Researchers at Harvard Business School have released a report that attempts to determine the value of open source software. And it’s spectacular ($8.8 trillion), as befits one of the most important movements in global technology, capable of accelerating the development of entire industries and creating de facto standards with enormous benefits for the global economy.

The average user who uses Windows on their PC or Android on their mobile (and little else) doesn’t realize what goes into software development. Much of the code that supports digital services is open source and is collaboratively developed, built and maintained by an army of thousands of people. And this group includes everything from enthusiastic unpaid volunteers to high-ranking engineers working for large technology companies.

Open Source Software is absolutely essential in today’s world and in any aspect of technology, from networking to security. Offers a practical benefit to the developer, professional or company due to access to the source code and the ability to use and modify it without licensing restrictions, and as such is the center of software innovation. And also potential business. But how much does it all cost?

The value of open source software

It must be made clear to the uninitiated that OSS is not the same as free software and this is what was born in contrast to the existing “Free Software”, a movement led by Richard Stallman, which, in addition to the political label, could mislead employees about the qualification of “free”. A different term was needed, so 25 years ago “Open Source” was coined to define the development of open source code.

This term goes beyond ethical or freedom issues of “free software” and of course Services where applicable may not be free. A good example is Red Hat, one of the big tech companies around Open Source that offers great business data. Harvard Business School has tried to put numbers to this whole environment, but it’s not easy because most of its value is intangible.

The direct valuation of the current and most widely used open source software “only” on the supply side is $4.15 billion. But on the demand side, which covers all the indirect value generated by your use of open source, open source software would be worth it 8.8 trillion dollars. To put the data into perspective, let’s say the estimated global gross domestic product for 2024 is 109 trillion.

In addition to this assessment, the authors of the report estimate that if open source did not exist, companies would have to spend 3.5 times your IT and technology investments get the same results. Many open source projects cover exactly the needs companies need around implementing their infrastructure without having to build their own tools from scratch.

The most successful open source projects (from operating systems like Linux and Android to databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL) provide the kind of infrastructure requirements that allow companies to continue to innovate. Leveraging these projects helps company IT teams avoid significant opportunity costs and enable in the process save on the purchase of proprietary software. The statistics about how much IT investments would cost if open source software did not exist are therefore clear. And those costs would be even higher with additional services and value for customers.

In short: open source software is one of the most important movements in global technology and is essential to keep the world going.