Open-source software is released publically together with its source code, which enables users to customize the functionalities offered by default. The software is commonly developed within the Open Source community, which releases it licence free, suggesting that the initial and ongoing costs are relatively low. Low cost of initial deployment is followed by more predictable long-term costs of maintenance.

Besides the software itself, the community and users of the Open Source systems tend to regularly release bug fixes, security patches and new addons to enable additional functionalities free of charge to be immediately available for everyone.

This way the Open Source community and the quality of the software grow into a reliable, stable and secure platforms.