Awesome open-source alternatives to SaaS
Awesome list of open-source startup alternatives to established SaaS products. Maintained by folks at Runa Capital.
Also checkout our ROSS index: fastest-growing open-source startups, every quarter.
Criteria
Open-source company is added to the list if:
- Its product is strongly based on an open-source repo
- It has a well-known closed-sourced competitor, solving a similar business problem
- It is a private for-profit company, founded in the last 10 years
- Its repo has 100+ stars on GitHub
Things change really fast in the startup world, so this list can neither be fully complete, nor 100% up to date.
Don’t hesitate to contribute and add new startups. Let’s build the most comprehensive list together.
Startup List
All startups in the list are sorted by categories and names in an alphabetical order. If you click on the stars badge, you will get to a product’s repo.
Have a good search!
| Category | Company | Description | GitHub Stars | Alternative to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| API Platform | Hoppscotch | API development ecosystem |  |
Postman |
| Auth & SSO | Cerbos | Granular access control |  |
Okta, Auth0 |
| Auth & SSO | Oso | Authorization building framework |  |
Okta, Auth0 |
| Auth & SSO | Supertokens | User authentication and session management framework |  |
Okta, Auth0 |
| Backend as a service | Appwrite | Backend server with REST APIs to manage core backend needs |  |
Firebase |
| Backend as a service | Nhost | Backend server with GraphQL |  |
Firebase |
| Backend as a service | Supabase | Backend server with REST APIs to manage core backend needs |  |
Firebase |
| Business intelligence | Metabase | Business intelligence software |  |
Tableau, Power BI, DataStudio |
| CMS | Builder | Drag and drop page builder and CMS |  |
Contentfull |
| CMS | Concrete | CMS for teams |  |
Contentfull |
| CMS | Directus | Data platform which wraps any database with an intuitive app |  |
Contentfull |
| CMS | Netlify CMS | Git-based CMS for static site generators |  |
Contentfull |
| CMS | Plasmic | The headless page builder for singe-page frameworks |  |
Contentfull |
| CMS | Strapi | Node.js Headless CMS to build customisable APIs |  |
Contentfull |
| CMS | Tina | Visual editor for React websites |  |
Contentfull |
| CMS | Webiny | Enterprise serverless CMS |  |
Contentfull |
| Cloud Storage | Minio | S3 compatible object storage |  |
Amazon S3 |
| Cloud Storage | Storj | Decentralized cloud storage |  |
Amazon S3 |
| Communication | Fonoster | APIs for SMS, voice and video |  |
Twilio |
| Customer Data Platform | Jitsu | Fully-scriptable data ingestion engine for modern data teams |  |
Segment |
| Customer Data Platform | Rudderstack | Customer data platform for developers |  |
Segment |
| Customer Engagement | Chaskiq | Live chat widget |  |
Intercom, Zendesk |
| Customer Engagement | Chatwoot | Live chat widget |  |
Intercom, Zendesk |
| Customer Engagement | Papercups | Live chat widget |  |
Intercom, Zendesk |
| Design | Modulz | Code-based tool for designing and prototyping |  |
Figma |
| Design | Penpot | Design & prototyping platform |  |
Figma |
| E-commerce | Medusa | Headless e-commerce platform |  |
Shopify, Ecwid |
| E-commerce | Saleor | Headless e-commerce platform |  |
Shopify, Ecwid |
| E-commerce | Shuup | Headless e-commerce platform |  |
Shopify, Ecwid |
| E-commerce | Sylius | Headless e-commerce platform |  |
Shopify, Ecwid |
| E-commerce | Vendure | Headless e-commerce platform |  |
Shopify, Ecwid |
| E-commerce | Vue Storefront | Frontend for e-commerce platform |  |
Shogun |
| ELT / ETL | Airbyte | Data integration platform |  |
Fivetran |
| ELT / ETL | Dagster | Orchestration platform for data assets |  |
Fivetran |
| ELT / ETL | Orchest | No-code data pipelines builder |  |
Fivetran |
| ELT / ETL | Prefect | Data orchestration platform for a modern data stack |  |
Fivetran |
| Email marketing | Keila | Email newsletter tool |  |
Mailchimp, Sendinblue |
| Enterprise Search | AppBase | Search UI components for React and Vue |  |
Algolia |
| Enterprise Search | deepset | NLP platform to build enterprise-grade semantic search |  |
AWS Kendra, QnA Maker |
| Enterprise Search | Jina.ai | Neural search framework for ??? kind of data (including images) |  |
Algolia |
| Enterprise Search | MeiliSearch | Search engine |  |
Algolia |
| Enterprise Search | Qdrant | Vector similarity search engine with extended filtering support |  |
Algolia |
| Enterprise Search | SeMI‘s Weaviate | Real-time vector search engine |  |
Google Vertex AI, Algolia |
| Enterprise Search | TypeSense | Typo tolerant fuzzy search engine |  |
Algolia |
| Feature flag and toggle management | FlagSmith | Feature Flag & Remote Config Service |  |
LaunchDarkly |
| Feature flag and toggle management | Unleash | Feature flags platform |  |
LaunchDarkly |
| File Hosting | Filestash | A file manager that let you manage your data anywhere it is located |  |
Dropbox, Google Drive |
| File Hosting | Nextcloud | A personal cloud which runs on your own server |  |
Dropbox, Google Drive |
| File Hosting | Owncloud | A personal cloud which runs on your own server |  |
Dropbox, Google Drive |
| Forum Software | Discourse | A platform for community discussion |  |
Tribe, Circle |
| Forum Software | Vanilla | A platform for community discussion |  |
Tribe, Circle |
| Graph database | Memgraph | In-memory graph database |  |
TigerGraph, Amazon Neptune |
| Graph database | Neo4j | Graph database platform |  |
TigerGraph, Amazon Neptune |
| Graph database | TerminusDB | Knowledge graph and document store |  |
TigerGraph, Amazon Neptune |
| Internal Tools | AppSmith | Low-code platform for internal tools |  |
Retool |
| Internal Tools | Budibase | Low-code platform for internal tools |  |
Retool |
| Internal Tools | Lowdefy | YAML-based low-code platform for internal tools |  |
Retool |
| Internal Tools | Tooljet | Low-code framework for internal tools |  |
Retool |
| Log Management | Graylog | Log management platform |  |
Splunk |
| ML Ops | Cortex | Production infrastructure for machine learning |  |
AWS SageMaker |
| ML Ops | MindsDB | In-database machine learning platform |  |
BigQuery ML |
| Messaging | Element | Enterprise communication platform |  |
Slack |
| Messaging | Mattermost | Enterprise communication platform for developers |  |
Slack |
| Messaging | Rocket.chat | Enterprise communication platform |  |
Slack |
| Messaging | Zulip | Team chat |  |
Slack |
| Metrics store | Cube.js | Headless business intelligence suite |  |
Looker |
| Metrics store | LightDash | Low-code metrics layer, alternative to Looker |  |
Looker |
| Metrics store | MLCraft | Low-code metrics layer, alternative to Looker |  |
Looker |
| Metrics store | MetriQL | Headless business intelligence suite |  |
Looker |
| No-code database | Baserow | No-code database and Airtable alternative | Repo on Gitlab | AirTable |
| No-code database | NocoDB | No-code database and Airtable alternative |  |
AirTable |
| No-code database | Rowy | Extendable Airtable-like spreadsheet UI for databases |  |
AirTable |
| Notetaking | AppFlowy | Open-source alternative to Notion |  |
Notion |
| Notetaking | Athens Research | Knowledge graph for research and notetaking |  |
Roam Research |
| Notetaking | Boost Note | Collaborative workspace for developer teams |  |
Notion |
| Notetaking | Dendron | Knowledge base plugin for VS Code |  |
Roam Research |
| Notetaking | Logseq | Knowledge base manager |  |
Roam Research |
| Notetaking | Outline | Wiki and knowledge base |  |
Notion |
| Observability and monitoring | Grafana | Observability and data visualization platform |  |
DataDog, NewRelic |
| Observability and monitoring | Sentry | Application monitoring with a focus on error reporting |  |
DataDog, NewRelic |
| Observability and monitoring | Signoz | Application monitoring and observability platform |  |
DataDog, NewRelic |
| Password manager | BitWarden | Password manager for teams and individuals |  |
1Password |
| Password manager | Padloc | Password manager for teams and individuals |  |
1Password |
| Password manager | Passbolt | Password manager for teams and individuals |  |
1Password |
| Platform as a service | Coolify | Self-hostable Heroku alternative |  |
Heroku |
| Platform as a service | Porter | Kubernetes powered PaaS that runs in your own cloud |  |
Heroku |
| Platform as a service | Qovery | Kubernetes powered PaaS that runs in your own cloud |  |
Heroku |
| Platform as a service | Space Cloud | Serverless cloud deployment platform |  |
Heroku |
| Product Analytics | PostHog | Product analytics platform |  |
Amplitude, MixPanel |
| Project Management | Focalboard | Alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana |  |
Trello, Notion, Asana |
| Project Management | OpenProject | Project management software |  |
Asana, Trello |
| Reverse ETL | Casteld | Data synchronization framework focused on external apps |  |
Hightouch, NewRelic |
| Reverse ETL | Grouparoo | Data synchronization framework |  |
Hightouch |
| Robotic Process Automation (RPA) | RoboCorp | Set of tooling that allows to create automation packages |  |
UiPath |
| Scheduling | Calendso | Scheduling infrastructure, alternative to Calendly |  |
Calendly |
| Session replay software | OpenReplay | Session replay stack for developers |  |
LogRocket, FullStory |
| Streaming | Glimesh | Live streaming platform |  |
Twitch |
| Timeseries database | InfluxDB | Database designed to process time series data |  |
Kdb+ |
| Timeseries database | QuestDB | Database designed to process time series data |  |
Kdb+ |
| Timeseries database | TimescaleDB | Database designed to process time series data |  |
Kdb+ |
| Video Conferencing | Jitsi | Video conferences platform and SDK |  |
Zoom |
| Website analytics | Matomo | Google Analytics alternative |  |
Google Analytics |
| Website analytics | Plausible | Google Analytics alternative |  |
Google Analytics |
| Website analytics | Umami | Google Analytics alternative |  |
Google Analytics |
| Workflow automation | N8N | Node-based workflow automation tool for developers |  |
Zapier |
| Workflow automation | Temporal | Workflows as code platform |  |
Zapier |
