Online businesses and brands have many unique advantages available to them. Without the need to maintain an expensive physical retail or commercial presence, even the most basic of entrepreneurs can begin offering products and services globally. With minimal overhead in many areas, these savings can be funneled into improvements in other areas crucial to online business.

However, not every aspect of online business is easier or more affordable by default. Many brands find themselves in need of dozens of different tools, plug-ins, utilities and pieces of software to ensure their operations run smoothly. Some businesses choose premium solutions that can cost a substantial amount over the long-term.

Today, we’ll look at why more online businesses should consider adopting open source solutions wherever possible, as there are multiple benefits.

Huge Savings

The biggest benefit arguably to using open source software and solutions for any online – or physical – brand is the cost savings. There are many premium solutions available for everything from word processing to database management, potentially costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a business license.

With open source alternatives, you’re likely to save big – or even avoid having to spend money altogether – when you use said options. When you consider that for some day-to-day services the open source alternatives are actually better, then it really is a no-brainer. Rather than throwing your money away by pinging your website with expensive solutions, you can be allocating those resources elsewhere to truly improve profitability.

Ultimate Control

When purchasing licenses for many services, there are restrictions on what you can do. Even in cases where there are not, modifications and improvements are often linked solely to the developers, meaning there won’t be communities of people out there improving the software on a consistent basis.

With open source solutions, you’ll find that healthy and thriving communities exist that constantly seek to add new functionality and improvements to each piece of relevant software. The great thing about open source solutions is that anybody can contribute without fear of copyright infringement, lawsuits or other hassles. As such, you may very well find improvements available for open source alternatives that far exceed the standard business solution on the market.

Freedom to Experiment

Last but not least, nobody appreciates having to purchase a premium solution before knowing whether it’s right for them. With open source software and solutions, you can try out any number of potential options to see if it is the right fit for your business’ needs. While “try before you buy” options may be available for some premium solutions, they often come with strings attached.

Before you start pinging your website with an expensive solution for a common problem, consider trying out one or more open source alternatives. After all, if you don’t like them, you can always opt to use something else.

Open source alternatives are a great choice for many small and emerging businesses, because they allow for the business to adapt easily. Whether it is about minimizing costs, improving functionality or simply trying different solutions before committing, these tools often surpass their standard business contemporaries in a variety of ways.