The global software ecosystem runs on open source infrastructure. As demand grows, we invite the businesses who rely on it most to play a larger role in sustaining it.
Open source infrastructure is the backbone of the global digital economy. From registries to runtimes, open source underpins the tools, frameworks, and platforms that developers and enterprises rely on every day. Yet as demand for these systems grows, so too does the urgency for those who depend on them most to play a larger role in sustaining their future.
Today, the Eclipse Foundation, alongside Alpha-Omega, OpenJS Foundation, Open SSF, Packagist (Composer), the Python Software Foundation (PyPI), the Rust Foundation (crates.io), and Sonatype (Maven Central), released a joint open letter urging greater investment and support for open infrastructure. The letter calls on those who benefit most from these critical digital resources to take meaningful steps toward ensuring their long-term sustainability and responsible stewardship.
The scale of open source’s impact cannot be overstated: A 2024 Harvard study, The Value of Open Source Software, estimated that the supply-side value of widely used OSS is estimated to top $4.15 billion, while the demand-side value reached $8.8 trillion. Even more striking, 96% of that value came from the work of just 5% of OSS developers. The authors of the study estimate that without open source, organisations would need to spend more than 3.5 times their current software budgets to replicate the same capabilities.
This open ecosystem now powers much of the software industry worldwide, a sector worth trillions of dollars. Yet the investment required to sustain its underlying infrastructure has not kept pace. Running enterprise-grade infrastructure that provides zero downtime, continuous monitoring, traceability, and secure global distribution carries very real costs. The rapid rise of generative and agentic AI has only added to the strain, driving massive new workloads, many of them automated and inefficient.
The message is clear: with meaningful financial support and collaboration from industry, we can secure the long-term strength of the open infrastructure you rely on. Without that shared commitment, these vital resources are at risk.
Open VSX: Critical infrastructure worth investing in
The Eclipse Foundation stewards Open VSX, the world’s largest open source registry for VS Code extensions. Originally created to support Eclipse Foundation projects, it has grown into essential infrastructure for enterprises, serving millions of developers. Today it is the default marketplace for many VS Code forks and cloud environments, and as AI-native development and platform engineering accelerate, Open VSX is emerging as a backbone of extension infrastructure used by AI-driven development tools.
Open VSX currently handles over 100 million downloads each month, a nearly 4x increase since early 2024. This rapid growth underscores the accelerating demand across the ecosystem. Innovative, high-growth companies like Cursor, Windsurf, StackBlitz, and GitPod (now Ona), are just a few of the many organisations building on and benefiting from Open VSX. It is enterprise-class infrastructure that requires significant investment in security, staffing, maintenance, and operations.
Yet there is a clear imbalance between consumption and contribution.
Since its launch in September 2022:
- Over 3,000 issues have been submitted by more than 2,500 individuals
- Around 1,200 pull requests have been submitted, but only by 43 contributors
In a global ecosystem with tens of thousands of users, fewer than 50 people are doing the work to keep things running and improving. That gap between use and support is difficult to maintain over the long term.
A proven model for sustainability
The Eclipse Foundation also stewards Eclipse Temurin, the open source Java runtime provided by the Adoptium Working Group. With more than 700 million downloads and counting, Temurin has become a cornerstone of the Java ecosystem, offering enterprises a cost-effective, production-grade option.
To help maintain that momentum, the Adoptium Working Group launched the Eclipse Temurin Sustainer Program, designed to encourage reinvestment in the project and support faster releases, stronger security, and improved test infrastructure. The new Temurin ROI calculator shows that enterprises can save an average of $1.6 million annually by switching to open source Java.
Together, Open VSX and Temurin demonstrate what is possible when there is shared investment in critical open source infrastructure. But the current model of unlimited, no-cost use cannot continue indefinitely. The shared goal must be to create a sustainable and scalable model in which commercial consumers of these services provide the primary financial support. At the same time, it is essential to preserve free access for open source users, including individual developers, maintainers, and academic institutions.
We encourage all adopters and enterprises to get involved:
- Contribute to the code: Review issues, submit patches, and help evolve the projects in the open under Eclipse Foundation governance.
- Sustain what you use: Support hosting, testing, and security through membership, sponsorship, or other financial contributions, collaborating with peers to keep essential open infrastructure strong.
Investing now helps ensure the systems you depend on remain resilient, secure, and accessible for everyone.
Looking ahead
The growth of Open VSX and Eclipse Temurin underscores their value and importance. They have become cornerstones of modern development, serving a global community and fueling innovation across industries. But growth must be matched with sustainability. Because those who benefit most have not always stepped up to support these projects, we are implementing measures such as rate limiting. This is not about restricting access. It is about keeping the doors open in a way that is fair and responsible.
We are at a turning point. The future of open source infrastructure depends on more than goodwill. I remain optimistic that we can meet this challenge. By working together, industry and the open source community can ensure that these vital systems remain reliable, resilient, and accessible to all. I invite you to join us in honouring the spirit of open source by aligning responsibility with usage and helping to build a sustainable future for shared digital infrastructure.
