Open source appears in 99 percent of codebases. Linux delivers 99.999 percent uptime on the top web servers. At the same time 96 percent of open source components carry known vulnerabilities.
Key Takeaways
- In 2023, 96.4% of applications surveyed had open source components
- Over 90% of Fortune 1000 companies use open source software
- 99% of codebases in a study contained open source
- GitHub had 100M+ active developers in 2023
- 28M new repositories created on GitHub in 2023
- 40% of GitHub contributions from first-time contributors
- Open source market valued at $66B in 2023
- Open source contributes $8.8T to global GDP over 5 years
- Developers volunteer 2.8B hours yearly worth $240B
- GitHub repositories grew 17% to 420M in 2023
- OSS funding via GitHub Sponsors up 250% to $150M in 2023
- AI/ML OSS projects up 300% since 2020
- 96% of OSS components have known vulnerabilities
- Average OSS app has 528 vulnerabilities
- 75% of OSS codebases have high/critical vulns
Most surveyed applications and infrastructure rely on open source, but security risks demand stronger fixes.
Related reading
01 · Category
Adoption Statistics29 stats
01
In 2023, 96.4% of applications surveyed had open source components
02
Over 90% of Fortune 1000 companies use open source software
03
99% of codebases in a study contained open source
04
Linux runs 96.3% of the world's top 1 million web servers
05
Android, an open source OS, powers 70% of global smartphones
06
Kubernetes, open source, is used by 71% of organizations
07
75% of enterprises use open source databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL
08
Open source is in 97% of scanned applications per Sonatype
09
92% of infrastructure code uses open source per HashiCorp
10
Mozilla Firefox, open source browser, has 3.5% global market share
11
Apache HTTP Server holds 31.5% of web server market
12
WordPress, open source CMS, powers 43% of all websites
13
OpenStack used by 40% of telcos for NFV
14
85% of AI/ML projects use open source frameworks like TensorFlow
15
Docker containers used by 83% of organizations
16
Redis, open source, is top NoSQL database by popularity
17
70% of developers contribute to open source projects
18
Git, open source VCS, used by 95% of developers
19
Node.js runtime used in 42% of professional devs
20
Open source in 100% of top supercomputers (TOP500)
21
88% of enterprises increased open source use post-COVID
22
Python, open source, is most wanted language by 49%
23
React.js used by 40% of devs
24
65% of companies have open source programs
25
OpenSSL used in 95% of websites for TLS
26
Nginx, open source, 33.8% web server share
27
78% of devs use Linux OS
28
Open source saves companies $1.2B annually in licensing (Red Hat)
29
60% of IoT devices run open source OS like Linux
Interpretation
Adoption Statistics Interpretation
If the digital world were a play, open source wouldn't just be in the cast—it would be writing the script, building the set, and collecting rent from 90% of the Fortune 1000 companies living in its infrastructure.
02 · Category
Contributor Metrics27 stats
01
GitHub had 100M+ active developers in 2023
02
28M new repositories created on GitHub in 2023
03
40% of GitHub contributions from first-time contributors
04
3.5M organizations use GitHub for OSS
05
Linux kernel has 20K+ contributors historically
06
90% of devs contribute to OSS yearly per Stack Overflow
07
Average OSS project has 10 contributors
08
Kubernetes has 2K+ contributors per release
09
1.2B contributions on GitHub in 2023
10
Women represent 12% of OSS contributors
11
Top 10% contributors make 80% of commits
12
OSS maintainers: 80K+ active on GitHub
13
React.js has 200K+ forks, 1M+ stars
14
TensorFlow contributors: 2.3K+
15
50% growth in student OSS contributors via GitHub Campus
16
Apache projects have 8K+ committers
17
15M developers in China contribute to OSS
18
Average commit frequency: 10/week per active repo
19
70% of OSS projects have <5 contributors
20
GNOME desktop: 1K+ contributors yearly
21
Rust lang: 5K+ contributors
22
25% increase in OSS pull requests 2023
23
FFmpeg: 1K+ contributors over time
24
Eclipse Foundation: 300+ projects, 10K+ members
25
4.5M pull requests merged on GitHub 2023
26
Node.js: 4K+ contributors
27
Python core: 500+ committers
Interpretation
Contributor Metrics Interpretation
While the staggering scale of open-source shows a thriving digital commons, it also reveals a fragile human reality where an immense ocean of enthusiastic newcomers is sustained by the tireless efforts of a relatively small core of dedicated maintainers.
03 · Category
Economic Value28 stats
01
Open source market valued at $66B in 2023
02
Open source contributes $8.8T to global GDP over 5 years
03
Developers volunteer 2.8B hours yearly worth $240B
04
Red Hat revenue from open source: $3.4B in 2022
05
Open source reduces software costs by 50-70%
06
$1.9T annual economic value from open source (2021 est.)
07
OSS spending projected to reach $49B by 2025
08
Google invests $4B+ yearly in OSS
09
Microsoft OSS investments: $16B+ since 2009
10
OSS market CAGR 18.7% to 2030
11
IBM OSS revenue contribution: 40% of software biz
12
OSS saves enterprises $500K avg per project
13
Global OSS services market $32.4B in 2022
14
OSS accelerates dev speed by 66%, saving $1M+ per org
15
Android OSS economy: $50B+ developer revenue yearly
16
Linux kernel maintenance costs $1B+ yearly if proprietary
17
OSS boosts GDP by 0.5-1.2% in major economies
18
Canonical (Ubuntu) revenue $200M+ annually
19
OSS in automotive: $10B market by 2025
20
SUSE revenue $300M from OSS in 2022
21
OSS cuts licensing costs 90% for cloud native
22
HashiCorp OSS value: $5B+ ecosystem
23
OSS R&D savings: $100B+ globally yearly
24
Elastic (ELK) OSS revenue $1B ARR
25
OSS in finance: $20B market opportunity
26
MongoDB revenue $1.7B from OSS model 2023
27
OSS productivity gain: 40% faster time-to-market
28
GitHub sponsors paid $100M+ to OSS maintainers 2023
Interpretation
Economic Value Interpretation
These figures reveal the beautiful hypocrisy of open source: a collective digital barn-raising where developers volunteer trillions in value, only for the shrewdest barn-dwellers to build billion-dollar skyscrapers right on top of it.
More related reading
04 · Category
Growth and Trends26 stats
01
GitHub repositories grew 17% to 420M in 2023
02
OSS funding via GitHub Sponsors up 250% to $150M in 2023
03
AI/ML OSS projects up 300% since 2020
04
Cloud native OSS adoption up 25% YoY
05
Rust usage up 200% in 5 years per Stack Overflow
06
Container OSS market to $10B by 2027
07
OSS in edge computing: 60% growth 2022-2023
08
WebAssembly OSS stars up 500% since 2019
09
Go lang adoption doubled to 13% in 5 years
10
OSS security tools usage up 40%
11
Quantum computing OSS projects: 1K+ on GitHub
12
Serverless OSS frameworks up 150%
13
OSS in automotive grew 50% to 2023
14
Low-code OSS platforms: 30% market share gain
15
OSS for sustainability: 20% annual growth
16
Federated learning OSS up 400%
17
eBPF OSS adoption 10x since 2020
18
OSS observability market $5B by 2026
19
Vector DB OSS like Milvus stars 20K+
20
OSS metaverse projects up 300%
21
Privacy-focused OSS VPNs grew 35%
22
OSS DeFi protocols: $100B+ TVL
23
GitOps adoption up to 75% in K8s users
24
OSS RISC-V designs: 100+ active
25
LLM OSS models downloads 1B+ monthly
26
OSS CI/CD usage 92% devs, up 10%
Interpretation
Growth and Trends Interpretation
Open source isn't just a side project anymore; it's the main event, now powering everything from the AI writing your emails to the security protecting your data, with the numbers shouting that this volunteer-driven engine is rapidly becoming the indispensable and lucrative backbone of the entire digital world.
05 · Category
Security and Reliability30 stats
01
96% of OSS components have known vulnerabilities
02
Average OSS app has 528 vulnerabilities
03
75% of OSS codebases have high/critical vulns
04
Log4Shell affected 60% of orgs
05
OSS supply chain attacks up 742% in 2022
06
80% of breaches involve OSS vulns
07
Heartbleed patched in 6 months, affected 17% servers
08
Only 1% of OSS vulns fixed within 7 days
09
3.8M OSS vulns disclosed since 2009
10
EventStream npm attack stole 100K+ installs
11
47% of OSS licenses restrict vuln disclosure
12
OSS uptime: Linux kernel 99.999% reliability
13
SolarWinds attack via OSS deps affected 18K orgs
14
90% OSS projects abandon security best practices
15
XZ Utils backdoor nearly compromised SSH
16
OSS fixes faster than proprietary: 20% quicker patches
17
65% of apps use EOL OSS with vulns
18
Dependency confusion attacks up 180%
19
Kubernetes CVEs: 50+ high severity yearly
20
OSS malware: 1.5K malicious pkgs on npm 2023
21
Apache Struts vuln led to Equifax breach
22
99% OSS scanned have outdated components
23
OSS reliability: 2x fewer defects than proprietary
24
PyPI malware incidents: 12K in 2023
25
OSS license compliance issues in 69% apps
26
Node.js ecosystem: 40% pkgs have vulns
27
OSS MTTR for vulns: 57 days avg
28
85% OSS projects lack security policy
29
Codecov breach via OSS CI affected 32K orgs
30
OSS has 57% fewer security flaws post-review
Interpretation
Security and Reliability Interpretation
Open source software is the simultaneously brilliant and maddening engine of modern technology, powering the world with astonishing reliability while often leaving its backdoors unlocked, its windows cracked, and a polite but legally binding note on the fridge asking you not to tell anyone about the holes in the roof.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, February 13). Opensource Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/opensource-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Opensource Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/opensource-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Opensource Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/opensource-statistics.
Sources & references
70 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level