Annual Open Source Software I'm Using

The Open Source Software I'm using in 2025

I have done an annual video about the open source software I use on a regular basis for the past several years, and in keeping with that tradition this is my current / updated list. I undoubtedly have some that I've missed, but I hope this list and the associated links will inspire you to find and try some new software you didn't know about, or have been curious about. 

Timestamps

00:00 Beginning
00:40 Thank you to my patrons over at Patreon
01:40 Linux on the Desktop and Server
04:45 Homepage
06:05 Proxmox
08:30 Technitium DNS Server
09:50 Netbird VPN
12:10 OpenWRT
14:25 Beszel
15:50 Minarca Backup
17:20 LXConsole
18:35 RxResumes
19:17 Immicch
20:00 Wazuh (SIEM)
21:10 Uptime-Kuma
22:30 Get My
24:35 Invoice Ninja
25:15 NGinX Proxy Manager
27:05 Home Assistant
31:05 Authentik
33:40 Guacamole RDP SSH VNC
34:40 Nextcloud
41:40 Metabase
43:15 FluffyChat for Matrix
44:10 Evolution Email
44:35 FreeCAD
46:15 LibreOffice
49:30 Veloren
53:00 GIMP
53:15 RustDesk
54:50 Ghostwriter
55:25 VSCodium
56:55 OBS (Open Broadcast Studio)

Linux on the Desktop and Server

An open source, freely available, full-featured operating system for any computer (seriously, any computer).  They have x86, x86_64/amd64, aarch64, armv7, and so many other variants available. 

https://www.linux.org/


Homepage

A dashboard to help you quickly access your homelab and self-hosted services, as well as to get a quick glance at stats for those services through their available APIs. 

https://youtu.be/3Ux7zfCCM1A?si=hkxncm9EYLrA2Kvd
https://gethomepage.dev/


Proxmox

A virtual machine and container orchestration platform (think VMWare, ESXI, and so on), but free and open source.

https://youtu.be/38G0ghc5RfM?si=q6HdflXATseS2LMa
https://www.proxmox.com/en/

Technitium DNS Server

A self hosted DNS server with a ton of features for controlling the DNS for all your domains.

https://youtu.be/QWvVVheYCes?si=_fRPWGKkOItOpm7W
https://technitium.com/


Netbird VPN

A powerful Wireguard orchestration platform to create a robust network of machines and devices across the internet as though they were all on one local network.

https://youtu.be/_-vfSgqmOUI?si=1ANs3PLztRgkSkB0
https://youtu.be/Vi2UqOFqDGU?si=oS7jxmPVJwJrDiLd
https://youtu.be/ro7hbqLyv9M?si=IkxSYOJ9-83CXA33
https://youtu.be/FHiku2Lt3x8?si=HfDLzj2Q96YMJNgS
https://netbird.io/


OpenWRT

Powerful router firmware that can be installed on tons of off the shelf hardware, x86 machines, and even raspberry PI type single board computers.

https://youtu.be/4zmo8RafBFg?si=cfRnGOW_ytNSDoau
https://youtu.be/WMiSH7xsL6w?si=H67LFR8_OP-BIFzW
https://openwrt.org/


Beszel

An easy to setup, powerful system monitoring server. 

https://youtu.be/xzI_uMaIND8?si=JskJs02XdqoeaAwd
https://beszel.dev/


Minarca Backup

An amazingly powerful and robust server-client backup system.

https://youtu.be/JuM5AbrJgZQ?si=lIDIc0kOmq6tVhBG
https://minarca.org/en_CA


LXConsole

Graphical web user interface for orchestrating your servers running Incus containers and KVM virtual machines.

https://youtu.be/xGh_k4bUaUQ?si=Pqf9gIUePYzovN_-
https://github.com/PenningLabs/lxconsole


RxResumes

A robust, easy to use, easy to setup Resume builder.

https://rxresu.me/


Immicch

Google Photos, Apple Photos, replacement.  Self hosted, open source, and powerful features like face recognition, location grouping, timelines, memories, and so much more.

https://youtu.be/0TX9cMQlOdY?si=EeNRN3LgcMrGJeQr
https://immich.app/


Wazuh (SIEM)

Endpoint intrusion and detection software, but also so much more. It can be setup to remove applications added to various protected locations, it can scan endpoints for viruses, and send out alerts of devices with issues such as security alerts, virus alerts, malware issues, and so much more.

https://youtu.be/dwr-4CXtOso?si=1dAMXX3fR7XEs-_k
https://wazuh.com/


Uptime-Kuma

Service status uptime, monitoring, and alerting tool.

https://youtu.be/ausjbvJrjFI?si=WnWVbmDloZhdnhME
https://uptime.kuma.pet/


Get My

A simple application for getting stuff done. Lists, to-do's, menus, and more.

https://youtu.be/hbGNTzU24hI?si=uFXLSpi0_d55AN-o
https://getmydocs.opensourceisawesome.com/


Invoice Ninja

A powerful, open source invoicing, payment, expense tracking, estimation, and quoting system.

https://youtu.be/Uv11VPP4XP4?si=sLdlcWeJ7tjZDQU6
https://invoiceninja.com/


NGinX Proxy Manager

A reverse proxy to help direct traffic properly to all your self-hosted services.

https://youtu.be/RBVcnxTiIL0?si=NA4Z2h0aTAsdFluT
https://youtu.be/UfCkwlPIozw?si=ZMFADgx4P-u7gbuB
https://youtu.be/cjJVmAI1Do4?si=ibr-UADuKO05c5tL
https://nginxproxymanager.com/

Home Assistant

Open source home automation under your control on your terms.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjLkaXQ35321UKMrpRp81_w2Hc_tcnshj
https://www.home-assistant.io/


Authentik

Self hosted, open source Single Sign On identity and authentication service.

https://youtu.be/KlDJ4K45M_o?si=vFt-LYxGuLD6ckDD
https://goauthentik.io/


Guacamole RDP SSH VNC

Web portal for Remote Desktop access through RDP, VNC, and even terminal shell access as needed.  User and machine groups, roles, and permissions galore.

https://youtu.be/DGw6P5Lkj-U?si=mhcw2v4xQqIdiCkI
https://youtu.be/WIyAGuMbjmY?si=U99W6wuZYgRIM04z
https://guacamole.apache.org/


Nextcloud

Self hosted, open source Microsoft 365 replacement, with privacy first, ownership as top of mind, and federation that you approve.

https://youtu.be/OCLq62KOqNU?si=ltCD-7mwdNUmZod6
https://youtu.be/YZN2n0Wv0p4?si=Ne4iz3Q-UIUWD1M-
https://nextcloud.com/


Metabase

Open source data analytics platform made for the average person.

https://youtu.be/eYUnfyq7KWU?si=s59BuUaJ-ft6PmhS
https://www.metabase.com/


FluffyChat for Matrix

Chat client for the Matrix protocol.

https://fluffychat.im/
https://youtu.be/H-6kfIqPoI4?si=bQVz_g3dx2_wVt3O
https://youtu.be/TFDFR6EBG3k?si=CwDDb1JDxM97I--N

Evolution Email

Email for the Linux Desktop

https://help.gnome.org/users/evolution/stable/


FreeCAD

Computer Aided Design for modeling and 3D printing designs.

https://youtu.be/-Woz1q4iIKY?si=0sKzNUtHYsWQ_C5r
https://www.freecad.org/


LibreOffice

Open Source full office suite that is better than Microsoft office (seriously).

https://youtu.be/q-PoKzTlJY8?si=x7Le-G12ZQl9sYq9
https://www.libreoffice.org/


Veloren

Online game server that you can run yourself, or share with the world. 

https://youtu.be/y8YrZ8QQCjg?si=YDVinGoP69ZzxAix
https://veloren.net/


GIMP

Photoshop replacement with incredible tools and power.

https://www.gimp.org/

RustDesk

Anydesk, Teamviewer, GoToAssist full replacement that's open source and self hostable.

https://youtu.be/9nzHm3xGz2I?si=HOYo8bs7DucL6CSr
https://youtu.be/EeFqj23jxMk?si=N3dXfSnrHgXFroxf
https://rustdesk.com/


Ghostwriter

Open Source Markdown editor

https://youtu.be/O_yIPQOPQxA?si=mLPoW4LEyNnQSCU8
https://ghostwriter.kde.org/


VSCodium

Full open source version of VSCode code editor.

https://vscodium.com/


OBS (Open Broadcast Studio)

Open Source, powerful recording and streaming orchestration software.

https://obsproject.com/

The Open Source Software I'm Using in 2026

 

Authentik

https://goauthentik.io/

https://youtu.be/KlDJ4K45M_o?si=B34xfPzxNCIPfTya

Nextcloud

https://nextcloud.com/

https://youtu.be/OCLq62KOqNU?si=sZELlsUMnziCcdAR

Navidrome

https://www.navidrome.org/

https://youtu.be/K3DtR3g2S8Y?si=tyAF0C5kMzqfR7Xw

Jellyfin

https://jellyfin.org/

https://youtu.be/psHLgVzjLhY?si=_4BY6hmpIZyLGKZB

Metabase

https://www.metabase.com/

https://www.metabase.com/

Beszel

https://beszel.dev/

https://youtu.be/xzI_uMaIND8?si=47BznhPCYz1LHzSs


Bookstack

https://www.bookstackapp.com/

https://youtu.be/2izkat9tzoY?si=ct5bxujfGlrfba0s


Vaultwarden

https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden

https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden

Pangolin

https://pangolin.net/

https://youtu.be/zEBaXAu8zE0?si=AXhQYGzH0Wf5Wx69

Immich

https://immich.app/

https://youtu.be/0TX9cMQlOdY?si=2J0zjWg9KPQsPqPJ


Chhoto URL

https://github.com/SinTan1729/chhoto-url

https://youtu.be/ZUOmlHRaBow?si=WGI9ozXqwIkd7jMM


LubeLogger

https://lubelogger.com/

https://youtu.be/_eAsSytpwIw?si=bNWSG8Jb5tTNmKE-


Quant-UX

https://www.quant-ux.com/

https://youtu.be/liL0FyQOG-k?si=ViJwXDyUTuAqVgfv


Netbird

https://netbird.io/

https://youtu.be/_-vfSgqmOUI?si=zqy-0ygd8KCir-rM

https://youtu.be/Vi2UqOFqDGU?si=5IXLMVESsuDODIjz


Peertube

https://joinpeertube.org/

https://youtu.be/lw9XQmlY0gU?si=Ga9UPriYdbLHzGYC


Home Assistant

https://www.home-assistant.io/

https://youtu.be/E2YXIArfJdE?si=nMIuzWoabMlvHhzo

https://youtu.be/Km0CNQETPuM?si=4xw4F9IFSO5OEsTS


Matomo

https://matomo.org/

https://youtu.be/8iIAwAgAhpU?si=iJrUT_R19Z8vN2nO


Nexterm

https://nexterm.dev/

https://youtu.be/G4Q-vj_lHtA?si=C6lpYtBXXB6nUGvz


Forgejo

https://forgejo.org/

https://youtu.be/FPVpKCvFQr8?si=L6i-PHW_6H8BnpYK


Guacamole

https://guacamole.apache.org/

https://youtu.be/DGw6P5Lkj-U?si=SKN3o0scxKNpemGG

https://youtu.be/WIyAGuMbjmY?si=iRnxXZwknRnqWYu-

LXConsole

https://github.com/PenningLabs/lxconsole

https://youtu.be/xGh_k4bUaUQ?si=mFTVKiOKeUfalni2


Invoice Ninja

https://invoiceninja.com/

https://youtu.be/Uv11VPP4XP4?si=NCFHpt5jL_jtTN6O

OBS - Open Broadcast Studio

https://obsproject.com/


Thunderbird

https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/


Nextcloud Talk

https://nextcloud.com/talk/

https://youtu.be/mRbWNrR3_os?si=MoZjFB45hNse5hFL


Ollama and Open-Web-UI

https://ollama.com/

https://openwebui.com/


Ardour

https://ardour.org/


FreeCAD

https://www.freecad.org/

https://youtu.be/-Woz1q4iIKY?si=jb03Pbl6-nEOzkyX

The Open Source Software I'm NOT Using Anymore

MeshCentral - Reason - Lack of Wayland Support, but they are working on it.
https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral

Crater Invoice - Reason -  Wnet Unmaintained, but was spit off to InvoiceShelf
https://crater.financial/

RocketChat - Reason - Just became too hard to maintain, and little by little more features behind a paywall.
https://rocket.chat

BarrierKVM - Reason - No longer need, and unmaintained
https://github.com/debauchee/barrier - Updated offering called Deskflow https://github.com/deskflow/deskflow

Joplin Notes - Just grew out of it into Nextcloud Notes for convenience
https://joplinapp.org/

PI-hole - Reason - Just moved on to more powerful tools over time
https://pi-hole.net/

Discourse - Reason - No longer needed, very heavy on resource usage
https://www.discourse.org/

Portainer - Reason - Moved on to other tools, slowly grew more to business instead of community
https://www.portainer.io/

Ghost Blog - Reason - Moved to a more flexible platform that had better support
https://ghost.org/

NGinX Proxy Manager - Reason - Found a purpose built reverse proxy that included the wireguard tunnel in it.
https://nginxproxymanager.com/

TrueNAS - Reason - Just more than what I personally needed
https://www.truenas.com/

FusionPBX - Reason - No longer needed it. 
https://www.fusionpbx.com/

Remotely - Reason - Went mostly unmaintained (Immense/Remotely)
https://github.com/immense/remotely

URBackup - Reason - Went unmaintained and stopped working - possibly maintained again as of Feb / March 2026.
https://www.urbackup.org/

Tabby - Reason - Just moved on
https://github.com/eugeny/tabby

Dashy - Reason - Just moved on to other dashboard
https://dashy.to/

Mail-in-a-box - Reason - No longer wanted to run a mail server, and fell behind on linux base, and getting a VPS that isn't on a blocklist was painful due to spammeers.
https://mailinabox.email/

QOwnNotes - Just an awkward, clunky interface
https://www.qownnotes.org/

Cal.com - great, but found the same features built into Nextcloud
https://cal.com/

If you check these out, and in particular for those that have been unmaintained, and you find a new version, fork, or whatever...let me know in the video comments, or drop me a message on Matrix @mickintx:discuss.opensourceisawesome.com. 

The Open Source Software I'm Still Using in 2026 - Part 2

 

Software Description and Links

WriteFreely

https://github.com/writefreely/writefreely

WriteFreely is a modern, clean, focused blogging and journaling software solution.

Picsur!

https://github.com/CaramelFur/Picsur

Picsur! is a self hosted, open source solution for photo upload and linking. It's Imgur for the privacy focused individual.

OpenWRT

https://openwrt.org/

OpenWRT is open source firmware / software used on network equipment like routers, wifi routers and access points, switches, and more. I'ts the best way to take full control of your network.

WLED 

https://kno.wled.ge/

WLED is an incredibly powerful LED lighting control solution that runs on ESP32 and ESP8266 devices. It's incredible how much those little boards can do. I'm linking to ChrisMaher as wel, because he has an awesome channel almost solely focused on getting the most from WLED. https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisMaherDIY

OpenSprinkler Pi

https://opensprinkler.com/product/opensprinkler-pi/

This is a hardware and software project. The hardware is build as a sprinkler controller, and in the case of the Pi version it's an add-on to a raspberry Pi.  Connect them up, and install the software. You've get a fully functional, powerful, and actually usable sprinkler automation and control system. 

Technitium

https://technitium.com/dns/

Technitium is a self hosted DNS server with all the features adn power you can imagine.  Intended to be run as several different DNS servers for fall back, it uses a synchronization system so you setup DNS inone, and the rest inherit those changes. Block Ads, protect your privacy, and route like a pro.

RustDesk

https://rustdesk.com/

RustDesk is a fully open source, self hosted, encrypted remote desktop support system akin to AnyDesk, TeamViewer, and other popular proprietary solutions out there. It's extremely useful and powerful.

KdenLive and Shotcut

https://kdenlive.org/

https://www.shotcut.org/

These are two fully open source, and incredibly powerful video editing solutions. 

Wave Terminal

https://www.waveterm.dev/

This is a newer one for me, but I really like how it functions. It boasts a host of modern functions, and adds the option to utilize AI within it if you want to. Even without it, it has a ton of really nice features, is super easy to get into using, and even has some great features of it's own by utilizing their wsh command tools.

Veloren

https://veloren.net/

Self Hosted, Open Source, MMORPG. This is one of the greatest, funnest games to play with your family friends, or even on the public servers all over the world.  So many great features, and constant updates.