Home / News & insights / Research

Seven years of open source: A more secure and diverse ecosystem

Explore insights into open source community growth, innovation, and inclusivity with an updated survey dataset.

&
| 3 minutes

Seven years ago, we surveyed 5,500 open source contributors to understand the people who use, build, and maintain open source software. This year, we repeated the effort to understand how the open source ecosystem has evolved in the face of the seismic technological and social shifts we’ve seen since 2017. We received 8,400 responses from visitors to open source repositories, and we’re once again sharing the insights with the community.

With AI, funding, innersource, security, and innovation taking center stage, the 2024 survey surfaces the issues shaping the future of open source while also showing how far we’ve come. By tracking long-term trends and exploring emerging topics, we aim to provide a comprehensive and actionable perspective on the forces influencing open source today.

Read the full survey results

So, what are some of the key trends we’ve identified?

Security is a priority

In 2024, we introduced questions centered on secure by design to gain insights into how developers assess open source projects for security practices. 82% of respondents said they consider secure by design practices important when adopting open source, and 62% prioritize security when choosing where to contribute.

A horizontal stacked bar graph comparing the importance of various factors when deciding to use open source software. The responses for the different factors are for 2017 and 2024, with responses categorized as very important to have (pink), somewhat important to have (green), not important either way (peach), somewhat important not to have (light blue), very important not to have (dark blue), and don’t know what this is (red). Factors like active development, responsive maintainers, and an open source license remain highly valued across both years, with the majority marking them as very or somewhat important. New in 2024, secure by design also shows significant importance. A welcoming community and widespread use continue to be priorities, while a contributing guide and a code of conduct show increased importance. A contributor’s license agreement (CLA) remains mixed, with a notable portion indicating they don’t know what this is.

AI adoption is growing

The use of AI tools is on the rise with 72% of participants saying they use AI tools like GitHub Copilot for coding or documentation.

A horizontal stacked bar graph showing how frequently respondents engage in or observe six AI-related activities, categorized as Frequently (pink), Occasionally (green), Rarely (dark purple), and Never (orange). For 'writing code or documentation with assistance from AI,' about half of respondents reported 'Never,' with smaller segments indicating 'Rarely,' 'Occasionally,' or 'Frequently.' Similarly, using AI assistance in other tasks supporting software development showed a majority in 'Never' and 'Rarely,' while smaller portions engaged 'Occasionally' or 'Frequently.' Activities like 'contributing to projects that use publicly available AI models and developing AI infrastructure (e.g., models, datasets, orchestration)' saw most respondents selecting 'Never,' with limited engagement in 'Rarely' and 'Occasionally.' The same trend applies to 'contributing to projects using non-public AI models,' with minimal 'Frequent' engagement. However, for 'awareness of and following applicable ethics, governance, and security practices when engaging in these activities,' a notable portion followed these practices 'Frequently' or 'Occasionally,' though many still reported 'Rarely' or 'Never.'

Diversity is increasing

Diversity within the open source community has steadily increased over the years, bringing with it a broader range of perspectives and backgrounds to the community. Respondents identifying as ethnic minorities rose from 13% in 2017 to 18% in 2024, and those identifying as immigrants grew from 27% to 31%.

A horizontal bar graph comparing responses from 2017 and 2024 to the question: 'Thinking of where you were born, are you a member of an ethnicity or nationality that is considered a minority in that country?' The bars are color-coded, with pink representing 2017 and dark purple representing 2024. In 2017, 78.9% of respondents answered 'No,' compared to 70.2% in 2024, indicating a decrease. The percentage of respondents answering 'Yes' increased from 13.4% in 2017 to 18.2% in 2024. Those who were 'Not sure' rose slightly from 4.6% to 6.5%, while those who chose 'Prefer not to say' increased from 3.2% to 5.1%.

Those are just a few points we’ve gleaned from this year’s data. Visit opensourcesurvey.org and explore the data to see what other insights you can find regarding the changing community attitudes around privacy, harassment, funding, and community health!

Read the full survey results

Supporting Open Source Together

GitHub is investing $1.25M through the Secure Open Source Fund to help maintainers address security challenges. As open source champions, we call on organizations, governments, and funders to collaborate and invest in its future.

With over 75 million new GitHub users since our last survey, the open source community is more resilient and diverse than ever. Together, we can shape a secure and inclusive open source future.

Tags:

Written by

Related posts