27 KiB
27 KiB
title, date, summary, draft
| title | date | summary | draft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source Tools for Communities | 2026-01-01 | A curated directory of open source software that helps communities organize, communicate, collaborate, and govern themselves. These tools put communities in control of their own digital infrastructure. | True |
Communities around the world are building their digital homes with open source software—tools that anyone can use, study, modify, and share. This directory collects the best of what's available, organized by what communities actually need to do.
Each of these projects represents countless hours of work by developers who believe technology should serve people, not extract from them. Many are mature, battle-tested, and used by thousands of organizations worldwide.
Participatory Democracy & Decision-Making
Tools that help communities make decisions together, from simple polls to sophisticated deliberation platforms.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Decidim | A comprehensive participatory democracy platform used by cities and organizations worldwide. Supports proposals, debates, participatory budgeting, and more. 📊 400+ instances, 2M+ participants. Used by Barcelona, Helsinki, NYC, French National Assembly. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Loomio | Collaborative decision-making software that helps groups discuss issues and reach clear outcomes together. 📊 150K+ users in 100+ countries. Used by Greenpeace, Enspiral, Podemos, City of Wellington. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Consul | A citizen participation platform for open, transparent, and democratic governments. 📊 135+ institutions in 35+ countries. Madrid alone has 500K+ registered users. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Pol.is | AI-powered platform for gathering and understanding public opinion at scale, finding consensus across diverse viewpoints. 📊 Millions of participants. Famous for Taiwan's vTaiwan (200K+ citizens). 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Your Priorities | A platform for citizen engagement that helps communities prioritize ideas and proposals. 📊 50+ deployments, 500K+ participants. Better Reykjavik reached 40% of city population. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
| Helios Voting | Verifiable online voting system that provides mathematical proof that votes were counted correctly. 📊 Thousands of elections. Used by Princeton, IACR, ACM, university associations. 📦 GitHub · Apache-2.0 |
| Belenios | A verifiable voting system with strong security guarantees, developed by academic researchers. 📊 5,000+ elections. Used by CNRS, Inria, French universities and research institutions. 📦 GitLab · AGPL-3.0 |
| LiquidFeedback | Implements liquid democracy, allowing participants to vote directly or delegate their vote to trusted representatives. 📊 20-50 installations, 50K+ historical users. Used by German Pirate Party, Italian Five Star Movement. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
Federated Social & Communication
Decentralized social platforms where communities run their own instances, connected to a wider network but governed by their own rules.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Mastodon | Federated microblogging platform. Run your own Twitter-like service that connects to thousands of other instances. 📊 10,000+ instances, 10-15M accounts, 1-2M monthly active. Used by European Commission, German government. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Matrix | Open standard for secure, decentralized communication. Supports chat, voice, and video with end-to-end encryption. 📊 100K+ homeservers, 80M+ users. Used by French government, German Bundeswehr, Mozilla. 📦 GitHub · Apache-2.0 |
| Mobilizon | Federated event organizing platform. A privacy-respecting alternative to Facebook Events. 📊 80-100 instances, 50-100K users. Developed by Framasoft. 📦 Framagit · AGPL-3.0 |
| WriteFreely | Minimalist, federated blogging platform focused on writing. Connects to the fediverse. 📊 500-1,000 instances, 100K+ users. Flagship at Write.as. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Pixelfed | Federated image sharing platform. A community-owned alternative to Instagram. 📊 300-500 instances, 150-300K users. Popular with photographers and artists. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| PeerTube | Decentralized video hosting using peer-to-peer technology to reduce server costs. 📊 1,000+ instances, 300-500K users. Developed by Framasoft. Used by Blender Foundation. 📦 Framagit · AGPL-3.0 |
| Lemmy | Federated link aggregator and discussion platform, similar to Reddit but community-owned. 📊 1,000-1,500 instances, 500K-1M users. Explosive growth during 2023 Reddit API changes. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| BookWyrm | Federated social network for tracking reading, reviewing books, and connecting with other readers. 📊 30-50 instances, 30-50K users. Goodreads alternative for the fediverse. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Gancio | A shared agenda for local communities—federated event publishing without registration requirements. 📊 20-50 instances. Popular in Italian activist communities. 📦 Framagit · AGPL-3.0 |
Community Collaboration & Chat
Real-time communication and collaboration tools for teams and communities.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Discourse | Modern forum software that combines mailing list, discussion forum, and long-form chat. Widely used by open source communities. 📊 30,000+ communities, tens of millions of users. Used by Twitter Dev, Figma, Docker, DigitalOcean. 📦 GitHub · GPL-2.0 |
| Mattermost | Self-hosted Slack alternative with channels, direct messaging, and integrations. 📊 800K+ deployments claimed. Used by Samsung, NASA JPL, US DoD, European Space Agency. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Rocket.Chat | Team collaboration platform with chat, video conferencing, and file sharing. 📊 800K+ servers, 12M+ users claimed. Used by Deutsche Bahn, US Navy, CERN. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
| Zulip | Chat with threaded conversations, making it easier to follow discussions in busy communities. 📊 Thousands of organizations. Used by Rust, Julia, Lean, MariaDB Foundation. 📦 GitHub · Apache-2.0 |
| Nextcloud | Complete collaboration platform with file sync, calendars, contacts, document editing, and much more. 📊 400K+ servers, 50M+ users. Used by German Federal Government, French Government, CERN. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Jitsi | Video conferencing that works in your browser. No account required, easy to self-host. 📊 Thousands of instances, tens of millions monthly. Integrated into Element/Matrix. 📦 GitHub · Apache-2.0 |
| BigBlueButton | Web conferencing designed for online learning, with whiteboard, breakout rooms, and polling. 📊 Thousands of deployments, billions of minutes. Deep Moodle integration. 📦 GitHub · LGPL-3.0 |
| CryptPad | End-to-end encrypted collaborative documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. 📊 100+ public instances, 100K+ users. Used by journalists, activists, privacy-focused orgs. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Etherpad | Real-time collaborative text editor. Simple, fast, and effective for working together on documents. 📊 Thousands of instances, millions of users. Used by Mozilla, Wikimedia. 📦 GitHub · Apache-2.0 |
Project Management
Tools for organizing work, tracking tasks, and managing projects.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| OpenProject | Full-featured project management with Gantt charts, agile boards, time tracking, and team collaboration. 📊 9K+ GitHub stars, 10M+ Docker pulls. Used by Siemens, Audi, German government agencies. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| Taiga | Agile project management platform for cross-functional teams, with Kanban and Scrum support. 📊 16K+ GitHub stars, 1M+ Docker pulls. Popular with agile teams and open source projects. 📦 GitHub · MPL-2.0 |
| Wekan | Open source Kanban board. Simple, visual task management for teams. 📊 19K+ GitHub stars, 10M+ Docker pulls. Widely self-hosted Trello alternative. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
Knowledge Management & Wikis
Platforms for documenting, organizing, and sharing knowledge within communities.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Wiki.js | Modern, beautiful wiki with powerful search, multiple editors, and extensive integrations. 📊 24K+ GitHub stars, 50M+ Docker pulls. Rapidly growing as the modern wiki choice. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| BookStack | Simple, self-hosted documentation platform organized into books, chapters, and pages. 📊 15K+ GitHub stars, 10M+ Docker pulls. Popular for internal documentation. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
| Outline | Fast, collaborative knowledge base for teams with real-time editing and search. 📊 28K+ GitHub stars. Used by many startups and teams. Also offers hosted version. 📦 GitHub · BSL-1.1 |
| MediaWiki | The software behind Wikipedia. Extremely powerful for large-scale collaborative documentation. 📊 Powers Wikipedia (billions of pageviews). Used by thousands of wikis worldwide. 📦 GitHub · GPL-2.0 |
Forms & Surveys
Tools for collecting information, running surveys, and gathering community input.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| LimeSurvey | Professional survey platform with advanced question types, branching logic, and detailed analytics. 📊 1.5M+ registered users, 10M+ Docker pulls. Used by universities, NGOs, governments. 📦 GitHub · GPL-2.0 |
| Typebot | Conversational form builder that creates engaging, chat-like surveys and forms. 📊 7K+ GitHub stars. Rapidly growing conversational form builder. 📦 GitHub · FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0 |
| Formbricks | Open source survey platform with in-app surveys, website surveys, and link surveys. 📊 8K+ GitHub stars. YC-backed, privacy-first experience management. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| OhMyForm | Simple, self-hosted form builder for creating surveys and collecting responses. 📊 2.5K+ GitHub stars, 100K+ Docker pulls. Simpler TypeForm alternative. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
Event Management
Platforms for organizing events, managing registrations, and selling tickets.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Indico | Full-featured event management system developed at CERN. Handles conferences, meetings, and lectures. 📊 200+ installations, 25K+ users at CERN alone. Used by Fermilab, DESY, UN agencies. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
| Pretix | Ticket sales and event registration platform with flexible pricing, seating, and check-in tools. 📊 Thousands of deployments, millions of tickets sold. Used by Chaos Communication Congress, FOSDEM. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Eventyay | Event management platform supporting in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. 📊 Thousands of events. Part of FOSSASIA ecosystem. 📦 GitHub · Apache-2.0 |
Membership, CRM & Newsletters
Tools for managing members, supporters, donors, and communications.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| CiviCRM | Constituent relationship management designed for nonprofits, with fundraising, events, and membership tracking. 📊 11,000+ installations, millions of records managed. Used by Amnesty International, Wikimedia, EFF. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Listmonk | High-performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager. Fast, simple, and powerful. 📊 14K+ GitHub stars, 10M+ Docker pulls. Can handle millions of subscribers. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Mautic | Marketing automation platform with email campaigns, landing pages, and contact management. 📊 200,000+ installations claimed. Most widely adopted open source marketing automation. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| Odoo Community | Comprehensive business suite including CRM, inventory, accounting, and more. 📊 7M+ users (Community + Enterprise), 36K+ GitHub stars. Used by Toyota, Hyundai. 📦 GitHub · LGPL-3.0 |
Resource Sharing & Scheduling
Tools for sharing resources, coordinating schedules, and enabling mutual aid.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Leihs | Equipment and resource lending system. Track what's available, who has it, and when it's due back. 📊 50-100 installations. Developed by Zurich University of the Arts. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| LibreBooking | Resource scheduling application for booking rooms, equipment, and other shared resources. 📊 10K+ downloads, thousands of installations. Popular with libraries, makerspaces. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| Karrot | Coordination tool for grassroots initiatives, particularly food-saving and sharing groups. 📊 100+ active groups, 10K+ users in 30+ countries. Strong in European foodsaving movement. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
Learning & Education
Platforms for online courses, training, and educational communities.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Moodle | The world's most widely used learning management system. Powers online courses for millions of learners. 📊 200K+ registered sites, 400M+ users in 242 countries. Used by Open University, Shell, Microsoft. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| Open edX | The platform behind edX. Enterprise-grade online learning at scale. 📊 2,000+ instances, 50M+ learners. Powers Harvard, MIT, IBM, Microsoft training courses. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Chamilo | E-learning and collaboration platform designed for ease of use and accessibility. 📊 20,000+ installations, 20M+ users. Popular in Spanish/French-speaking countries. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
Maps & Local Data
Tools for mapping, visualizing geographic data, and telling location-based stories.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| uMap | Create custom maps with OpenStreetMap data. Add markers, shapes, and layers without coding. 📊 500K+ maps created on main instance. Used by NGOs, journalists, municipalities. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Ushahidi | Crowdsourced data collection and mapping platform, originally built for crisis response. 📊 150,000+ deployments in 160+ countries. Used for Haiti earthquake, Fukushima, election monitoring. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Terrastories | Geostorytelling application for communities to map and share place-based stories. 📊 20-50 community deployments. Used by Amazon indigenous communities. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
| MapComplete | Easy-to-use tool for viewing and adding data to OpenStreetMap through themed maps. 📊 100+ themed maps/questionnaires. Used by OSM Belgium, cycling advocacy. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
Financial & Transparency
Tools for managing finances, tracking expenses, and maintaining financial transparency.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Firefly III | Personal and small organization finance manager. Track expenses, budgets, and accounts. 📊 100K+ estimated deployments, 15K+ GitHub stars, 50M+ Docker pulls. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Akaunting | Free accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. 📊 100,000+ businesses claimed, 7K+ GitHub stars. Free QuickBooks alternative. 📦 GitHub · BSL-1.1 |
| Open Collective | Transparent fundraising platform where communities can collect and spend money openly. 📊 10,000+ collectives, 500K+ contributors, $500M+ raised. Hosts webpack, Babel, Vue.js. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
| GnuCash | Double-entry accounting software for personal and small business use. 📊 Millions of downloads, 100K+ active users. One of oldest FOSS financial apps (since 1998). 📦 GitHub · GPL-2.0 |
No-Code Databases
Tools for building databases and applications without programming.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| NocoDB | Turn any database into a smart spreadsheet. An open source Airtable alternative. 📊 50K+ GitHub stars, millions of Docker pulls. Used by various startups and SMBs. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Baserow | No-code database platform for creating databases, applications, and automations. 📊 20K+ GitHub stars. YC-backed. Popular with European organizations. 📦 GitLab · MIT |
Cooperative Platforms & Networks
Platforms built on cooperative principles, owned by their users.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Open Food Network | Platform connecting local food producers with consumers and food hubs. 📊 20+ country instances, 10,000+ producers. Millions in transactions. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| Resonate | Music streaming cooperative owned by artists and listeners. Stream-to-own model. 📊 ~15,000 members, 100K+ tracks. Artist-owned cooperative. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| Social.coop | Cooperatively-owned Mastodon instance demonstrating democratic platform governance. 📊 ~1,500-2,000 members. Worker-owned, democratically governed via Loomio. 📦 Uses Mastodon · AGPL-3.0 |
Community Networks
Resources and organizations supporting community-owned internet infrastructure.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Guifi.net | One of the world's largest community networks, based in Catalonia with over 35,000 nodes. 📊 35,000+ active nodes, serves hundreds of thousands. Founded 2004. World's largest community network. 📦 GitHub · GPL-2.0 |
| NYC Mesh | Community-owned mesh network providing internet access across New York City. 📊 1,000+ nodes, 3,000+ member households. Volunteer-run. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| Detroit Community Technology Project | Building community-owned internet infrastructure in Detroit neighborhoods. 📊 Multiple neighborhood networks, hundreds of households. Focus on digital equity. 📦 Community organization (training & advocacy) |
| Community Broadband Networks | Resources and advocacy for community-owned broadband networks across the US. 📊 Tracks 900+ community networks in US. Research/advocacy by ILSR. 📦 Policy research organization |
Civic Tech
Tools for government transparency, citizen engagement, and civic participation.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Alaveteli | Platform for making and publishing freedom of information requests. 📊 25+ country deployments, millions of FOI requests. WhatDoTheyKnow (UK) has 800K+ requests. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| FixMyStreet | Report local problems like potholes and broken streetlights to the responsible authority. 📊 40+ country implementations, 2M+ reports in UK. Used by 150+ UK councils. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
| mySociety | Organization building civic technology, including tools for contacting representatives and tracking legislation. 📊 Tools used in 40+ countries, tens of millions of civic actions. 20+ years of civic tech. 📦 GitHub · AGPL-3.0 |
Recommended Starting Points
If you're new to community technology, these mature, widely-adopted projects are excellent places to start:
| Need | Recommendations |
|---|---|
| Decisions | Decidim, Loomio |
| Discussion | Discourse, Matrix |
| Events | Mobilizon, Pretix |
| Social | Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube |
| Collaboration | Nextcloud, CryptPad |
| Video Calls | Jitsi, BigBlueButton |
| Publishing | WriteFreely, BookWyrm |
| Knowledge | BookStack, Wiki.js |
| CRM/Newsletter | CiviCRM, Listmonk |
| Forms | LimeSurvey, Formbricks |
| Learning | Moodle, Open edX |
| Finance | Open Collective, Firefly III |
| Mapping | uMap, Ushahidi |
| Mutual Aid | Karrot |
Building Your Community's Stack
These tools work even better together. Many communities combine several to create a complete digital home:
- Nextcloud for files, calendars, and contacts
- Matrix or Mattermost for real-time chat
- Discourse for long-form discussions
- Jitsi for video meetings
- Mobilizon for events
- Loomio for decisions
The Wild Cloud project makes it easier to run many of these tools together on infrastructure you control.
Contributing
Know of an open source community tool that should be listed here? We'd love to hear about it. The best tools are built and improved by communities working together.
Note: Adoption statistics are estimates based on publicly available data, official announcements, GitHub metrics, and Docker Hub pulls. Self-hosted deployments are difficult to track accurately. Numbers change frequently—check project websites for current data.