// ANNUAL REPORT · UPDATED OCTOBER 2026
The state of open source
in 2026
An annual analysis of the open source ecosystem in 2026, based on live data from 856 projects with a combined 15.5M GitHub stars we track nightly.
BY OPEN SOURCE STARTUPS · CC-BY · CITATIONS WELCOME
By the numbers
FIG 01
856
Tracked projects
FIG 02
15.5M
Combined GitHub stars
FIG 03
0
On BSL/BUSL
FIG 04
171
On AGPL
The top 10 most-starred open source projects
Star count is a flawed but useful proxy for adoption. The current top 10:
OpenClaw
Personal AI assistant that clears inboxes, sends emails, manages calendars, and checks in for flights. Works through WhatsApp, Telegram, and other chat apps.
opencode
Open source terminal coding agent that works with any LLM provider, from the SST team.
n8n
Fair-code workflow automation platform
AutoGPT
AutoGPT is the vision of accessible AI for everyone
Ollama
Get up and running with large language models locally
Stable Diffusion WebUI
Stable Diffusion web UI
Hugging Face Transformers
State-of-the-art Machine Learning for PyTorch, TensorFlow, and JAX
Langflow
Visual builder for AI-powered applications
Dify
AI-powered app creation without coding complexities
Next.js
The React Framework for the Web
License distribution
MIT and Apache 2.0 still dominate, but AGPL has grown sharply as project maintainers reach for stronger copyleft to defend against cloud-extraction. BSL and SSPL remain niche but high-profile.
Language distribution
TypeScript continues its march. Rust is overrepresented relative to its general-purpose use — infrastructure tools love it. Python dominates the AI category.
Where the energy is
By project count + combined stars per category, AI & ML and Developer Tools lead by a wide margin. Look at the per-project star average to see which categories have density (a few mega-projects) vs breadth (many smaller ones):
| Category | Projects | Total stars | Avg stars |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI & ML | 212 | 4.4M | 20.6k |
| Developer Tools | 118 | 3.7M | 31.2k |
| DevOps | 89 | 1.2M | 13.0k |
| Database | 88 | 1.3M | 14.9k |
| Auth & Security | 81 | 926.3k | 11.4k |
| Analytics | 62 | 687.0k | 11.1k |
| Other | 57 | 835.4k | 14.7k |
| Web Framework | 48 | 826.5k | 17.2k |
| CMS & Content | 47 | 667.0k | 14.2k |
| Communication | 23 | 325.8k | 14.2k |
| E-commerce | 18 | 193.5k | 10.8k |
| UI Components | 13 | 557.1k | 42.9k |
What we're watching in 2026
- —Continued relicensing pressure. Expect another 2-3 prominent projects to move from permissive to BSL/SSPL/FSL. The pattern is well-established.
- —AI infrastructure consolidation. Many AI agent frameworks. Expect winners to emerge — likely the ones with strong open governance, not the VC-backed ones.
- —Self-hosted apps growing. Cloud cost discipline + privacy concerns are driving renewed interest in self-hosted Notion/Slack/Airtable alternatives. See our awesome list →
- —Maintainer burnout signals. Our abandonment monitoring catches projects going quiet. Current list →
// CITE THIS REPORT
Free to share, link, and quote. Suggested citation:
Open Source Startups (2026). The State of Open Source 2026. Retrieved from https://www.opensourcestartups.com/2026