65 Must-Have Open Source Software Picks for 2025 – Tools You Can Trust

SOURCE: https://www.tech2geek.net/65-best-open-source-software-in-2025/

Open source software continues to revolutionize the tech world—and 2025 is no exception. Whether you’re a developer, designer, student, or just a tech enthusiast, there’s an open source tool out there to fit your needs. These tools are not only free but also backed by strong communities and constant innovation. In this article, we’ve rounded up the 65 best open source software options in 2025, covering everything from system utilities and security tools to creative suites and coding platforms. Ready to upgrade your workflow without spending a dime? Let’s dive in!

 very important:

All the links in this article point to the official websites of each service mentioned.

Table of Contents

1. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite written in C++, Java, and Python, which was first released in January 2011 by The Document Foundation and has since been known to be the most reliable open-source office suite.

Usually used as an alternative to Microsoft Office Suite, it is regularly updated and is also compatible with the doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx files.

LibreOffice – Open Source Office Suite

2. Nextcloud

Nextcloud is an open-source, self-hosted file-sharing platform with support for communicating and collaborating with teams.

Its functionality is similar to that of Dropbox and ownCloud, and you can use it to sync your files, calendars, and other data formats.

Nextcloud – Content Collaboration Platform

3. Adminer

Adminer is a minimalist Database Management System (DBMS) in a single PHP file and it focuses on security, UX, performance, feature set, and size.

It ships with several inbuilt themes and features all the operations you can perform in phpMyAdmin with the promise of offering a tidier UI with high performance and better support for MySQL features.

Adminer – Database Management Tool

4. Slim Framework

Slim Framework is a PHP micro-framework that enables users to write powerful web applications and APIs in a simpler way.

Fundamentally, it works as a dispatcher that receives an HTTP request, invokes an appropriate callback routine, and then returns an HTTP response.

Slim-Framework – PHP Micro Framework

5. uniCenta

uniCenta is an open-source commercial-grade Point Of Sale dedicated to providing business owners with innovative POS applications.

Its features include modules for system control, sales, inventory, suppliers, employees, customers, and reports.

UniCenta – Open Source Tool for Retail and Hospitality

6. Bitwarden

Bitwarden is a free and open-source password manager for keeping digital records away from the sight of unauthorized users.

It features a clean minimalist UI with several client applications including one for a web interface, desktop, mobile apps, etc. and can be used by individuals, teams, and organizations.

Bitwarden – Password Management Solutions

7. The Elastic Stack

The Elastic Stack is made up of various open-source applications designed to enable users to collect data from any source irrespective of its format and type.

It also enables users to search, analyze, and visualize data in real-time and it can be distributed as Software as a Service (Saas) or installed on-premise.

The Elastic Stack – Group of Open Source Products

8. Steam

Steam is not open-source but it is regarded as the ultimate online gaming platform, is an online community where you can easily search, install, and manage game collections for different OS platforms.

SteamOS + Linux on Steam is the best thing that has happened to gamers in the Linux community.

Steam for Linux

9. Cockpit

Cockpit is a user-friendly, integrated, glanceable, extendable, and web-based GUI for managing servers. It is designed to have a beautiful, modern UI with support for teams, integration with the terminal, multi-server administration, and built-in troubleshooting tools.

It provides a user-friendly dashboard, which is accessible through a web browser, allowing users to perform various system-related tasks without the need for a command-line interface.

Cockpit – Remote Linux Manager

10. .NET Core

.NET Core refers to the free and open-source general-purpose software development framework for Linux, macOS, and Windows Operating Systems.

It contains the .NET Native runtime and CoreRT and it can be used in device, cloud, and embedded/IoT scenarios.

.Net Core – Open Source Software Framework

11. IPFire

IPFire is a versatile open-source Linux-based firewall that is easy to use and offers high performance in any scenario.

IPFire originally started as an IPCop fork but was rewritten from scratch in version 2.

IPFire – Open Source Firewall

12. Flameshot

Flameshot is a simple but powerful screenshot application for Linux, that you can use to interact with it via GUI or CLI and perform markup operations on a per-screenshot basis.

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Flameshot Screenshot Software for Linux

13. Brave Browser

Brave Browser is a free and open-source Chromium-based browser that ships with more features than Chrom typically does.

It is customizable, security-focused, user-friendly, and ships with an inbuilt adblocker and password manager among other features.

Brave Browser

14. BRL-CAD

BRL-CAD is a free and open-source cross-platform solid modeling system that includes interactive geometry editing, a system performance analysis benchmark suite, geometry libraries for application developers, and high-performance ray tracing for rendering and geometric analysis.

BRL-CAD – Solid Modeling System

15. ssh-chat

ssh-chat is a custom SSH server through which you can hold secure chats with a limited number of users over an SSH connection.

It is specially designed to convert your SSH server into a chat service after which you get a chat prompt rather than a typical shell.

ssh-chat – Chat Security in Terminal

16. PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a CLI utility software for data recovery capable of recovering files with over 480 extensions. It is compatible with various digital camera memory, hard disks, and CD-ROMs.

PhotoRec – Data Recovery Software

17. GParted

GParted is a GUI utility for managing disk partitions and is capable of resizing, moving, and copying partitions without data loss.

It is excellent at manipulating file systems including xfs, ufs, ntfs, udf, fat16/fat32, ext2/ext3/ext4, btrfs, etc.

gparted – Partition Editor

18. Restic

Restic is an open-source CLI-based utility for performing backups easily, securely, quickly, and efficiently for free.

It uses Semantic Versioning to always allow for backward compatibility within one major version.

Restic – Backup Tool for Linux

19. Rclone

Rclone is a command line-based utility for synchronizing files and directories to and from several storage locations including Dropbox, FTP, Hubic, Dreamhost, OVH, Nextcloud, Yandex Disk, etc.

Rclone’s features include checking for file hash equality, timestamps preserved on files, one-way sync mode to directories, Union backend, etc.

rclone – Sync Cloud Storage

20. Minio

Minio is a private cloud storage stack that provides scalable and persistent object storage for several infrastructures including Docker, Kubernetes, GCP, etc.

Minio – Private Cloud Storage

21. Cmus

Cmus is a powerful but lightweight CLI-based music player app for playing audio files from the terminal on Unix-like Operating Systems.

Cmus – Console Music Player

22. Etcher

Etcher is a cross-platform GUI utility for easily and safely flashing OS images to SD cards and USB drives.

Etcher Bootable USB Creator

23. Cargo

Cargo is a package manager for the Rust programming language and it is efficient at downloading the necessary Rust dependencies for your project as well as compiling the packages into distributable packages that it then uploads to crates.io.

Cargo – Rust Package Manager

24. Sayonara Player

Sayonara Player is a C++ audio player and library manager for Linux devices. It features several advanced functionalities including extending its features list with extensions, directory view, recording webstreams and podcasts, an inbuilt tag editor, crossfade, equalizer, etc.

Sayonara Music Player

25. Helm

Helm is a package manager created by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation for Kubernetes and it provides users with the easiest way to discover, share, and build Kubernetes applications.

Kubernetes also referred to as k8s, is an open-source system for automating application management, scaling, and deployment.

Helm – The Kubernetes Package Manager

26. ClickHouse

ClickHouse is an open-source column-oriented Database Management System for generating analytical data reports in real time using SQL. It is linearly scalable, fault-tolerant, simple to use, and hardware efficient.

ClickHouse – Database Management System

27. Shotcut

Shotcut is a free, cross-platform, and open-source video editor with wide support for video formats and a clean user interface.

It features network stream playback, IP stream, webcam and audio capture, support for 4K resolution, capture from SDI, etc.

Shotcut Video Editor

28. Kdenlive

Kdenlive is an advanced free and open-source video editing software with support for multi-track video editing, proxy editing, timeline preview, automatic backup, and audio and video scopes.

Kdenlive also features several online resources for users, a title for creating 2D titles, a configurable UI, etc.

KdenLive Video Editor

29. Rufus

Rufus is a lightweight utility for creating bootable USB flash drives and flashing BIOS or other firmware from DOS. It can also be used to format drives and can be run directly from a memory stick as a portable app.

Rufus – Create a bootable USB

30. DSpace

DSpace is a customizable open-source dynamic digital repository whose aim is to make information easy to access, use, and manage.

It is used in several academic, commercial, and non-profit settings for building open digital repositories.

Dspace – Dynamic Digital Repository

31. Stellarium

Stellarium is an open-source OpenGL-powered planetarium software that shows a 3D simulation of the night sky in real-time.

It also contains details of all the planetary bodies and constellations with engaging visualizations.

Stellarium – Planetarium Software

32. Krita

Krita is a cross-platform open-source raster graphics editor for digital painting and creating animations. It is among the most popular digital painting tools with features like native support for CMYK, a clutter-free UI, efficient resource management, a pop-up color palette, etc.

Krita Painting Tool for Linux

33. Tvheadend

Tvheadend (TVH) is a Linux recorder and TV streaming server with support for various streaming formats including ISDB-T, IPTV, SAT>IP, ATSC, DVB-S2, DVB-S, DVB-C, etc.

Tvheadend – TV Streaming Server

34. OpenShot

OpenShot is a free, cross-platform, and open-source video editor created to be incredibly simple, powerful, and efficient.

It features unlimited tracks, animations & keyframes, a title editor, slow motion and time effects, support for 70+ languages, etc.

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OpenShot Video Editor for Linux

35. GSConnect

GSConnect is an implementation of KDE Connect especially for GNOME shell with Nautilus, Firefox, and Chrome integration.

Like KDEConnect, GSConnect allows devices to connect and share notifications, SMS messages, files, etc. e.g. connecting an Android device to an Ubuntu PC.

GSConnect

36. BorgBackup

BorgBackup (short, Borg) is a deduplicating backup program with optional support for compression and encryption. It was built with the main goal of providing an efficient way to securely back data up.

Borg Backup

37. Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is Microsoft’s free, cross-platform, and open-source feature-rich code editor. It is in the list of top 5 GUI text editors used by developers and that comes as no surprise given its seemingly unending capabilities.

Visual Studio Code

38. KeePass Password Safe

KeePass Password Safe is a free and open-source password manager that secures all your passwords and files in a single encrypted database. It is lightweight, easy to use, and multi-platform.

KeePass – Password Safe Manager

39. Discord

Discord is a proprietary freeware digital distribution platform and VoIP application created for gamers. It is cross-platform and supports both single-user and group chats with a specialty in communication via text, image, audio, and video between users.

Discord Instant Messenger for Linux

40. Wine

Wine, which stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator, is a compatibility layer that enables its users to run Windows applications on any POSIX-compliant OS.

Wine cleanly integrates Windows apps with Linux desktops by translating Windows API calls into POSIX calls in real-time which eliminates the performance and memory repercussions of other methods.

Wine – Run Windows Software in Linux

41. Synapse

Synapse is a high-performance, lightweight Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) powered by the fast and asynchronous mediation engine that gives it support for Web Services, XML, and REST.

It has so many features that you are better off checking its features page out yourself.

Apache Synapse – Enterprise Service Bus

42. Pix

Pix is an advanced image browser, viewer, organizer, and editor for BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, TGA, ICO, XPM image formats, and optional support for RAW and HDR images.

It has advanced tools for editing images by adding comments, scaling them, finding duplicates, tools for viewing and browsing images such as working with slideshows, performing lossless JPG transformations, etc.

Pix – Image Management Application

43. Geany

Geany is a cross-platform GTK+ text editor with the basic features of an IDE. It is designed to have few dependencies on external libraries while offering its users a speedy and memory-friendly performance.

Geany – Text Editor

44. openLCA

openLCA is a free feature-rich Life Cycle Assessment software created by GreenDelta in 2006. With it, you can model and assess any product for the whole duration of its life cycle from resource extraction to production, its usage, and disposal.

openLCA – Life Cycle Assessment Software

45. Gophish

Gophish is a free, robust cross-platform phishing framework that enables individuals and organizations to easily test their network for phishing attacks.

It contains customizable templates as well as the ability to import/export them, campaigns that you can schedule to launch and send emails in the background, a real-time results tracker, and a full REST API.

Ghophish – Phishing Framework

46. Flutter

Flutter is a mobile app development SDK created and maintained by Google. It allows users to build sleek native applications on both Android and iOS from a single codebase.

Flutter is also compatible with code for the web, React Native, and Xamarin and it features built-in animations, widgets, and OS-specific designs that speed up the development process.

Flutter – Mobile Application Development

47. GIMP

GIMP is a feature-rich cross-platform image editing software most commonly used as the Linux alternative for Adobe Photoshop.

Apart from GIMP being capable of doing almost everything Photoshop can, its features are extensible via plugins thanks to its integration with several programming languages, and its files can be used with other media editing software like Inkscape, SwatchBooker, and Scribus.

Gimp Image Editor

48. Clementine

Clementine is a feature-rich music player and library organizer and it is among the most popular music players for Linux. Its features include being cross-platform, a queue manager, remote control using a Wii remote, CLI or MPRIS, Android device, visualizations from projects, etc.

Clementine Music Player

49. Mailcow

Mailcow is an open-source mail server that makes use of other smaller open-source services to provide users with an enjoyable mailing experience.

It features a UI that enables users to complete administrative tasks, use temporary spam aliases, work with KIM and ARC, reset SOGo ActiveSync device caches, and integrate with Fail2ban-like software, among others.

Mailcow – Mail Server Suite

50. Beaver

DBeaver is a robust free multi-platform GUI database tool for developers, analysts, DB administrators, and SQL programmers. It has support for all popular databases not excluding MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, MS Access, Teradata, Sybase, Firebird, and Derby.

DBeaver – Universal Database Tool

51. ONLYOFFICE

ONLYOFFICE is an open-source office suite that is 100% compatible with the Microsoft Office suite. Its features include an online platform for creating and managing documents, team collaboration, a calendar, and project and mail management tools.

ONLYOFFICE can integrate with your Saas or on-premise solution to provide your clients with a branded UI/UX, and web services like Nextcloud, SharePoint, Alfresco, etc.

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OnlyOffice Suit

52. Mailspring

Mailspring is a customizable cross-platform and open-source mail client created to boost users’ productivity and provide them with a more pleasant mailing experience.

It features a beautiful modern UI with several keyboard shortcuts and out of the box with features like click tracking, etc., and tons of other features that users can shell out some cash for.

Mailspring Desktop Email Client

53. Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a free and open-source email client brought to you with love from the makers of Firefox. It was designed to be easy to set up and customize and it is among the most used email clients in the Linux community because of its rich feature set and it usually comes bundled with several distros.

Thunderbird Email Client

54. VLC

VLC is a free, portable, multi-platform, and open-source media player created by the VideoLAN project. It has maintained its rank as one of the most reliable media players you can use given the fact that it can play with almost any media format you throw at it.

VLC is also a streaming app so you can stream audio and video content online as you would in a browser without leaving the app.

Vlc Player

55. Stacer

Stacer is one of the coolest Linux system monitoring and optimizing software. It features a clean modern and intuitive interface with an informative dashboard and sleek icons.

You can use it to manage system services, startup processes, applications, scripts, files, etc. and you can work in different modes, limit CPU and memory usage, customize its look, etc.

Stacer Dashboard

56. Godot Engine

Godot Engine is a free and open-source game engine whose aim is to make the developers be creative with the games they make without reinventing the wheel or strings attached e.g. no royalties.

It is team-friendly, and ships with a wide set of common tools to speed up game development. It features sleek 2D and 3D graphics and has its usage simplified. With Godot Engine, the games you build are 100% yours.

Godot Engine

57. Inkscape

Inkscape is a professional free, cross-platform vector graphics editor for anybody with an interest in digital drawing. You can use it to create illustrations, icons, maps, web graphics, diagrams, etc.

Inkscape – Vector Graphics Editor

58. Blender

Blender is a free and open-source professional 3D creation suite created with support for the entire 3D pipeline i.e. modeling, simulation, rigging, compositing, motion tracking, game creation, rendering, and video editing.

Blender – 3D Computer Graphics Software

59. Cinelerra

Cinelerra is a free and open-source software for professionally editing videos on Linux platforms. Its features include compositing, motion tracking, rendering, transitions, customizable text, effects, etc.

Cinelerra – Video Editing Software

60. Calibre

Calibre is a free and cross-platform one-stop solution for electronic documents, especially ebooks, comics, and PDFs. Its features include a robust ebook viewer, a built-in news/magazine downloader, advanced management options for ebook organization, and metadata updates, to mention a few.

Calibre – E-book Management

61. TexMaker

TexMaker is a free, cross-platform, and open-source LaTeX editor that enables users to create, edit, and manage LaTeX documents elegantly.

It has a long features including code folding, syntax highlighting, code completion, find in folders, an unlimited number of snippets, and support for regular expressions, to mention a few.

TexMaker – LaTeX Editor

62. FileZilla

FileZilla is a free and open-source FTP solution that also has support for SFTP and FTP over TLS (FTPS). It features everything necessary for performing file operations from remote locations.

Nevertheless, it offers enterprise-class users a paid package that bundles extra features such as additional protocol support for Dropbox, Google Cloud Storage, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure Blob, and WebDAV, to name a few.

FileZilla – FTP Client

63. Kodi

Kodi is a beautiful, free, open-source, and multi-platform media center software from which you can manage and play music, movies, TV shows, and photo slideshows.

Kodi – Open Source Home Theater Software

64. Iris

Iris is a community-driven multi-platform web framework written in Go. It is easy to use and has now come to be among the fastest web frameworks housing several features including automatic HTTPS with Public Domain, caching, sessions, WebSocket, versioning API, dependency injection, MVC, and compatibility with 3rd-party packages and standard libraries.

Iris Web Framework

65. Psiphon3

Psiphon3 is a free and open-source network software designed for Windows and Android users to circumnavigate censorship while maintaining their optimal browsing and download speeds. It makes use of open-source components for SSH, VPN, and HTTP Proxy technology to provide users with uncensored online content.

Psiphon3 – Circumvention Software

Open source software has never been more powerful, diverse, or essential than it is in 2025. Whether you’re seeking alternatives to expensive commercial programs or looking to support open, transparent development, the 65 tools listed here offer something for everyone.

Have a favorite open source tool we didn’t mention? Share it in the comments! And if you found this list helpful, don’t forget to share it with fellow tech lovers or your team—it might just improve someone’s workflow today.

 Very important:

All the links in this article point to the official websites of each service mentioned.