Lunduke
News • Science & Tech
Major Open Source Projects: How much money do they actually make?
Comparing the revenue of some of the biggest names in Free & Open Source Software.
May 10, 2023
post photo preview

Here's a seemingly simple question: Which Open Source projects and foundations bring in the most money?  And, as a follow on to that... which bring in the least?

GNOME?  KDE?  Mozilla?  Apache?  The Free Software Foundation?

There are a lot of big names in the open source world... but how much money do the most recognizable names in Free and Open Source Software actually earn in yearly revenue?

I wanted to know.  So I collected revenue details for 17 major open source foundations -- by digging through IRS filings, Annual Reports, and every other source of information I could get my hands on.

Then I stuck them in a spreadsheet and made some fancy-shmancy charts.

Some of the results were expected and obvious... others I found truly surprising.  Honestly, some of the results are a gosh darned travesty.

It's charting time!

Let's start by putting all of the open source foundations into a single chart, and sort them... in order.

Note: Some of these organizations had not yet published their fiscal numbers for 2022... thus I used 2021 numbers across the board.

Wow.

The immense revenues of Mozilla ($600 Million), The Linux Foundation ($177 Million), and Wikimedia Foundation ($162 Million) really skews the chart.

But that was to be expected.  We all knew that those three organizations brought in mega-bucks.

So let's get rid of those three completely and re-do the chart.

There we go.  That's actually somewhat readable now.

But... holy smokes.  I had no idea the Eclipse Foundation was that big.  Bigger than some of the biggest names in open source.

Let's go ahead and get rid of the Eclipse Foundation as well.  Really zero in on the projects that are big, big names in the world of Linux, BSD, and open source.

Note: I broke out Thunderbird (the email client) from Mozilla, even though it is technically part of Mozilla.  The Thunderbird project reports their revenue indipendently, so I thought it would be interesting to compary the donation revenue from a single application with some of the other foundations.

I find this chart absolutely wild.

Here are just a handful of observations based on the data above:

  • KDE and GNOME are among the major open source foundations with the smallest revenue.  Each barely earning enough to pay for a few full time employees.
  • The Software Freedom Conservancy (aka "SFC") brings in more revenue than The Free Software Foundation, Apache, and FreeBSD combined.  I knew that the SFC had been active in multiple legal matters, and aided several projects... but I had no idea that it was, in all reality, the largest foundation focused on supporting Free Software.
  • On that same topic... that also means that the Free Software Foundation is not the largest foundation focused on supporting and advocating for Free Software.  Huh!  Who knew?
  • The Open Source Initiative is bringing in close to half a million per year?  One has to ask... why?  What do they do that's worth almost as much as GNOME and KDE combined?
  • The Rust Foundation sure does bring in a lot of money.  Considering their recent objection to people using the word "Rust"... this raises a lot of questions about what their plans are and what they are using those dollars for.
  • Thunderbird brings in more revenue than Blender?  Wild!  I was not expecting that.
  • On that note... I see significant new features and updates happening with Blender regularly.  But not so much with Thunderbird.  Clearly Blender is better at using those funds for development than Thunderbird.
    • As a follow-on to that thought... Thunderbird Revenue jumped to over $6 million last year, in 2022 (the data for this chart is from 2021).  Do we really see $6 Million in improvements to Thunderbird every year?
  • Not to harp on Thunderbird... but more money goes to the Thunderbird Email Client than... GNOME, KDE, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD... combined.  And that's before that 2022 revenue jump.
  • FreeBSD brings in more than twice what OpenBSD does.

Overall, one thing that strikes me is how astoundingly little some pretty critical projects and foundations bring in.  Considering the prevalence of the GNOME desktop -- and usage by Red Hat, Canonical, SUSE, and so many others -- I would think it would be better funded than that.

While this data does not represent every project or foundation in the open source world... it is a solid cross sample.  And I found the results, at least in some cases, a bit... weird.

community logo
Join the Lunduke Community
To read more articles like this, sign up and join my community today
25
What else you may like…
Videos
Podcasts
Posts
Articles
Open Source Leaders Debate How to Deal with Lunduke

GNOME, Software Freedom Conservancy, Elementary OS, & more declare Lunduke the "Fox News of FOSS", "He has a lot of viewers [who] get FOSS news nowhere else."

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:25:06
Fired Microsoft Employee Encouraged Corporate Sabotage

Leaked screenshots from a Microsoft whistleblower reveals efforts, by a "Worker Intifada" organizer, to disrupt Microsoft business and send spam propaganda email to thousands.

The Article:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/fired-microsoft-employee-encouraged

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:15:11
September 02, 2025
Google Dodges All Remedies in Search Engine Monopoly Case

Google will not need to sell Chrome. Or Android. And will be allowed to continue providing 80%+ of Mozilla's revenue. In fact, no real punishment at all.

The Article:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/google-dodges-all-remedies-in-search

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:20:59
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

The futility of Ad-Blockers
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044
September 02, 2025

Google Dodges All Remedies in Search Engine Monopoly Case

Judge Mehta rules that Google will not need to sell Chrome. Or Android. And will be allowed to continue providing 80%+ of Mozilla's revenue. In fact, no real punishment at all.

https://lunduke.substack.com/p/google-dodges-all-remedies-in-search

post photo preview
September 02, 2025
post photo preview
September 03, 2025

Well, If you thought that your OLD Computer has gotten Slower ...
It Has (Scientifically Speaking).

"Pro-Tip": Power Off the Machine to "Increase Lifespan."

Microsoft says, "Buy a New Computer to Eliminate Performance Loss.... Windows_11 wouldn't Brick your Solid-State-Drive if you had bought the system in 2025 (or later)."

post photo preview
September 01, 2025
post photo preview
Fired Microsoft Employee Encouraged Corporate Sabotage
Leaked screenshots from a Microsoft whistleblower reveals efforts, by a "Worker Intifada" organizer, to disrupt Microsoft business and send spam propaganda email to thousands.

This last week, members of the Microsoft “Worker Intifada” claimed that some of their members were fired by Microsoft in an attempt to silence the speech of pro-Palestinian employees.

Thanks to an internal Microsoft whistleblower, we have gained additional insight into the real reasons at least one of the “Intifada” organizers was fired.

Including mass emailing thousands of Microsoft employees with anti-Microsoft messages, and building internal, corporate websites dedicated to disrupting company business. Over the course of months.

And, of course, we’ve got screenshots.

The Microsoft “Intifada”

The Microsoft’s “Worker Intifada” held a press conference, on August 28th, at the office of CAIR — a response to a Microsoft’s Media briefing held 2 days earlier.

The topic of both press events being the “Intifada” actions of the previous week — including vandalism, breaking and entering, and public demonstrations against Jewish people (with chants of “Go away, Jews!”).

A key topic being the firing of 4 Microsoft employees related to the “Intifada”.

One of those fired employees is Nisreen Jaradat, seen here speaking at the press conference at CAIR on August 28th:

 

Thanks to leaked Microsoft material, we can get a glimpse into the anti-Microsoft activity of Nisreen Jaradat… going back several months.

Anti-Microsoft Microsoft Employee

Nisreen created an internal website — on the Microsoft corporate Intranet — entitled “PledgeForPalestine”.

 

On that website, Nisreen encourages employees to take a pledge declaring that employees will “not support genocide”, specifically demanding that Microsoft no longer interact with Israel in any way.

It should be noted that, as of just a few days ago, this website was up within Microsoft.

Nisreen’s website also includes a list of ways where employees could sabotage internal corporate work.

 

Nisreen encouraged employees to:

  1. Refuse to work on support tickets that involve Israel (and sabotage any tickets worked on by others).

  2. Refuse to work with other employees on tasks which may involve Israel — or any Israeli Microsoft employees or customers.

In July, Nisreen sent internal Microsoft Teams messages to thousands of employees encouraging them to sign that anti-Israel and anti-Microsoft pledge.

 

But this wasn’t the first time Nisreen spammed Microsoft employees with pro-Palestinian propaganda.

Back in May of this year, Nisreen sent an email to over 8,000 Microsoft employees entitled “You can’t get rid of us.”

 

Within that email, she declared that her employers have “shown their true face, brutalizing, detaining, firing, pepper spraying, threatening and insulting workers and former workers protesting.”

Surprise, She Got Fired

Protesting your bosses and accusing them of “genocide” while encouraging thousands of other employees, in spam emails, to sabotage corporate work?

Now, think what you will about Microsoft… but I can’t imagine any company not firing someone who takes those actions internally.

In fact, I would suggest that it is wild that Microsoft put up with the actions of this “Intifada” organizer for so many months.


If you would like to be a Tech whistleblower — or would like to support the work of The Lunduke Journal — head to Lunduke.com. All of the information is there.

Read full Article
post photo preview
Lunduke's Week in Tech - Aug 30, 2025
GNOME Loses Another Executive, Microsoft's Intifada, & 4Chan + KiwiFarms Sue the UK

Yet another absolutely insane week of Tech News has wrapped up.

From more Microsoft troubles with their “Intifada”… to the 4Chan & KiwiFarms lawsuit against the UK, it’s been one seriously nutty week.

Oh! And the GNOME Foundation lost yet another Executive Director! This one only lasted 4 months on the job! Crazy! All of the stories are linked below (and free for all to enjoy).

And, once again, it is amazing how many of these stories were almost completely ignored by Brand X Tech News outlets.

One story we did not see this week was the final ruling on the remedy for USA v. Google. The case that could determine wether Mozilla Corporation can continue to receive 80% of their income from Google.

That ruling was expected by yesterday… but, so far, all is quiet. I checked in with sources at both Google and Mozilla… and neither has heard a peep about it. Will we see the ruling from Judge Mehta this coming week? Who knows!

Stories This Week

Note: All articles, videos, & podcasts are free for all (subscribers and non-subscribers alike).

Note 2: Links for the stories are all to Substack. You can also find links to all other platforms — X, Rumble, Locals, YouTube, etc. — which The Lunduke Journal publishes to, at Lunduke.com.

As always, thank you to all of the subscribers to The Lunduke Journal. Thanks to you, we can remain 100% ad-free and Big Tech free. Couldn’t do it without your support.

-Lunduke

Read full Article
post photo preview
GNOME Foundation Executive Director Out After 4 Months
His 4 month reign highlighted by GNOME attacks on Jews and visually impaired users, an expanded "Pride Month", pledging fealty to the UN, and defense of a registered sex offender.

As of today, the GNOME Foundation has lost yet another Executive Director — Steven Deobald, who lasted a short 4 months.

The previous executive director, Holly Million, lasted a grand total of 9 months in the role.

To say things have been chaotic within the GNOME Foundation, would be a wild understatement — with last year seeing GNOME elections overturned in secret meetings and massive cashflow issues.

The last 4 months, since the new Executive Director took the position, hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. Here’s a quick timeline of just some of the strange activity since then.

And now today, August 29th, their new Executive Director is out. After only 4 months on the job. Did any of those events contribute to the departure? GNOME isn’t saying.

In fact, the statement from Allan Day, the new Acting GNOME Executive Director, is incredibly vague regarding the reason for the change.

“Steven Deobald has been in the post of GNOME Foundation Executive Director for the past four months, during which time he has made major contributions to both the Foundation and the wider GNOME project. Sadly, Steven will be leaving the Foundation this week. The Foundation Board is extremely grateful to Steven and wish him the very best for his future endeavors.”

According to the outgoing Executive Directors own statement — entitled “So short, and thanks for all the flinch”:

“As the board announced earlier today, I will be stepping down from the Executive Director role this week. It’s been an interesting four months.”

That reads to me like a firing (or a forced layoff due to lack of funds). But, unless someone speaks up, it’s unlikely we’ll know for sure.

The following was posted by Deobald (outgoing Executive) and Allan Day (new acting Executive) on the GNOME Foundation’s Matrix chat channel.

 

The statement, “I feel like I’ve been glued to an Emacs buffer for 3 straight days” suggests 3 days of discussions (or waiting) leading up to this change.

What will happen next for the GNOME Foundation?

With multiple years of absolute chaos — including financial troubles and an inability to have leadership last more than a few months (not to mention an obsession with attacking The Lunduke Journal) — it’s hard to imagine the next few months being anything other than a continuation of the insanity at GNOME.

Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals