20 Popular Open Source Alternatives to Expensive Software

Finding yourself short of money for a piece of software isn’t quite uncommon for people of the non-pirating variety. This is where the 20 popular open source alternatives to expensive software step in and offer a cure to all your ailments. Anything can be open sourced – from software to the hardware, if it’s behavior is openly documented and it supports and encourages modifications from the community, as well as having its source code/schematics/plans available for free – it’s open source. Sadly, the world hasn’t come to the point where there is a fully open sourced decent computer yet. However, your OS could breathe some freedom into your computer; you could go with GNU/Linux (for more on that take a look at the 7 ways to make your computer run faster). If you’re running Android on your phone, you’ve already got something that is (to a great degree) open source.

Let’s take a look at how the whole thing started, though. The year is 1911, long before people had as little as a gist of what computing would go on to be. At that time, there was a group of monopolists in the auto manufacturing industry who patented the 2-cycle gasoline engine, forcing every single manufacturer to adhere to their standards and limitations. However, one Mr. Henry Ford challenged that in court and won, making this patenting scheme obsolete and going on to create one of the most influential automotive companies in history. While after that manufacturers still designed new technology and patented it, those patents were shared openly without any monetary compensation.

Later on, with the emergence of computers that could be programmed by text code, IBM set a very early example by releasing the source code of their operating systems in the 50s and 60s. When the internet emerged, sharing code for free became common even though people had no choice at times due to the early programming languages not being able to be packed in a single executable file. Early forums, public networks and means of textual communication (IRC, Gopher) became the place where that occurred and some of the staples of modern computing such as BSD and Linux were discussed and contributed to the community there. “Open  Software” as a term emerged after the formation of the Free Software movement by Richard Stallman (who is an extremely important figure in this area) as a replacement for “free” due to its political implications. Later on, Stallman refused to embrace the term, finally settling on GNU for the name of his movement and following licensing that is in very wide use today.  However, the public remained in favor of using the term “open source” and this is why I am calling it that in the list you are about to see.

However, greedy people found loopholes in the concept and licensing because and because “open source” could no longer encompass only free software, a new term was born – FOSS – free and open source software. This is what we’ll be dealing with now. It’s completely obvious that while major companies use money to restrict their software, they also hire experienced people to improve it. However, open source software and technology has most likely impacted each and every one of these developers’ lives at some point. To this date, the open source movement continues to grow and get stronger, offering you a way of getting things done without having to eat discount ramen for a month.

20.Clonezilla

Clonezilla has been many people’s go-to backup creation and management application. While it’s not the absolutely best out there, Clonezilla offers a quite impressive array of functions which will surely cover your everyday needs and more.

19.Krita

Krita is a free and open source piece of software for people who like to draw or do it professionally. It’s one of the few digital painting programs which offer such a broad functionality for literally nothing in return.

18.Ardour

If you want to get into digital music producing but can’t shell out the cash you’d need for Cubase, Ableton, Reason or FL Studio, Ardour will fill in for free. You do have to work with a limited support for third party software but what’s already there is impressive.

17.Mixxx

If you want to get your DJ on and just bought a controller that might have cost a little more than you could afford, try Mixxx. It has a gorgeous user interface and offers you pretty much all you need and if you’re more of an old school type of jockey- all you will ever need.

16.Notepad++

You wouldn’t call the type of software that Notepad++ replaces exactly expensive but given how much is packed into this simple, free and open source program, you could consider it a hefty tool in your box that could save you tens of dollars.

15.Pidgin

Pidgin is like a phone central and all the incoming lines are your constantly buzzing and beeping social network accounts. Pidgin offers you an all-in-one chat client solution that can combine all your fun and work in one.

14.VMWare Virtualbox

If any one of you has ever had to deal with any form of dangerous computer tickling, you have had to use Virtualbox’s free version which is distributed under the GNU GPL license.

13.Wireshark

Wireshark is the swiss army knife of network and traffic analyzers that help everyone from the people who make sure your network is running fine to the people who break it to steal your data.

12.Eclipse

Eclipse is a free and open source IDE (Integrated Development Environment) which is originally meant to handle Java coding and does it excellently. It can, however, be modified to support way much more through plugins.

11.Wordpress

You are reading this article on a WordPress-backed site. WordPress is a content management system that has become one of the leaders in providing a foundation for your site, blog and even your shop (via the WooCommerce plugin).

10.OpenCart

OpenCart is the free and open source alternative to having to pay a bunch of fussy people to craft you a management framework for you online shop. It has become so powerful that if you shop anywhere other than Amazon or eBay, you can see it more often than not.

9.FileZilla

Filezilla is another tool in the box of every web developer or network administrator. It’s a simple to use, lightweight, free and open source program that mainly deals with the transfer of files to and from remote servers.

8.Blender

Blender is the go-to application for 3D modeling for many people and not just the ones who can’t afford something commercial. People who professionally deal with 3D models and graphics use Blender every day.

7.FreeCAD/LibreCAD

Computer-assisted drawing (CAD) is a major part of every architect, engineer or hobbyist who wants to transfer their ideas to real life application. FreeCAD does that in the 3D world and LibreCAD would happily help you for the first two dimensions only.

5.Audacity

Audacity is a program which is probably responsible for at least one piece of audio work you’ll hear today on videos, movies or anywhere at all. It’s a free and open source audio recording and editing program which is a must have for anyone really.

4.Gimp

Gimp replaces PhotoShop or Illustrator well enough to be the one of the best known, backed and widely used pieces of open source software.

3.LibreOffice/OpenOffice

LibreOffice and OpenOffice are both splendid examples of why you don’t really need to spend that much money on the MS Office package. They both come with a spreadsheet, text processing and presentation tool and are actually two versions of the same thing. LibreOffice, however, is developing more rapidly.

2.VLC Player

Don’t lie, you’ve probably used it at least once. The VLC media player has become so widely known and well backed with frequent updates and expansion that it can seriously be an alternative to paid players and then some more.

1.Linux

When you clicked “20 Popular Open Source Alternatives to Expensive Software”, you probably didn’t expect to see a an operating system, even more so at the first spot but just think about it. Why pay hundreds for an OS when you can have a fully capable one for free with lifetime updates? It’s no longer complicated to use, in fact distributions like Mint or Ubuntu come pre-configured out of the box and you could use them just like any Windows/Mac computer.