Open Source License Cost Calculator
Compare open source total cost of ownership against commercial licensing.
About Open Source License Cost Calculator
Open source is not free once internal maintenance labour is counted, and that labour is the term most often omitted from comparisons. Migration cost determines the break-even point. The decision usually turns on whether maintenance capacity already exists, since the same hours cost nothing extra if the team is already staffed.
Formula
Open Source License Cost
Open source total = migration + (support + maintenance labour) × years
- hidden cost
- Internal maintenance labour, which licence comparisons often omit
Worked example
With the default values below, Open Source License Cost Calculator returns Open Source Total Cost of $229,000.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Annual commercial licence costminimum 0
- 90,000
- Annual open source support contractminimum 0
- 25,000
- Internal maintenance hours per yearminimum 0 h
- 400 h
- Internal hourly rateminimum 0
- 95
- One-off migration costminimum 0
- 40,000
- Comparison horizonaccepts 1–15 years
- 3 years
Results
- Open Source Total Cost
- $229,000.00
- Commercial Total Cost
- $270,000.00
- Saving From Open Source
- $41,000.00
- Break-Even Point
- 1.482 years
- Recommendation
- Open source is cheaper, breaking even within the horizon
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Open Source License Cost
- 3Open Source Total Cost= 229,000.00
- 4Commercial Total Cost= 270,000.00
- 5Saving From Open Source= 41,000.00
- 6Break-Even Point= 1.482 years
- 7Recommendation= Open source is cheaper, breaking even within the horizon
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 6 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation or tax into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Open Source License Cost calculated?
Open source total = migration + (support + maintenance labour) × years Open source is not free once internal maintenance labour is counted, and that labour is the term most often omitted from comparisons. Migration cost determines the break-even point.
Why does Open Source License Cost matter?
The decision usually turns on whether maintenance capacity already exists, since the same hours cost nothing extra if the team is already staffed.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 6 inputs: Annual commercial licence cost, Annual open source support contract, Internal maintenance hours per year, Internal hourly rate, One-off migration cost, Comparison horizon. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.