Why spend thousands or even hundreds or thousands of dollars on a
closed source application when you can get a comparable open source app
for free? Even if you need commercial support, many open source programs
now offer paid support that costs much less than the alternatives.
For this list, we looked for quality, open source alternatives to
software that has a reputation for being expensive. Whenever possible,
we included MSRPs for the expensive software, though in some cases, the
pricing scheme is so complicated that it’s nearly impossible to pin
down.
We published a similar list last year, and we’ve updated and expanded
the list for 2011. If you have suggestions for next year’s list, feel
free to note them in the comments section below.
Accounting
1. Edoceo Imperium Replaces QuickBooks Pro ($229.95), Sage Peachtree
Complete Accounting 2011 ($254.99) Web-based Imperium combines some
business management features like CRM and job tracking with a
full-featured double-entry accounting package. It’s built in XHTML/CSS
and JavaScript, and it integrates with Google Apps. Operating System: OS
Independent
2. FrontAccounting Replaces QuickBooks Pro ($229.95), Sage Peachtree
Complete Accounting 2011 ($254.99) Like Imperium, FrontAccounting is
Web-based and includes some ERP functionality. It prides itself on being
powerful, yet simple. Operating System: OS Independent
3. TurboCASH Replaces QuickBooks Pro ($229.95), Sage Peachtree
Complete Accounting 2011 ($254.99) This small business accounting
package offers many similar features to QuickBooks and Sage. It tracks
up to 10 bank accounts, 999 sets of books, 12000 accounts, 40000 debtors
and creditors, and 64000 stock items. Operating System: Windows
4. XIWA Replaces QuickBooks Pro ($229.95), Sage Peachtree Complete
Accounting 2011 ($254.99) First released in 1999, XIWA is an older
accounting program for Linux only. One benefit for owners of very small
businesses is that it offers the option of using double-entry accounting
or not, depending on the background of the user. Operating System:
Linux
Audio Recording/Editing
5. Audacity Replaces Apple LogicPro ($499), FL Studio Producer
Edition ($199) Apple’s audio editor aims to let amateur musicians create
professional sounding mixes—Audacity does the same thing without
charging you an arm and a leg. With it you can record live audio,
convert files to different formats, cut and splice tracks, change pitch
and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
6. Frinika Replaces Apple LogicPro ($499), FL Studio Producer Edition
($199) This Java-based audio editor includes a sequencer, midi support,
soft synthesizers, audio recorder, piano roll/tracker/notation editing
and more. It’s billed as a “complete platform for making music with your
computer.” Operating System: OS Independent
7. Linux MultiMedia Studio Replaces Apple LogicPro ($499), FL Studio
Producer Edition ($199) LMMS is a music composing and mixing tool
designed as an alternative to FL Studio. The name on this app is a
little misleading: Although it says “MultiMedia,” it’s really an audio
tool, and although it says “Linux,” it also runs on Windows. Operating
System: Windows, Linux
Business Intelligence
8. Jaspersoft Replaces Oracle Business Intelligence Standard
($2,000+) The self-proclaimed “most widely used business intelligence
software,” Jaspersoft products offer reporting, dashboards, analysis and
data integration capabilities. The link above primarily promotes the
commercial versions of the software, which include paid support. More
info on the community versions can be found at JasperForge.org.
Operating System: OS Independent
9. Pentaho Replaces Oracle Business Intelligence Standard ($2,000+)
Pentaho likes to calls itself “the open source business intelligence
leader.” It claims to reduce BI costs by 90 percent, and it’s also
available on an SaaS basis. Operating System: OS Independent
10. Palo BI Suite Replaces Oracle Business Intelligence Standard
($2,000+) Palo offers planning, reporting, analysis, dashboards,
consolidation and more. The community version essentially extends the
capabilities of Excel or OpenOffice, while the paid premium verison adds
more reporting and OLAP modules. Operating System: OS Independent
11. JMagallanes Replaces SAP Crystal Reports ($495), DBxtra ($490 and
up) If you only need reporting capabilities, JMagallanes might be right
for you. It leverages code from several other open source projects to
create static reports, Swing pivot tables for OLAP analysis, and charts.
Operating System: OS Independent
12. OpenReports Replaces SAP Crystal Reports ($495), DBxtra ($490 and
up) Another Web-based reporting-only BI tool, OpenReports offers
flexible scheduling, a variety of output formats, fine-grained security
controls, built-in auditing and more. The paid professional version adds
capabilities like dashboards, conditional scheduling, and others.
Operating System: OS Independent
Business Process Management
13. ProcessMaker Replaces Oracle Business Process Analysis Suite
($10,500+) Web-based ProcessMaker helps simplify workflows with tools
for modeling workflows, automatic notification, reporting and
optimization. It’s available in a free community edition, a
subscription-based enterprise edition or in a cloud-based version with a
free trial. Operating System: Windows, Linux
CAD
14. BRL-CAD Replaces AutoCAD ($3,995.00 and up) For more than 20
years, the U.S. military has used BRL-CAD for solid modeling. Key
features include interactive 3D solid geometry editing, high-performance
ray-tracing support, network-distributed framebuffer support, image and
signal-processing tools, path-tracing and photon mapping support, a
system performance analysis benchmark suite, an embedded scripting
interface, and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, others.
15. Archimedes Replaces AutoCAD ($3,995.00 and up) Designed for
architects, Archimedes is a Java-based CAD program with a fairly minimal
feature set. Note that this is different than the GNU Archimedes
program for semiconductor design and testing. Operating System: Windows,
Linux, OS X
Customer Relationship Management
16. Sugar Community Edition Replaces Sage ACT! ($229.99 and up),
Microsoft Dynamics Used by companies like Coca-Cola, Avis, Chevrolet and
thousands of others, SugarCRM includes sales and marketing support,
e-mail integration, reporting, mobility and support for social
networking. In addition to the open source community edition, it’s
available in a variety of on-premise and cloud-based paid editions.
Operating System: OS Independent
Database
17. MySQL Replaces Microsoft SQL Server Standard ($7,171 per
processor) Calling itself the “world’s most popular open source
database,” Oracle-owned MySQL’s customers include Yahoo!, LinkedIn,
Alcatel-Lucent, Google, Nokia, YouTube, Craigslist, Sears and
Zappos.com. In addition to the free download, it’s also available in
supported standard, enterprise and cluster carrier-grade editions which
are priced per server. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X
18. Firebird Replaces Microsoft SQL Server Standard ($7,171 per
processor) Going on 30 years old, Firebird boasts “excellent
concurrency, high performance, and powerful language support for stored
procedures and triggers.” This community-based project isn’t owned by
any commercial entity, but you can get paid support from a variety of
third-party partners. Operating System: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X,
Solaris
19.Kexi Replaces Microsoft Office Access 2010 ($139.95), FileMaker
Pro 11 ($299) Calling itself “a long-awaited competitor for programs
like MS Access or Filemaker,” KDE’s Kexi offers a set of features
similar to both applications. Those features include tools for importing
files from spreadsheets, Access, CSV files, MySQL or PostgreSQL or for
exporting to CSV files, MySQL or PostgreSQL. Operating System: Windows,
Linux, OS X
Desktop Publishing
20. Scribus Replaces InDesign CS5 ($699), QuarkXPress($799)
Suitable for professional graphic designers and other artists,
Scribus includes features like color separations, CMYK and spot color
support, ICC color management, and support for the latest PDF formats.
Commercial support is not available, but a wealth of documentation is
available both online and in book format. Operating System: Windows,
Linux, OS X
Development Tools
21. KDevelop Replaces Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional with
MSDN ($1,199.00) KDE’s integrated development environment (IDE) includes
a source code editor, project managers, GUI designer, front ends for
the GNU Compiler Collection and GNU Debugger, and more. It offers code
completion for C/C++, as well as some support for Perl, Python, PHP,
Java, Fortran, Ruby, Ada, Pascal, SQL, and Bash. Operating System:
Windows, Linux, OS X
22. MonoDevelop Replaces Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional
with MSDN ($1,199.00) Designed for .NET developers, this IDE from Novell
makes it easier to create C# applications for multiple platforms. It
also supports Java, Boo, Visual Basic.NET, Oxygene, CIL, Python, Vala, C
and C++. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
23. SharpDevelop Replaces Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional
with MSDN ($1,199.00) Like MonoDevelop, SharpDevelop (or #develop) was
created as an alternative to Visual Studio for Microsoft’s .NET
platform. It supports C#, VB.NET and Boo. Operating System: Windows
24. Open BlueDragon Replaces Adobe ColdFusion 9 ($1,299) If you’d
like to create Web apps using the ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), but
don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on your development tool, Open
BlueDragon gives you an open source option. It describes itself as “the
world’s first truly open source GPL Java and Google App Engine CFML
runtime.” Operating System: Windows, Linux
E-mail/Collaboration/Groupware
25. Zimbra Replaces Microsoft Exchange ($699 and up) Humbly calling
itself “the most capable open source email and collaboration suite
available today,” Zimbra supports e-mail, shared calendar, shared
contacts and document sharing. It works with most e-mail clients
(including Outlook, Thunderbird or the Zimbra client), and it’s also
available in commercially supported versions. Operating System: Linux,
Unix, OS X
26. Citadel Replaces Microsoft Exchange ($699 and up) Citadel offers
Web-based e-mail, calendar, contacts, bulletin boards, IM, wiki, chat
and more. The full version is available for free or you can purchase the
hosted service. Operating System: Linux
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
27. OpenERP Replaces Microsoft Dynamics, SAP This full-featured app
includes modules for CRM, accounting, point of sale, project management,
warehouse management, human resources, purchasing, manufacturing,
marketing, invoicing and an application builder. It’s available in a
free community edition, a paid enterprise edition for on-site
deployment, or a subscription-based online edition. Operating System:
Windows, Linux
28.Openbravo Replaces Microsoft Dynamics, SAP With more than 2
million downloads, Openbravo boasts that it is the “world’s leading
Web-based open source ERP solution.” In addition to the free community
version, it also comes in paid basic and professional editions that can
be deployed on-site or in the cloud. Operating System: OS Independent
29.ADempiere Replaces Microsoft Dynamics, SAP This community-based
app offers ERP, CRM and POS functionality. It also integrates with
several other open source apps as part of a full suite that adds Web
2.0, authentication, telephony, document management, BI, intranet and
data repository capabilities. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X,
others
30. Phreedom Replaces Microsoft Dynamics, SAP This ERP suite is based
on the PhreeBooks accounting software which is incorporated in the
package. It includes contacts, inventory, payment, PhreeBooks
accounting, reporting and shipping modules, and other add-on modules are
also available. Operating System: OS Independent
Foreign Language
31. Step Into Chinese Replaces Rosetta Stone Chinese ($479) While
it’s admittedly not as full-featured as Rosetta Stone, Step Into Chinese
does include information to help you learn the characters, meanings,
and pronunciation of more than 26,000 modern Chinese words and concepts.
It also has a helpful flashcard feature for learning through
repetition. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
32. Zkanji Replaces Rosetta Stone Japanese ($379) This Japanese
learning tool includes dictionaries, a flashcard tool and stroke
animations. It also has thousands of example sentences and
inflection/conjugation information. Operating System: Windows.
33. ZWDisplay Replaces Rosetta Stone Chinese ($479) ZWDisplay aims to
help Mandarin students become better readers of the language. It
includes both English-Chinese and Chinese-English translation
capabilities and a built-in flashcard app. Operating System: Linux
Gateway Security Appliances
34.Endian Firewall Community Replaces Check Point Security Gateways
($675 and up) If your small business has a good IT person, you can build
your own security appliance using Endian’s community version of its
software and an older PC. It includes a firewall, application-level
proxies with antivirus support, e-mail virus and spam filtering, Web
content filtering and a VPN. Endian also sells pre-configured appliances
based on its open source software if you don’t want to build your own.
Operating System: Linux
35. Untangle Replaces Check Point Security Gateways ($675 and up)
Similar to Endian, Untangle can also be used to create your own security
appliance, or you can purchase pre-configured appliances. It boasts the
“lowest total cost of ownership of any network gateway solution on the
market today” and is currently used by more than 30,000 organizations
around the world. Operating System: Windows, Linux
Graphics/Drawing
36. Dia Replaces Visio Professional ($559.99) Dia describes itself as
“inspired by” Microsoft Visio. Like its inspiration, it makes it easy
to draw org charts, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and many
other types of charts and diagrams. Operating System: Windows, Linux
37.Gimp Replaces Photoshop CS5 ($699) Short for “GNU Image
Manipulation Program,” GIMP is a professional-quality image manipulation
program that’s intuitive enough for amateurs to use. It includes a full
suite of painting and image re-touching tools, layers and channels,
sub-pixel sampling, quickmask, file format conversion tools, animation
capabilities and much more. For the Windows version, you’ll need to
download Gimp-win. Operating System: Windows, Linux
38.Inkscape Replaces Illustrator ($599), CorelDraw($399) Another tool
for graphics professionals, Inkscape is a vector graphics drawing
program with many advanced features. The Inkscape website also includes
links to a library of open source clip art that you can use freely in
your illustrations. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
39. Paint.Net Replaces Photoshop CS5 ($699) This Photoshop
alternative has been described by reviewers as “impressive” and “just
about perfect.” It boasts an intuitive interface, fast performance and
some advanced tools like layers, special effects and unlimited history.
Operating System: Windows
Mathematics
40. Sage Replaces Mathematica Professional ($1095 and up) Like
Mathematica, Sage can solve a wide variety of higher-level math problems
and is suitable for advanced students and researchers. You’ll get the
most functionality out of it if you know the Python programming
language. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
41. Genius Replaces Mathematica Professional ($1095 and up) This tool
began as a simple calculator but has morphed into a powerful tool with
many similar features as Mathematica (although it doesn’t have
Mathematica’s full feature set). It has its own language (GEL), which
can be used by researchers to create new functions. Operating System:
Linux, OS X
Office Productivity
42.OpenOffice.org Replaces Microsoft Office ($499) This alternative
to Microsoft Office includes word processor (Writer), spreadsheet
(Calc), presentation (Impress), graphics (Draw), math/science notation
(Math) and database (Base) software. It both reads and writes to
Microsoft Office formats, making collaboration easy. Operating System:
Windows, Linux, OS X
43.LibreOffice Replaces Microsoft Office ($499) LibreOffice is a
community fork of OpenOffice.org. It has all the same capabilities as
OpenOffice.org, plus a few new features all its own. Operating System:
Windows, Linux, OS X
44. KOffice Replaces Microsoft Office ($499) KDE’s office suite
includes KWord (word processing), KCells (spreadsheets), Showcase
(presentations), Kivio (diagrams and flowcharts) and Artwork (vector
graphics). The interface is quite a bit different than Microsoft
Office’s, but it is still easy to use. Operating System: Windows, Linux
45.NeoOffice Replaces Microsoft Office ($499) In 2003, there was no
version of OpenOffice.org for Macs, so the NeoOffice team created one.
Even though OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice now offer versions for OS X,
development has continued on NeoOffice, and it offers very stable
operation and some Mac-specific features that aren’t found in the other
suites. Operating System: OS X, iOS
Operating System
46.Ubuntu Replaces Windows 7 Professional ($299.99) Canonical’s
Ubuntu has become one of the most popular Linux distributions. It’s very
easy for Linux newbies to learn, and it comes in desktop, server and
cloud versions.
47. Fedora Replaces Windows 7 Professional ($299.99) Fedora offers a
community-supported (free) version of Linux that’s very similar to and
managed byRedHat. Critics have called it an “amazingly rock-solid
operating system.”
48. openSUSE. Replaces Windows 7 Professional ($299.99) This is the
free version of Novell’s SUSE. It comes in both desktop and server
versions, and you can find a great deal of documentation and support
online.
49.Debian Replaces Windows 7 Professional ($299.99) Debian is the
foundation for many other Linux distributions, including Ubuntu. In
addition to the core operating system, it includes 29,000 packages of
open source software for a wide variety of purposes.
PDF Tools
50.PDFCreator Replaces Adobe Acrobat X Standard ($299) This helpful
app lets you create a PDF file from virtually any Windows program. It
also creates PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PS and EPS files as well.
Operating System: Windows
Point of Sale
51. Openbravo POS Replaces QuickBooks Point of Sale Basic ($999.95),
AccuPOS ($745 and up) Openbravo’s POS offering integrates with its ERP
software. It’s designed to work with touchscreens and includes master
data management, warehouse management, reporting and restaurant
management capabilities. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
52. Lemon POS Replaces QuickBooks Point of Sale Basic ($999.95),
AccuPOS ($745 and up) Designed for small or micro businesses, Lemon POS
offers an easy-to-use interface, a price checker, search capabilities,
and more. It can run multiple terminals from a single server and it
includes role-based permissions and other security features. Operating
System: Linux
Project Management
53. Dotproject Replaces Microsoft Project Professional ($865.95 and
up) This eleven-year-old Microsoft Project alternative takes a Web-based
approach to project management. Key features include a clean interface,
e-mail based trouble/ticket system, hierarchical task lists, discussion
forums, and more. Operating System: Windows, Linux
54. GanttProject Replaces Microsoft Project Professional ($865.95 and
up), Primavera P6 Professional Project Management ($2,500) While it
isn’t as full-featured as Project or Primavera, GanttProject does a good
job of scheduling tasks, assigning resources and creating Gantt and
PERT charts. It reads and writes Microsoft Project files. Operating
System: Windows, Linux, OS X
55. Onepoint Project Replaces Microsoft Project Professional ($865.95
and up), Primavera P6 Professional Project Management ($2,500) Onepoint
aims to combine a powerful set of features with an easy-to-use
interface. It’s available in a variety of editions: Basic and open
editions are available with a free, open source license. Professional,
master, group, and enterprise editions require a paid, commercial
license. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
56. OpenProj Replaces Microsoft Project Professional ($865.95 and
up), Primavera P6 Professional Project Management ($2,500) Downloaded
millions of times, OpenProj is very similar to Microsoft Project and can
open both Project and Primavera files. It hasn’t been updated in a
while and the former Web site is no longer functional, but you can still
download the files from SourceForge. Operating System: Windows, Linux,
Unix, OS X
57. openXprocess Replaces Microsoft Project Professional ($865.95 and
up), Primavera P6 Professional Project Management ($2,500) This unique
app combines project management capabilities with process improvement
and resource management capabilities, and it includes special features
for development teams using Agile or Scrum methodologies. Like most of
the others in this category, it can also import Microsoft Project files.
Operating System: Windows, Linux
58. ]project-open[ Replaces Microsoft Project Professional ($865.95
and up), Primavera P6 Professional Project Management ($2,500) Used by
more than 1,000 companies around the world, project-open (or “po”)
combines ERP and project management functionality. The core modules are
free, but additional modules and support require a fee. Operating
System: Windows, Linux
Screenplay Writing
59. Celtx Replaces Final Draft ($299) If you have a great idea for a
movie or a TV show, Celtx can help you format your screenplay properly,
storyboard scenes and sequences, sketch setups, develop characters,
breakdown and tag elements, schedule productions, and more. According to
its owners, it’s “the world’s first all-in-one media pre-production
system.” Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
Video Tools
60. Blender Replaces AutoDesk Maya ($3,495) Blender offers
professional-level 3D animation capabilities. Check out the gallery on
the website to see some truly impressive artwork created with this open
source tool. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
61. Cinelerra Replaces Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 ($799) Cinelerra
invites movie makers to “unleash the 50,000 watt flamethrower of content
creation in your UNIX box.” It offers professional-quality audio and
video compositing and editing. The link above takes you to the
corporate-owned project, but there is also a community fork at
Cinelerra.org. Operating System: Linux
62. OpenShot Video Editor Replaces Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 ($799)
Another Linux-only video editor, OpenShot offers features like multiple
tracks, video transitions, compositing and overlays, 3D titles,
rotoscoping and more. It also includes features that make it easy to
upload your videos to YouTube. Operating System: Linux
63. Kdenlive Replaces Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 ($799) Kdenlive is a
video editing tool designed to meet the needs of both amateurs and
professionals. It claims to be “the most versatile video editor
available today.” Operating System: Linux, OS X
64. Avidemux Replaces Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 ($799) While Avidemux
isn’t quite a full-featured as some of the other video editors on our
list, it’s good for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. If
you’re looking for a basic, free video editor that works on Windows,
this is a good choice. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
Web Site Design
65. Kompozer Replaces Adobe Dreamweaver ($399), Microsoft Expression
Studio 4 Web Professional ($149) Designed to make website design as easy
as possible, Kompozer offers an intuitive WYSIWYG editor, clean coding
tools and integrated file management. Other features include a tabbed
interface and support for CSS, JavaScript and XML. Operating System:
Windows, Linux, OS X
66. Bluefish Replaces Adobe Dreamweaver ($399), Microsoft Expression
Studio 4 Web Professional ($149) For Web designers who are more
comfortable writing code, Bluefish offers exceptionally fast
performance. It comes with an auto-completion feature that supports CSS,
CFML, HTML, HTML5, XHTML, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, SQL, XML
and other programming languages. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X
67. SeaMonkey Replaces Adobe Dreamweaver ($399), Microsoft Expression
Studio 4 Web Professional ($149) This unique app combines a Web
browser, e-mail, chat and a feedreader with an HTML editor. It’s based
on Mozilla code, so it should feel familiar to FireFox users. Operating
System: Windows, Linux
