Open source alternative to commercial software are widely available on internet.  Unlike commercial software, open source programs are not well known to the general public.  In this article, I will introduce three websites that provide easy access to open source alternative of commercial software.  The software directory houses high quality alternatives based on user recommendations.  Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for licensed copy of commercial software with many features you may never use, open source alternatives may suffice all your needs.

Osalt

The mission of Osalt.com is to provide easy access to high quality open source alternatives to well-known commercial products.  The categorized software directory lists open source alternatives by its function.  Unlike other sites, Osalt.com only lists open source alternatives to commercial software.

AlternativeTo

The mission of AlternativeTo is to help you find the right software for your computer or mobile phone.  Based on user recommendations, they list high quality open source and commercial software alternatives.  The site is categorized by operating systems and results can be filtered by license type.

Wakoopa

Wakoopa is more of a social network site to help people discover software, games, and web applications.  The site allows you to create your own software profile to share with others.  Large results can be filtered by source, platform, categories, license, price, and number of users.  Wakoopa is an excellent site to discover alternative software based on user recommendations and user attributed tags.

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