Open source

Open source is a buying decision before it is a technical one. What you get is control, and what you pay for it is responsibility.

The actual trade

Software you can inspect, modify and run without permission gives you leverage no licence agreement will. It also means nobody is contractually obliged to fix your problem, and the responsibility for security and maintenance lands on you or someone you hire.

Why it still wins

Arguments that hold up

• No lock-in: you can move hosts, agencies and providers
• Auditability: the code can be read and reviewed
• Longevity: the stack outlives any single supplier
• Talent: the skills are not proprietary and are widely available
• Ecosystem: plugins and integrations that would be expensive to build

Where the cost hides

Maintenance. An open-source platform is not free software; it is software with no invoice and an ongoing obligation to patch it. Budget the obligation or the savings are imaginary.

Where open source is the wrong call

When a proprietary platform genuinely does the job at a fraction of the total cost, and you have no strategic need for control. Ideology is an expensive way to choose software.