Best Open Source Software

Chromium

Chromium offers excellent performance, thrifty memory use, helpful browsing tools, cutting-edge technologies, and a whole raft of awesome add-ons. If you are willing to use proprietary software, check out Chrome. Chrome and Chromium have replaced Firefox as our recommended web browser.

OS	Supported	Notes
		Chromium is actively maintained for Linux, Windows and OS X. It is also available for BSD and Android. Homepage: www.chromium.org Developer: The Chromium Authors License: BSD license, MIT License, LGPL, MS-PL and MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-licensed code Written in: C, C++, Java, JavaScript, and Python

Thunderbird

A treasure from the Mozilla Foundation. Thunderbird is one of the finest email clients, and is brimming with features. There are easy to use setup wizards which help users sync with popular web-based email services. The email client manages multiple accounts, supports PGP encryption and is extended through add-ons.

OS	Supported	Notes
		There are fully localized versions for Linux (32 and 64-bit), OS X and Windows. It needs 200MB disk space, and 512MB RAM. Website: mozilla.org/thunderbird Developer: Mozilla Foundation License: MPL Written in: C, C++, JavaScript, CSS, XUL, XBL

Pidgin

Really easy to use chat client, Pidgin is used by millions. Besides supporting lots of chat networks, this app comes with many popular features, such as file transfer and typing notifications but it also brings up unique ones. And the software can be extended by plugins.

OS	Supported	Notes
		Pidgin's website provides a binary only for Windows. But most Linux distributions include a package in their software management tool. While you can compile Pidgin for OS X they recommend using Adium instead. Website: pidgin.im Developer: Many contributors License: GPL v2 or later Written in: C, (Plugins use: Python, Perl, C##, and Tcl)

Tor

Tor software protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location, and it lets you access sites which are blocked.

Tor is for web browsers, instant messaging clients, and more.

OS	Supported	Notes
		Tor is actively maintained for Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix, and Android. Tails is a live operating system that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card that is pre-configured to use Tor safely. Homepage: www.torproject.org Developer: The Tor Project, Inc License: BSD Written in: C, Python, and Rust

Telegram Desktop

This is the official app for Telegram Messenger, a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app with a focus on security and speed. Its secret messages and advanced cryptography make the Telegram messaging system avant-garde.

Consistent material design, great animations, and support for custom themes make Telegram a sublime multi-platform app.

OS	Supported	Notes
		There are also apps for iOS (6 and above), Android (4.0 and up), and Windows Phones. Homepage: desktop.telegram.org Developer: Pavel and Nikolai Durov License: GNU GPL v3 Written in: C, C++, Java, Swift, and C##

Dropbox

Dropbox, the file hosting and cloud storage service, enables users to create a special folder on each machine and then sync them so that on each box, the same folder with same content is available. With effortless file synchronization, Dropbox is superbly implemented.

Dropbox provides a command-line tool and a Nautilus extension that integrates the Dropbox web service with your GNOME Desktop.

OS	Supported	Notes
		Besides the three listed operating systems, Dropbox runs on Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Homepage: www.dropbox.com Developer: Dropbox, Inc. License: Combined GNU GPL v2 and proprietary software Written in: Python, Go, CoffeeScript

OwnCloud

Access your data from all your devices through a web interface or WebDAV, on an open platform you can extend and modify. ownCloud’s open architecture is extensible via a simple but powerful API for applications and plugins and works with any storage.

OS	Supported	Notes
		The server runs on Linux. Besides Linux, Windows and OS X there are clients available for Android and iOS. Homepage: owncloud.org Developer: ownCloud, Community License: AGPL v3 Written in: PHP, JavaScript

FileZilla

If you transfer a lot of files by FTP, here’s FileZilla. It is an intuitive FTP and SFTP client with lots of useful features and a polished interface. A long-standing favorite which continues to be actively developed.

OS	Supported	Notes
		Filezilla is actively maintained for Linux, Windows and OS X. Homepage: filezilla-project.org Developer: Tim Kosse License: GNU GPL v2 Written in: C++

HexChat

HexChat is a multi-network IRC client based on XChat. It offers a wide range of features, including Python/Perl scripting, spellcheck, proxies, SASL, DCC support. With an easy to use interface, it’s a great method of chatting online.

OS	Supported	Notes
		HexChat can be installed under Linux with the Flatpak and Snap packaging formats. All good Linux distributions carry packages. There is an official build for Windows, and OS X has third party distributors. Homepage: hexchat.github.io Developer: HexChat Developers License: GNU GPL v2 Written in: C

QuiteRSS

QuiteRSS is a clean and attractive cross-platform RSS/Atom news feeds reader. QuiteRSS is packed with quality features that you’d expect and require from a reader.

OS	Supported	Notes
		QuiteRSS is actively maintained for Linux, Windows and OS X. An older release is also available for OS/2! Homepage: quiterss.org Developer: Aleksey Khokhryakov, Shilyaev Egor License: GNU GPL v3 Written in: C++

uGet

The uGet download manager is a feature-rich download manager that makes downloading effortless. It downloads multiple parallel streams for download acceleration, puts files in a download queue, pause & resumes downloads. uGet sports browser integration, clipboard monitoring and much more.

OS	Supported	Notes
		uGet is available for all major Linux distributions including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Arch Linux, Gentoo, Slackware, Linux Mint, elementary OS, Mageia, Semplice, and SparkyLinux. There is a Portable App for Windows besides standard packages. BSD and Android are also supported. Homepage: ugetdm.com Developer: C.H. Huang, Michael Tunnell License: GNU LGPL 2.1 Written in: C

Gufw

Some users shy away from using a firewall, often because they can be baffling to set up properly. A badly configured firewall is as bad as no firewall. If you are bamboozled by firewalls, check out Gufw. It has an easy to use interface for setting up inbound and outbound traffic rules for apps/services and ports. It is designed for beginners.

It supports common tasks such as allowing or blocking pre-configured, common p2p, individual ports port(s), and many others! Gufw is powered by ufw.

OS	Supported	Notes
		You can use Gufw in Linux without a graphical environment (for example an Ubuntu Server) or from a remote computer. Homepage: gufw.org Developer: Marcos Alvarez Costales License: GNU GPL v3 Written in: Python

Aria2

Here’s a lightweight multi-protocol & multi-source command-line download utility. It supports HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, BitTorrent and Metalink. aria2 can be manipulated via built-in JSON-RPC and XML-RPC interfaces.

OS	Supported	Notes
		The developers offer source distribution and binaries for Windows, OS X and Android. Popular Linux distributions carry the software. Homepage: aria2.github.io Developer: Tatsuhiro Tsujikawa, Ross Smith II, Nils Maier and many contributors License: GNU GPL v2 Written in: C++

OpenSSH

When you need to connect remotely, the OpenSSH suite is essential software. It’s a collection of security-related tools which secures network communications, combining it with secure tunnelling, and several authentication methods.

OpenSSH is a 100% complete SSH protocol 2.0 implementation and includes sftp client and server support. With strong cryptography (AES, ChaCha20, RSA, ECDSA, Ed25519…), X11 forwarding, port forwarding, strong authentication and more, OpenSSH is highly recommended.

OS	Supported	Notes
		The primary platform is OpenBSD. Besides Linux and OSX, OpenSSH is also designed to run on AIX, HP-UX, Irix, NeXT, SCO, SNI/Reliant Unix, and Digital Unix/Tru64/OSF. OpenSSH can run on the Windows platform using the Cygwin environment. Homepage: www.openssh.com Developer: The OpenBSD Project License: BSD Written in: C