Baserow: The benefits of being open source

August 17, 2022 • Kate

Open source software has come a long way in recent years. It used to be primarily embraced by developers and seen as less suitable for enterprise use. However, today open source is considered essential by most IT leaders in the enterprise and public sector.

A global survey of IT leaders revealed that 82% are more likely to choose a vendor who contributes to the open source community. They recognize the advantages of open source companies, such as sustaining healthy communities, influencing new feature development, and enhancing security (source: Red Hat, 2022). Even major tech companies like Microsoft have embraced open source to expand their offerings and provide more choices to customers.

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As a result, we have seen a rapid increase in the value of the companies that have gone public with their code. MuleSoft was acquired after going public for $6.5 billion; MongoDB is now worth north of $4 billion, Rancher Labs was acquired for $700M by Suse and the list goes on.

While open source projects were traditionally seen as alternatives to enterprise software, we are now seeing more open source projects challenging well-known SaaS platforms. Examples include Penpot as an alternative to Figma, Plausible as an alternative to Google Analytics, and Baserow as an alternative to Airtable. This evolution is a welcome change from the vendor lock-in often associated with SaaS companies.

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In summary, we believe that an open development model is the key to creating stable and secure technologies. By tapping into the collaborative efforts of multiple developers and communities, we can find solutions faster. We support this belief by actively using open source software like GitLab, Sentry, Visual Studio Code, Git, Discourse, Weblate, ProtonMail, and more. We are also proud sponsors of Django and plan to support other open source projects.

Being open source benefits Baserow in several ways. It allows us to receive valuable feedback from our free users, identify bugs and security vulnerabilities quickly through our user community, and collaborate with other open source companies that share our values of interoperability and openness.

This is all great, but what’s in it for you and your business?

For developers

Flexibility

As a developer, you have the freedom to download Baserow’s code, modify it, and even fork it to meet your specific requirements. You don’t have to wait for us to implement a feature – you can develop it yourself and share it with others if you choose.

Developers can also leverage each other’s creativity and create their own plugins for the software.

Free

Open source means the software is free, allowing developers to test it, deploy it in non-production environments, and validate its value before making a purchasing decision.

Transparency

Open-source software is always under the scrutiny of experts because it is publicly available. We actively seek feedback, pinpoint issues, and welcome suggestions to create the best possible software. With your help, we achieve transparency, trust, and certainty in the future of the project.

For businesses

Security

Open source allows everyone to discover and report breaches, security vulnerabilities, and bugs to us promptly. This makes open source software at least as secure as enterprise software.

Business continuity

By having our code open to the public, we eliminate the risk of suddenly discontinuing our software. Businesses that have integrated Baserow into their processes can rest assured that the code will always be available to them.

Openness and interoperability

As an API-first open source software, Baserow can be modified, extended, and integrated with other software used in your company. Your developer team can focus on integrations and leverage the existing functionality of our software.

For community members

Innovation, contribution, and peer learning

We prioritize our community and encourage co-creation to drive innovation. The speed of innovation and quality assurance from an open-source community surpasses what our own development team can achieve alone.

We also provide a space for developers to share ideas, receive feedback, and enhance their skills alongside like-minded enthusiasts.

Our open source license

MIT License

Baserow is licensed under the MIT license, one of the most permissive licenses available. This means you can distribute, use, and modify our code to any extent. Here are the benefits for you:

  • The source code doesn’t need to be made public when distributing the software.
  • Modifications to the software can be released under any license.
  • Changes made to the source code do not have to be documented.
  • The license does not explicitly address patent usage.

In summary, you have the freedom to do practically anything you want with our code. We believe in contributing to the industry and aim to create an exceptional project that benefits individuals, businesses, and the collective good.

Do you want to contribute to Baserow? We welcome your feedback and proposals at any time! Join Baserow’s community and become part of our open source journey.

In the past years, the image of open source software has evolved drastically. Whereas open source used to be embraced predominantly by the developer community and perceived as little enterprise-ready, these days open source is considered an imperative by most IT leaders in the enterprise and public sector.

A recent survey amongst IT leaders globally revealed that 82% of IT leaders are more likely to select a vendor who contributes to the open source community, citing the help to sustain healthy open source communities, the influence on the development of new features and security as some of the key advantages of open source companies (source: Red Hat, 2022). In recent years, a lot of the giant tech companies — such as Microsoft for instance — have embraced the open source ecosystem to complement their offerings and offer more choices to their customers.

As a result, we have seen a rapid increase in the value of the companies that have gone public with their code. MuleSoft was acquired after going public for $6.5 billion; MongoDB is now worth north of $4 billion, Rancher Labs was acquired for $700M by Suse and the list goes on.

Whereas most open source projects were alternatives for Enterprise software, we started to see more open source projects as an alternative for the well-known SaaS platforms in the past years too, with examples like Penpot for Figma, and Plausible for Google Analytics, Baserow for Airtable to name a few. This is a great evolution from the vendor lock-in of most SaaS companies today.

To sum up everything, we believe that using an open development model is the way to create stable and secure technologies. All that, while wasting less time on doing so: tapping into the collaborative effort of multiple developers and communities helps to find a solution a lot faster. We back up our belief by actively using open source software like GitLab, Sentry, Visual Studio Code, Git, Discourse, Weblate, Proton mail, etc. We are also sponsors of Django and plan on supporting other open source projects as well.

Being open-source helps us at Baserow to receive feature feedback from many free users, discover bugs and security vulnerabilities much faster through our users’ community, and collaborate with other open source companies where interoperability and openness are fundamental values for collaboration.