---
name: open-source-facts
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  source: https://github.com/open-elements/claude-base
  author: Open Elements
description: Statistics, economic data, success stories, and key facts about open-source software (OSS) adoption, market size, developer ecosystem, ROI, and business impact. Use when the user needs data points for presentations, tenders, proposals, blog posts, or any content that benefits from concrete open-source statistics. Also use when the user asks about OSS adoption rates, market trends, economic value, developer demographics, CRA impact statistics, Bitkom Open Source Monitor, OSS ROI, or real-world OSS success stories and case studies.
---

# Open Source Facts & Statistics

This skill provides concrete, sourced statistics about open-source software for use in business documents, presentations, tenders, and other professional content.

**Important:** Statistics change over time. When using these numbers in documents, always note the source and year. If the document will be published or submitted, consider verifying the latest numbers from the original sources listed at the bottom of this file.

## Developer Ecosystem

### GitHub (Octoverse 2025)

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Total developers on GitHub | 180+ million |
| New developers in 2025 | 36.2 million (+23% YoY) |
| Growth rate | ~1 new developer joins every second |
| Total repositories | 630 million |
| Public/open-source repositories | 395 million (63% of all repos) |
| New repositories in 2025 | 121 million |
| Contributions to public repos (2025) | 1.12 billion (+13% YoY) |
| Pull requests merged (2025) | 518.7 million (+29% YoY) |
| Commits pushed (2025) | 986 million (+25% YoY) |

### Developer Growth Projections (2030)

| Country | Projected Developers |
|---------|---------------------|
| India | 57.5 million |
| United States | 54.7 million |
| Brazil | 19.6 million |
| Japan | 11.7 million |
| United Kingdom | 11 million |

## Open Source in Enterprise Software

### Adoption Rates

- **96%** of all codebases contain open-source components (Black Duck/Synopsys OSSRA Report)
- **70-90%** of a typical modern software application consists of open-source code (various industry estimates, Linux Foundation)
- Over **80%** of organizations use open-source software in their IT infrastructure (Gartner)
- **95%** of IT leaders say enterprise open source is strategically important (Red Hat State of Enterprise Open Source)

### Germany: Bitkom Open Source Monitor 2025

Representative survey of 1,100+ German companies and 100 public sector organizations (Bitkom Research 2025):

**Adoption & Attitude:**
- **61%** of German companies are open to OSS (24% "very open", 37% "rather open")
- **73%** of companies use OSS — stable at ~70% since 2021 (71% in 2021, 69% in 2023, 73% in 2025)
- **42%** expect the importance of OSS in their company to increase
- **67%** use OSS internally without modifying source code; **35%** modify source code
- **25%** integrate OSS into customer-facing products
- **60%** have no OSS strategy; **37%** have a documented strategy (up from 25% in 2021)

**Top advantages cited by companies:**
- Cost savings: **26%**
- Access to source code for review/customization: **19%**
- Increased digital sovereignty: **8%**
- Support for open standards: **6%**

**Top barriers to adoption:**
- Security concerns: **71%**
- Legal uncertainties (licensing): **60%**
- Unclear warranty/liability: **59%**
- Compliance/regulatory requirements: **43%**
- Lack of skilled OSS personnel: **71%** (of non-adopters)

**Selection criteria (% rating "very/rather important"):**
- Security indicators/certifications: **94%**
- Functionality: **94%**
- CRA compliance: **92%**
- IP/copyright clarity: **90%**
- Number of available support partners: **83%**
- License type: **84%**
- Community reputation: **81%**

**OSS contribution:**
- **47%** of companies participate in OSS development
- **37%** buy support/subscriptions for commercial OSS
- **17%** contribute modified source code back to communities
- **51%** do not participate in OSS development at all
- **13%** are paying members of OSS foundations (Linux, Eclipse)

**Public sector:**
- **63%** of public sector organizations use OSS
- **52%** are positively disposed toward OSS
- **25%** of public sector organizations have an OSPO (vs. 14% in the private sector)
- Average **4 FTEs** for OSS management in public sector (vs. 1.9 in private sector)

**Digital sovereignty:**
- **73%** see OSS as an instrument for strengthening digital sovereignty
- **60%** want increased government investment in OSS
- **57%** support the Sovereign Tech Agency
- Only **17%** have fully analyzed and reduced their digital dependencies

**AI & Open Source:**
- **51%** consider open-source AI models recommendable
- **45%** see them as a way to avoid dependencies

**Source:** Bitkom Open Source Monitor 2025 (DOI: 10.64022/2025-open-source-monitor)

### Enterprise Trends

- Enterprises are shifting from proprietary to open-source solutions across infrastructure, databases, middleware, and application development
- Open-source adoption is driven by: better security through transparency, faster innovation cycles, avoidance of vendor lock-in, lower total cost of ownership, and access to talent
- Most enterprises use a mix of community open source and commercial open-source products with enterprise support

## Economic Value

### The $8.8 Trillion Study (Harvard Business School, 2024)

A landmark study by researchers at Harvard Business School ("The Value of Open Source Software", Hoffmann et al., 2024) estimated:

- The **demand-side value** of widely-used OSS is **$8.8 trillion**
- If OSS did not exist, companies would need to spend **3.5x more** on software
- The top 6 programming languages account for **84%** of the value
- A small number of developers create most of the value: the **top 5%** of developers contribute **over 90%** of the value

**Source:** Harvard Business School Working Paper 24-038, "The Value of Open Source Software"

### EU Economic Impact Study (European Commission, 2021)

A study commissioned by the European Commission found:

- OSS contributes **€65-95 billion** to the European GDP
- A **10% increase** in OSS contributions would generate **€100 billion+** additional EU GDP annually
- The **cost-benefit ratio** of investing in OSS is **1:4** — every €1 invested yields €4 in economic value
- EU-based OSS developers contributed code valued at an estimated **€1 billion** annually

**Source:** European Commission, "Study about the Impact of Open Source Software and Hardware on Technological Independence, Competitiveness and Innovation in the EU Economy", 2021

### Linux Foundation ROI Survey (February 2026)

The Linux Foundation's "ROI for Open Source Software Contribution" report surveyed organizations about the measurable returns from contributing to OSS:

**Core finding: Contributing to OSS delivers a 2-5x return on investment across all forms of engagement.**

**Cost of NOT contributing:**
- Without OSS, organizations would spend **$3.5 million** to purchase proprietary alternatives (53%) or write the code themselves (51%)
- **49%** of organizations develop internal workarounds for features not on OSS roadmaps, costing an average of **$670,000/year**
- **45%** maintain private forks of OSS components — averaging **86 private forks** per organization
- Private fork maintenance costs **5,160 labor hours ($258,000 USD)** per release cycle on average
- **36%** report that missing OSS features cause frequent production delays (rises to **54%** for large organizations)

**ROI by contribution type:**
- Code contribution: **3.6x** benefit-to-cost ratio
- Community contribution: **3.2x**
- Financial contribution: **2.4x**
- Foundation membership: **4.8x** (highest ROI, requires least internal capacity)

**Benefits of contributing:**
- **10%** average increase in product development speed
- **68%** say OSS contribution makes hiring and retaining talent easier
- **66%** report upstream maintainers respond faster to security issues after contributing
- **2+ months** advance notice for important changes
- **2 out of 3** respondents report ROI has increased since they began contributing
- **70%** expect continued ROI increases in the future

**Economic model:**
- The top 100 contributing organizations invested **$3.9 billion** between 2018 and 2025
- This yielded **$23.2 billion** in benefits — approximately **6x ROI**
- Foundation membership delivers benefits **5x greater** than the investment; key benefits are networking and brand recognition

**Source:** Linux Foundation Research, "ROI for Open Source Software Contribution", February 2026

### Open Source Software Funding Report (Harvard/Linux Foundation/GitHub, 2024)

- Organizations worldwide invest approximately **$7.7 billion per year** in OSS
- **86%** of this is provided as employee working time (not cash)
- The annual benefit is estimated at **$2.9 to $10.1 billion**, with a median of **$520,600 per organization**
- If no country contributed to OSS, the average GDP would be **2.2% lower** in the long term

**Source:** Open Source Software Funding Report 2024 (cited in Open Elements Whitepaper)

### Linux Foundation Economic Estimates

- The cost to recreate the Linux kernel alone is estimated at over **$14 billion**
- The total value of the collaborative open-source projects hosted by the Linux Foundation exceeds **$100 billion** in development costs

## Security & Supply Chain

### OSSRA Report (Black Duck / Synopsys)

The annual Open Source Security and Risk Analysis (OSSRA) report audits commercial codebases:

- **96%** of codebases contain open-source components
- **76%** of all code in audited codebases is open source
- **84%** of codebases contain at least one known vulnerability
- **48%** contain high-risk vulnerabilities
- **91%** of codebases use components with no recent development activity (2+ years without updates)

These numbers underscore why professional OSS maintenance (like Support & Care) is critical.

### Vulnerability Response

- Average time to fix a critical open-source vulnerability: **50-300 days** (GitHub Octoverse 2025, trend improving)
- The Log4Shell vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) demonstrated the risk: a single critical flaw in a widely-used base library affected millions of applications worldwide

## Key Open-Source Projects — Adoption Numbers

### Java Ecosystem

| Project | Adoption | Source |
|---------|----------|--------|
| JUnit | ~85% of Java projects, 1 billion+ downloads/month | JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey |
| Apache Maven | ~75% of Java projects, 2 billion downloads/year | JetBrains, Sonatype |
| Apache Log4j | ~76% of Java applications | New Relic State of Java Ecosystem |
| Apache Commons | ~49% of Java developers | JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey |
| Eclipse Temurin | 500,000+ downloads/day, 880M+ total | Eclipse Adoptium |

### General

| Project | Metric |
|---------|--------|
| Linux kernel | Runs on 96% of top 1M web servers, all top 500 supercomputers, most Android devices |
| Kubernetes | Used by 84% of organizations running containers (CNCF Survey) |
| PostgreSQL | Most popular database among developers (Stack Overflow Survey) |
| VS Code | Most popular IDE with 74% market share among developers (Stack Overflow Survey) |

## Open Source Foundations — Scale

| Foundation | Key Metrics |
|------------|-------------|
| **Linux Foundation** | 800+ projects, largest OSS foundation globally |
| **Eclipse Foundation** | 400+ projects, largest European OSS foundation |
| **Apache Software Foundation** | 350+ projects, $22 billion+ estimated value of maintained code |
| **CNCF** | 180+ projects including Kubernetes, 900+ contributing organizations |

## Open Source Business Models

The most common commercial models built on open source:

| Model | Description | Examples |
|-------|-------------|----------|
| **Open Core** | Core is OSS, premium features are proprietary | GitLab, Elastic, MongoDB |
| **Support & Services** | Software is fully OSS, revenue from support/consulting | Red Hat, Open Elements |
| **SaaS/Managed** | OSS hosted as a managed cloud service | AWS (managed OSS services), Confluent |
| **Dual Licensing** | OSS license + commercial license option | MySQL, Qt |
| **Open Source Stewardship** | Maintaining and supporting critical OSS dependencies for enterprises | Open Elements (Support & Care) |

## Success Stories

Real-world examples of OSS delivering measurable value — useful for presentations, tenders, and proposals.

### Toulouse (France) — Municipal Government

Toulouse, the fourth-largest city in France, migrated approximately 8,000 workstations to LibreOffice. The project took 18 months and was deliberately designed for flexibility. **Result:** Annual savings of **€1.8 million** in software licenses alone. The migration costs including custom development were approximately **€800,000** — meaning the investment paid for itself within the first year.

**Source:** Open Elements Whitepaper, Nomensa Case Study

### German Automotive Supplier — Industry / ERP

A German automotive supplier switched to an open-source ERP system and additional OSS-based components. **Results:** Production downtime decreased by **66%**, order processing time shortened by **43%**, and operative costs were reduced by **30%**.

**Source:** Open Elements Whitepaper (Silent Infotech Case Study)

### Lehner Versand AG (Switzerland) — E-Commerce

Lehner Versand AG, a Swiss multi-channel retailer with approximately 300 employees and annual revenues in the double-digit millions, migrated their email and marketing automation from a proprietary system to the open-source platform Mautic in 2022. **Result:** Five-figure savings over the project's duration, plus achievement of GDPR compliance that the previous system could not guarantee.

**Source:** Open Elements Whitepaper (Mautic Case Study)

### Essex Council (UK) — Public Sector

Essex Council migrated to LocalGov Drupal, an open-source CMS built collaboratively by UK municipalities. The shared development model allowed multiple councils to contribute and benefit from each other's improvements, reducing costs and increasing functionality for all participants.

**Source:** Open Elements Whitepaper (Nomensa Case Study)

### UK Data Standards Authority — Open Standards

The UK Data Standards Authority chose ODF (Open Document Format) as the standard file format. The decision was based on the fact that the OSS format enables strict security audits, reduces IT costs, and facilitates document exchange between government agencies, citizens, and businesses.

**Source:** Open Elements Whitepaper

### Mercedes-Benz — Enterprise FOSS Strategy

Mercedes-Benz made "Embrace FOSS" a strategic priority in their FOSS Manifesto published in 2018. Dr. Wolfgang Gehring (FOSS Ambassador, Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation) supports the Linux Foundation ROI study, stating it "provides invaluable, actionable guidance and demonstrates a tangible ROI for Open Source Software contributions."

**Source:** Linux Foundation ROI Survey 2026

### EU Commission Investment

The EU Commission invested approximately **€140 million** in more than **1,200 OSS projects** between 2019 and 2024. Germany provides approximately **€19 million/year** via the Sovereign Tech Agency for securing and maintaining critical OSS infrastructure. Of this, **€0.5 million** flows into the maintenance of Apache Maven through Open Elements.

**Source:** Open Elements Whitepaper (NGI Commons Study)

## Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) & Regulation

### CRA Overview

- **Regulation (EU) 2024/2847** — entered into force on 10 December 2024
- Starting **2027**, manufacturers are responsible for **100% of their software**, including all open-source dependencies
- Applies to all "products with digital elements" placed on the EU market — including standalone software, hardware with embedded software, and combinations thereof
- Compliance drivers in German enterprises (Bitkom 2025): CER (61%), **CRA (57%)**, PLD (44%)

### CRA and Open Source

The EU Commission published guidance (March 2026) specifically addressing FOSS:

- FOSS that is **not monetized** and **not placed on the market** in a commercial context is **outside the CRA's scope**
- Sharing code on public repositories is **not** considered "placing on the market"
- However, if FOSS is integrated into a commercial product, the **manufacturer** (not the OSS project) bears CRA responsibility
- The CRA introduces the role of **Open-Source Software Steward** (Article 3(14)) — a legal person that systematically supports the maintenance of critical OSS components
- Stewards are subject to obligations under **Article 24** (lighter than manufacturer obligations)
- The **ORC WG** (Open Regulatory Compliance Working Group) at the Eclipse Foundation develops practical CRA compliance guidelines

**Source:** EU Commission CRA Guidance (Ref. Ares(2026)2319816, March 2026); Daniel Thompson-Yvetot, "Manufacturing European Software" (2024)

### CRA Impact on Enterprises

- **92%** of German companies consider CRA compliance important when selecting OSS (Bitkom 2025)
- **43%** cite compliance/regulatory requirements as a barrier to OSS adoption
- Companies must maintain SBOMs, conduct cybersecurity risk assessments, and provide security updates throughout the support period
- The concept of "substantial modification" means significant software updates can trigger new compliance obligations

See the `eclipse-info` skill (ORC WG section) and the `support-and-care-info` skill for details on Open Elements' involvement.

## AI & Open Source

### GitHub Octoverse 2025

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| AI projects on GitHub | 4.3 million total |
| New AI projects (2025) | 693,867 (+178% YoY) |
| Repos using LLM SDKs | 1.1 million |
| Developers using Copilot in first week | 80% of new GitHub users |
| AI-focused repos in top 10 by contributors | 60% |

### Open Source AI Trend

- The majority of frontier AI development builds on open-source libraries (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face Transformers)
- Open-source LLMs (LLaMA, Mistral, etc.) are rapidly closing the gap to proprietary models
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) reached 37K GitHub stars in 8 months — showing demand for open standards in AI tooling

## Sources

All statistics should be verified against the original sources before use in formal documents.

| Source | URL | Data |
|--------|-----|------|
| GitHub Octoverse 2025 | https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/ | Developer ecosystem, contributions, AI |
| Black Duck OSSRA Report | https://www.blackduck.com/resources/analyst-reports/open-source-security-risk-analysis.html | Codebase composition, vulnerabilities |
| Harvard Business School OSS Study | Search: "The Value of Open Source Software" HBS Working Paper 24-038 | $8.8 trillion value estimate |
| EU Commission OSS Impact Study | https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/study-about-impact-open-source-software-and-hardware-technological-independence-competitiveness-and | European economic impact |
| JetBrains Developer Ecosystem | https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/devecosystem/ | Java ecosystem adoption |
| New Relic State of Java Ecosystem | https://newrelic.com/resources/report/state-of-the-java-ecosystem | Java library usage |
| Red Hat State of Enterprise Open Source | https://www.redhat.com/en/enterprise-open-source-report | Enterprise adoption |
| Stack Overflow Developer Survey | https://survey.stackoverflow.co/ | Tool and language popularity |
| CNCF Survey | https://www.cncf.io/reports/ | Cloud native adoption |
| Linux Foundation ROI Survey 2026 | https://www.linuxfoundation.org/research | ROI of OSS contribution, private fork costs |
| Bitkom Open Source Monitor 2025 | DOI: 10.64022/2025-open-source-monitor | German enterprise OSS adoption |
| Open Elements OSS Whitepaper | Contact Open Elements | Success stories, facts, German market data |
| Bitkom Open Source Leitfaden 3.0 | https://www.bitkom.org | OSS enterprise guide, business models, compliance |
| Manufacturing European Software | Daniel Thompson-Yvetot, ISBN 978-9918-0-0959-6 | CRA compliance, EU regulatory landscape |
| EU Commission CRA Guidance | Ref. Ares(2026)2319816, March 2026 | Official CRA implementation guidance |
| Open Source Funding Report 2024 | Harvard/Linux Foundation/GitHub | Global OSS investment, GDP impact |
| Linux Foundation Research | https://www.linuxfoundation.org/research | Enterprise OSS strategy |