Evaluating the True Cost of Open Source Software

This IDC Perspective evaluates the true cost of open source software. While many organizations choose open source software over traditional software based on the theory that it is less expensive, that's not always the case. While there are specific categories of cost that must be calculated, the result of those calculations will be different for every organization based on the specific requirements and proficiencies of that organization. For example, every organization should evaluate upfront costs like required infrastructure and customization, but the actual costs incurred will depend on existing infrastructure and the strength of the internal IT team. The same is true of post-deployment costs and security-related costs.In all cases, calculating the total cost of ownership (TCO) isn't easy. There are TCO calculators available that can help, but they often don't take every variable into account. Every decision is an individual one - for example, just because community-supported database software may work for an organization doesn't mean that the organization should always go the community-supported route."While you may never be able to come up with an accurate total cost of ownership because there are so many variables, doing your due diligence will point out your relative strengths and weaknesses in different cost centers and that should inform your decision," says Michele Rosen, research manager, Open GenAI, LLMs, and the Evolving Open Source Ecosystem at IDC.