 10

Mathematical Software

  1. 1 GeoGebra 47
  2. 2 GNU Octave 28
  3. 3 Sage 27
  4. 4 The R Project for Statistical Computing 14
  5. 5 Maxima, a Computer Algebra System 14
  6. 6 gnuplot homepage 7
  7. 7 Genius Mathematics Tool and the GEL Language 12
  8. 8 Home Page 13

Web Browsers

  1. 1 Chromium 47
  2. 2 Tor Project 36
  3. 3 Midori  ·  A lightweight, fast, and free… 44
  4. 4 Firefox 7
  5. 5 Download Maxthon Web Browser Free 13
  6. 6 Palemoon 18
  7. 7 Waterfoxproject 0
  8. 8 Join Brave and change the web together 0

Video Editors

  1. 1 Kdenlive 52
  2. 2 OpenShot Video Editor in Launchpad 22
  3. 3 Cinelerra Video Editor 27
  4. 4 Pitivi, a free and open source video… 15
  5. 5 Avidemux 14
  6. 6 Free and Open 3D Creation Software 8

Scientific Software

  1. 1 Celestia 41
  2. 2 Stellarium Astronomy Software 29
  3. 3 Step is an interactive physics simulator 18
  4. 4 Biogenesis 21

Web Site Editors

  1. 1 BlueGriffon 70
  2. 2 Amaya Home Page 14
  3. 3 Bluefish Editor : Home 10
  4. 4 The SeaMonkey® Project 12
  5. 5 Brackets 15
  6. 6 The best web text editor for everyone 18

BUSINESS & OFFICE

Free Open Source Software for Businees & Office applications

GAMES

Free Open Source Software for Games..

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Free Open Source Software for Operating Systems & Desktops.

Accounting & Finance

  1. 1 GnuCash 60
  2. 2 OpenMiracle 51
  3. 3 TurboCASH Open Source Accounting Software UK 25
  4. 4 wealthbot.io 11
  5. 5 KMyMoney 5

Games Software

  1. 1 Neverball 79
  2. 2 The Free Real-Time Strategy Game 70
  3. 3 OpenRA 38
  4. 4 Pingus 40
  5. 5 Armagetron Advanced : 21
  6. 6 Official Colobot 21
  7. 7 FlightGear Flight Simulator 40
  8. 8 Alien Arena 27

Desktop Environments

  1. 1 KDE 21
  2. 2 GNOME 18
  3. 3 http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com 14
  4. 4 Xfce Desktop Environment 8
  5. 5 Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment 10
  6. 6 LXQt 10

E-Commerce

  1. 1 Magento 23
  2. 2 WooCommerce 4
  3. 3 PrestaShop: Ecommerce Software to create… 4
  4. 4 Zen Cart™ 2
  5. 5 OpenCart 7

GRAPHICS & PHOTOS

Free Open Source Software for Editing and Managing Images & Photos.

Linux Distros

  1. 1 Ubuntu 12
  2. 2 Linux Mint 11
  3. 3 Debian -- The Universal Operating System 8
  4. 4 Fedora 4
  5. 5 openSUSE.org 5
  6. 6 CentOS Project 2
  7. 7 Mageia 2
  8. 8 The thoughtful, capable, and ethical replacement for Windows and macOS ⋅ elementary OS 7

Office Suites

  1. 1 LibreOffice Free Office Suite 15
  2. 2 FreeOffice 55
  3. 3 SSuite Office 36
  4. 4 Calligra Suite 15
  5. 5 Apache OpenOffice 8

Fractal Generators

  1. 1 GNU XaoS 33
  2. 2 Fractalnow 36
  3. 3 Gnofract4d 20
  4. 4 bottlenose.demon.co.uk 20
  5. 5 FLAM3 20
  6. 6 Laravel 12
  7. 7 Apophysis 7.x 0

Virtual Machines

  1. 1 Oracle VM VirtualBox 13
  2. 2 The Xen Project, the powerful open source… 20
  3. 3 QEMU 8
  4. 4 Virtual Machine Manager Home 11
  5. 5 VMware player 7
  6. 6 Boxes 6

PDF Tools

  1. 1 Okular 31
  2. 2 PDF Creator 30
  3. 3 jPdf Tweak 17
  4. 4 PDFedit 23
  5. 5 PDF Split and Merge 9
  6. 6 Zathura 7
  7. 7 Evince 4
  8. 8 qpdfview 4

Graphics Painting & Editing

  1. 1 The GNU Image Manipulation Program 14
  2. 2 krita - Digital Painting. Creative Freedom. 40
  3. 3 Inkscape 14
  4. 4 Blender 3D Creation Software 7
  5. 5 Pinta: Painting Made Simple 17
  6. 6 GNOME Wiki! 8
  7. 7 Convert, Edit, or Compose Digital Images 6
  8. 8 Calligra 14

UTILITIES & SECURITY

Free Open Source Software for Managing Computers.

DEVELOPMENT

Free Open Source Software for Programmers & Web Builders.

Photo Enhancement & Management

  1. 1 Apps/Shotwell 20
  2. 2 darktable - the photo workflow software 28
  3. 3 digiKam - Manage your photographs as a professional… 16
  4. 4 F-spot 18
  5. 5 RawTherapee 10
  6. 6 ufraw 9

Security & Privacy Software

  1. 1 Tor Project 27
  2. 2 ClamAV 29
  3. 3 Page Redirection 17
  4. 4 OnionShare 0

Code Repositories

  1. 1 GitHub · Build software better, together. 13
  2. 2 gitorious valhalla 37
  3. 3 Download, Develop and Publish Free Open… 8
  4. 4 Bitbucket 8
  5. 5 Open source software to collaborate on… 18
  6. 6 Savannah 4
  7. 7 Git quick statistics is a simple and efficient way to access various statistics in git repository. 0

AND SO ON...

  1. 1 100 Open Source Alternatives 113
  2. 2 78 Open Source Replacements for Expensive Applications 74
  3. 3 The Linux Alternative Project 35
  4. 4 30 Cool Open Source Software I Discovered… 65
  5. 5 Best Open Source Software 46
  6. 6 Find Open Source Alternatives to… 21
  7. 7 Open Source Software Directory 24
  8. 8 Linux Group Tests 0

System Utilities

  1. 1 Wireshark · Go Deep. 50
  2. 2 Clonezilla 8
  3. 3 7-Zip 5
  4. 4 GParted -- A free application for graphically managing disk device partitions 5
  5. 5 Oracle VM VirtualBox 2

Compilers & Interpreters

  1. 1 Welcome to Python.org 8
  2. 2 GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection 16
  3. 3 http://www.java.com/en 11
  4. 4 HaskellWiki 7
  5. 5 PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor 1
  6. 6 The Perl Programming Language 3
  7. 7 The Go Programming Language 7
  8. 8 Ruby Programming Language 3

Terminal Emulators

  1. 1 Guake 48
  2. 2 Yakuake 12
  3. 3 Terminator 16
  4. 4 a free SSH and Telnet client 3
  5. 5 Final Term 20
  6. 6 Termite 5

Database Software

  1. 1 MySQL 13
  2. 2 PostgreSQL: The world's most advanced… 9
  3. 3 Firebird: The true open source database… 28
  4. 4 LucidDB Home Page 15
  5. 5 KEXI Project 16
  6. 6 Welcome to MariaDB! 8
  7. 7 Adminer 11
  8. 8 phpMyAdmin 5

Text & XML Editors

  1. 1 Vi / Vim 23
  2. 2 Kate 14
  3. 3 Leafpad 13
  4. 4 Emacs 6
  5. 5 Gedit 4
  6. 6 XML Copy Editor 5
  7. 7 Jaxe, your XML editor 8
  8. 8 TEA 13

Program Editors/IDEs

  1. 1 the Python IDE for Professional Developers by JetBrains 59
  2. 2 Code::Blocks 36
  3. 3 Geany : Home Page 17
  4. 4 Kate 8
  5. 5 Stani's Python Editor 8
  6. 6 Enabling Open Innovation & Collaboration 8
  7. 7 Bluefish Editor 14
  8. 8 Welcome to NetBeans 9

Animation

  1. 1 Synfig Studio 0
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