2027 State of Open Source Survey opens, with a closer look at AI
The Open Source Initiative has launched the 2027 State of Open Source Survey together with Perforce Zend, OpenLogic and the Eclipse Foundation. The sixth edition adds a closer look at AI, including adoption, development priorities and how organizations respond to a changing regulatory environment.
- The OSI, Perforce Zend, OpenLogic and the Eclipse Foundation have launched the sixth annual State of Open Source Survey.
- The 2027 edition adds questions on AI adoption, development priorities and regulatory response.
- In the 2026 survey, 98% of respondents said their organizations increased or maintained open source use, up from 96% in 2025.
- 55% of organizations that failed a compliance audit last year had end-of-life OSS in their stacks.
- Perforce will raise its Black Girls Code donation by $1000 for every 500 responses.
What the 2027 survey covers
The annual survey collects views from open source software (OSS) developers, administrators and IT leaders around the world. According to the Open Source Initiative (OSI), it examines which technologies organizations are deploying, where teams are investing and what challenges they face.
This year the questions go further into AI. They cover adoption and development priorities, as well as how organizations are responding to what the OSI describes as a "rapidly evolving regulatory environment and increased scrutiny." The OSI has teamed up again with Perforce Zend and OpenLogic, and the Eclipse Foundation is also a partner for the 2027 edition.
Top findings from the 2026 survey
The OSI points to the previous edition as evidence of how established open source has become inside organizational technology stacks. Key results from the 2026 survey include:
- Adoption: 98% of respondents said their organizations had either increased or maintained their use of open source software over the previous year, up from 96% in 2025.
- Vendor lock-in: Avoiding it was cited as the most common driver of adoption, particularly for European OSS users.
- Maintenance burden: The largest enterprises, with 5,000+ employees, reported spending at least half of their time on maintenance, production issues and bug fixes rather than feature development.
- Security: Security updates and patching remained the most persistent challenge, regardless of organization size.
- Compliance: 55% of organizations that failed a compliance audit last year had end-of-life OSS in their stacks.
The OSI concludes that while OSS adoption keeps growing, the work of governing, securing and maintaining it has grown with it. In its words, organizations are asking harder questions about ownership, risk and long-term control.
Who can take part and how it helps charity
The OSI invites anyone who uses, develops, supports, manages or makes decisions about open source software to respond. According to the organization, the answers will feed research on how organizations use open source and AI, where resources are going, and which technical and operational challenges deserve more attention. The goal is to give the open source community data it can use to understand how the landscape is changing.
Participation also carries a charitable element. For every 500 responses, Perforce will increase its donation to Black Girls Code by $1000. The OSI describes Black Girls Code as an organization dedicated to building the next generation of tech leaders.
What it means
For organizations running open source, the survey is a chance to add their experience to a data set that has now been collected for six years. With AI questions included for 2027, the results may show how teams are handling open source and AI together, as regulation and scrutiny increase. The source does not say when results will be published.
Open Source Initiative: Announcing the 2027 State of Open Source Survey
