Open Source Trends and Predictions for 2025

Open source software is now a foundational element of the global technology ecosystem, permeating nearly every industry and region. Recent surveys indicate that 96% of organizations worldwide have either increased or maintained their use of open source software in the past year, with 26% reporting a significant uptick in adoption27. This trend is especially pronounced in regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where usage has surged, reflecting open source's accessibility and adaptability to diverse needs1.

The current landscape shows open source at the heart of key technological domains. Cloud-native and container technologies receive the most investment, followed closely by open source databases, data technologies, and programming languages27. In fact, data technologies have recently overtaken software development lifecycle tools and containers as the most widely used open source category, driven by the rise of AI models and the centrality of data in the digital economy7. A 2024 report found that 96% of commercial code bases contain open source components, with 77% of the code in those bases being open source8. This ubiquity means open source is not just a tool for startups or tech companies, but a critical infrastructure for enterprises, governments, and research institutions alike.

As organizations increasingly rely on open source, they are also focusing on governance, security, and sustainability. There is a growing emphasis on understanding the security and maintenance of open source projects, especially as sophisticated cyber threats target widely used libraries and tools3. Meanwhile, the adoption of open source large language models (LLMs) is accelerating in enterprises, offering transparency and customization for sensitive domains like banking and healthcare3. Overall, open source continues to drive innovation, reduce costs, and democratize access to technology on a global scale.

Most of this is from Perplexity AI chat