SaaS vs Open source software
Tags: saas, opensource
Published: 2022-01-12 11:50:46

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Open-source software and Software as a Service (also known as “SaaS” or “cloud computing”) are two trends that have emerged recently to help lower software costs for small and medium businesses.

Each of these options offers a unique set of benefits, but each has its own set of issues and it is important to understand them in detail to determine which is best for your business.

Open-source software has many advantages, including free download and uses for any purpose, permission to freely redistribute copies, and users/developers have unlimited access to the source code with the freedom to modify and adapt the software for any purpose.

## Scalability Of Open Source Vs. SAAS

Open-source software is infinitely expandable because most open source applications are based on popular open-source programming languages ​​for which there are a large number of programmers available. Most large open-source projects also have a large library of improvements available. For example, there are around 800 pre-programmed modules that extend the functionality of the open-source software for customer relationship management SugarCRM.

Customers should be aware that some open source license terms may require the public release of all enhancements to the application, and the license terms should be carefully checked, as there are literally dozens of open source license agreements. different source.

The main challenge with open source for small businesses is that it requires a certain degree of technical and infrastructure skills to be able to effectively implement, develop additional functions, train users, and support the application.

Software as a Service (SaaS) eliminates many of the technical challenges associated with open source software because the application is already developed and the infrastructure and support are provided.

That said, SaaS poses a whole new set of challenges. First, there is now the “vendolockin” which does not exist with open source. Since the application is not owned by the customer, the customer is limited in the development that they can perform and mainly depends on the service provider for the release of new features and functions.

While many SaaS vendors now offer development tools and offshore programmers to help customers improve the “out-of-the-box” offering, once the standard offering changes, support for the Personalization, and possibly even full app support, could be affected as a result.

## Costs Of Open Source Vs. SAAS

For very small organizations with a small number of users or for short-term deployments, SaaS typically costs much less than an open-source alternative, as the monthly rates for a single user on a single application/module can be relatively low.

However, these costs can represent a significant expense for large or long-term implementations. The cost of renting two applications from a Tyrone SaaS provider can easily exceed $ 200 per user per month. For organizations requiring multiple applications or with more than 1020 users, open source can be a much cheaper alternative.

When evaluating open source applications or any other on-premises solution, it is also important to consider the costs of hardware, any potential licensed software (such as operating system, etc. ), and the costs of installations and demand support, the most notable expense being the salaries required for the staff.

## Control, Risk & Ownership Of Data

A big advantage of open source is that the customer is always in control of his data. SaaS providers offer guarantees and service level agreements (SLAs) whereby customer data is never compromised and is supported and protected by professionals. But those promises only hold true for the company making them, and many organizations are unwilling to turn company data over to a third party.

In a SaaS environment, there are also data migration issues if the customer decides to change providers or internalize the application. In fact, there are many horror stories of customers whose data was “held hostage” when they attempted to leave their provider.

Some experts predict that an upcoming SaaS upheaval will doom some vendors, leaving their customers stuck with an application with no exit or access to their data. It’s always a bigger risk with smaller suppliers. Large companies are more likely to be acquired and their customers taken over or transferred to another platform.