OSIB

Open Source in Business

Open Source Solutions

Open source solutions exist for virtually every business function. This page highlights the most practical and proven options for UK organisations across back office, front office, and IT infrastructure.

Back Office — Core Business Operations

Enterprise resource planning, accounting, HR, and infrastructure — all achievable without proprietary licence fees.

  • Odoo — Comprehensive ERP suite covering accounting, CRM, HR, inventory, and projects. Community edition is free; Enterprise adds advanced modules.
  • ERPNext — Fully open source ERP on the Frappe framework. Strong UK payroll support. No paid tier for core functionality.
  • Nextcloud — Self-hosted file sync and collaboration platform. Replaces Dropbox, SharePoint, or Google Drive.
  • LibreOffice — Full office productivity suite compatible with Microsoft Office formats. Free on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
  • PostgreSQL — The world’s most advanced open source relational database. Foundation for many built environment applications via PostGIS.
  • Mautic — Open source marketing automation. Self-hosted alternative to HubSpot or Mailchimp.

Front Office — Customer-Facing Systems

CRM, portals, e-commerce, and communications platforms without proprietary constraints.

  • SuiteCRM — The world’s leading open source CRM. Full sales pipeline, marketing automation, and reporting.
  • WordPress — Powers 43% of the web. Flexible CMS for corporate websites, portals, and intranets.
  • WooCommerce — Open source e-commerce on WordPress. No per-transaction platform fees.
  • Mattermost — Self-hosted team messaging. Open source alternative to Slack or Microsoft Teams.
  • Zammad — Open source help desk and ticketing. Handles email, phone, and chat channels.
  • OpenProject — Comprehensive project management with Gantt charts, agile boards, and budgets.

Infrastructure and IT Operations

  • Ubuntu Server — The world’s most deployed Linux server. Five-year LTS security support at no cost.
  • Proxmox VE — Open source virtualisation platform. Direct alternative to VMware vSphere.
  • Docker — Industry-standard container platform for application deployment.
  • Grafana — Open source analytics and monitoring dashboards.
  • Zabbix — Enterprise network and server monitoring. Alternative to SolarWinds.
  • Metabase — Open source business intelligence. Self-service data exploration without SQL.

Built Environment Specialist Tools

  • QGIS — Full-featured desktop GIS. The open source alternative to Esri ArcGIS.
  • PostGIS — Spatial extension for PostgreSQL. Powers GIS analysis and asset management.
  • GeoServer — Open source geospatial server for publishing map services.
  • BlenderBIM — IFC-native BIM authoring plugin for Blender. Open alternative to Autodesk Revit.
  • FreeCAD — Parametric 3D modeller with BIM workbench. Strong IFC support.
  • OpenMAINT — Open source computer-aided facilities management (CAFM).