Anika Begay
For every yin, there is a yang; for every action, a reaction; and for every piece of proprietary software, there is an open source alternative. Or something like that.
The question of “openness” in technology has rarely been as front and center in the public consciousness as it has been in the past two years. Twitter’s steady decline has prompted millions to explore alternatives, many of which are open source. And last year’s OpenAI power struggle has also shone a spotlight on what “open source” might actually mean in the context of the burgeoning AI revolution.
The world of consumer software has long offered “open” alternatives to established incumbents, whether it’s LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office; GIMP instead of Photoshop; or Thunderbird instead of Outlook. There could be a variety of reasons why an individual or business might prefer to go the open source route: perhaps it’s the greater transparency and security that proprietary players offer, or the customization it offers. Or some might simply want to support a software development ethic that favors freedom and collaboration over walled gardens and vendor lock-in.
There are potential downsides to open source software, such as a lack of formal customer support, limited functionality, or technical barriers to distribution. But it’s still good to know your options if you want to bring a little more openness to your application stack, without compromising productivity too much.
With that in mind, TechCrunch has rounded up some open source alternatives to popular productivity apps. These might be of interest to prosumers, freelancers, or small businesses looking to escape the clutches of the usual Big Tech players.
Penpot: design and prototyping
Penpot is an open source web-based design tool that offers a range of plans aimed at everyone from individuals to businesses.
Although regulatory woes ultimately put an end to Adobe’s $20 billion bid for Figma last year, Penpot saw a surge in signups when news of the plans surfaced, and the startup went on to raise $8 million from it.
Excalidraw is also a great open source whiteboard tool with built-in collaboration features; it’s worth checking out.
Everyone loves Calendly, the $3 billion scheduling platform that helps people organize meetings without having to send emails, texts, and phone calls.
There is also an open source competitor called Cal.com, which is billed as “scheduling infrastructure for everyone.” Cal.com can be self-hosted or hosted by the company itself as part of a SaaS offering, with multiple plans on offer. The company also raised a fairly sizable $25 million Series A in 2022.
Screenity: Screen Recording
Loom has 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 has struggled as the world returns to some semblance of normalcy, and the company spun out of Atlassian last year for just under $1 billion.
Remote work isn’t going away, though, and anyone looking for an open source Loom alternative that isn’t under the auspices of a billion-dollar corporation could do worse than check out Screenity. However, for now, it’s limited to the Chrome browser.
Jitsi: Videoconference
Zoom has been one of the big winners in the rapid shift to remote work, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a completely self-hosting and configurable video conferencing alternative. That’s exactly what Jitsi, a community-driven open source project started by founder Emil Ivov way back in 2003, offers.
Users can go to meet.jitsi.com and start a meeting right away. And while Jitsi is open source and free for anyone to distribute however they want, its 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 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 instances or use a third-party provider suggested by Nextcloud, which helps users manage the setup and maintenance process.
Nextcloud can be used by hobbyists or businesses looking to bypass industry giants like Dropbox, with a strong focus on privacy, security, and data sovereignty.
Ghost: Publication
Substack has built a business around providing tools for writers to create newsletters and similar content. However, Substack is a closed ecosystem, much like Medium.
Ghost is an open source publishing platform developed by former WordPress engineer John O’Nolan in 2013. While WordPress is also an open source solution, Ghost offers a cheaper alternative with a managed hosting instance and does not charge publishers any fees on subscriptions.
Ghost raised $300,000 through crowdfunding during the project’s initial phase in 2013, with notable backers including Seth Godin, Leo Babauta, and Microsoft.
TabbyML: Programming Co-Pilot
GitHub Copilot has emerged as the gold standard for AI-powered pair programming, although Google and Amazon have also introduced similar solutions.
However, none of these incumbent coding assistants are open source and they can’t be self-hosted, a problem TabbyML hopes to solve. Founded by two former Google employees last year, TabbyML has raised $3.2 million in seed funding for an early iteration of what it calls an open source alternative to GitHub Copilot that can be entirely self-hosted.
Chatwoot: Customer Support
As a major player in the customer relationship space, Zendesk needs no introduction. But Zendesk’s private equity ownership facet may not appeal to everyone. Plus, Zendesk is, well, wholly proprietary.
Chatwoot, on the other hand, boasts of its open source capabilities that allow businesses to self-host the customer engagement platform, thus keeping all their data in-house.
PhotoPrism: Photo Management
In 2020, Google Photos ended its free unlimited tier. That same year, a Berlin-based team operating under the name PhotoPrism emerged as something of an alternative, with the ability to run a self-hosted server on your desktop (Windows, Mac, or Linux) alongside DigitalOcean, Raspberry Pi, FreeBSD, and many network-attached storage (NAS) devices.
PhotoPrism includes support for photo backup, as well as tools to convert files, detect duplicates, and recognize the faces of friends and family in photos. The company offers a range of plans designed for individuals and organizations, with self-hosted and hosted options available.
Bitwarden: Password Management
From LastPass to Dashlane to 1Password, there’s no shortage of password management tools that generate hard-to-guess passwords and store them in a secure digital vault. But Bitwarden has set itself apart by operating largely under an open-source model, raising a cool $100 million in funding in the process.
The core components of Bitwarden are open source, allowing anyone to view, modify, and distribute the code. However, some features are only available under a proprietary “source available” license, which still provides transparency, albeit with more restrictions on what the end user can do with it.
AppFlowy: Task Management
AppFlowy is an open source alternative to Notion, the $10 billion workplace productivity and collaboration tool.
Founded in 2021, AppFlowy offers a self-hosted solution complete with tools for manage projects, take notes, create documents, and track the status of individual project items and deadlines. The company raised $6.4 million in funding last year from a group of high-profile investors, including the founders of Automattic and YouTube.
Dub.co: Link Management
For link shortening and management, Bitly, owned by Spectrum Equity, is one of the most popular tools, while Google recently put the final nail in the coffin of its URL shortening service. If you’re looking for an open source alternative, Dub.co might be your answer.
Former Vercel employee Steven Tey started this as a side project in 2022, turning it into a company two years later. While Dub.co provides many of its URL management services, including time series data, personalization, and a way to use branded links, it also allows you to self-host your solution.
