Open-Source Software in New Zealand: A Practical Guide to Free Apps Worth Running

Open-source software is any program whose source code — the human-readable instructions behind it — is published openly, so anyone can inspect, run, modify and share it. For New Zealanders that translates into something very practical: a large catalogue of genuinely free, high-quality applications that replace expensive subscriptions, keep your data on hardware you control, and rarely nag you to upgrade. This guide explains what open source really means, how its licences work, which programs are worth running, and how to install them safely.

What open-source software actually means

Open-source software is defined by access to its source code, not simply by a $0 price tag. The Open Source Initiative (OSI), the body that has maintained the standard definition since 1998, lists ten criteria a licence must meet — including free redistribution, availability of the source code, the right to create modified works, and no discrimination against any person, group or field of use. If a program meets those criteria, it is open source regardless of who built it.

In everyday terms, open source gives you four freedoms: the freedom to use the software for any purpose, to study how it works, to change it, and to pass copies (original or modified) to other people. Most projects are built collaboratively — a community of volunteers and, increasingly, paid developers who report bugs, submit fixes and add features in public. Because the work happens in the open, you are never locked in to a single vendor who can raise the price or discontinue the product.

It is worth separating three terms that get muddled. Open source means the source is available under an approved licence. Free software (in the Free Software Foundation sense) emphasises the same freedoms but frames them as an ethical issue; in practice the two overlap almost entirely. Freeware is something else — a program that costs nothing to use but keeps its source code closed, so you cannot inspect or modify it. Skype and the free tier of many apps are freeware, not open source.

How open-source licences work

A licence is the legal document that grants you those freedoms and sets the conditions. The thing that matters most to ordinary users is that almost every mainstream open-source licence lets you download and use the software for free, forever, on as many devices as you like. The differences mainly affect developers who want to reuse the code. Open-source licences fall into two broad camps.

• Copyleft licences require that anyone who distributes a modified version also releases their changes under the same terms. The GNU General Public License (GPL) is the best-known example and covers the Linux kernel, WordPress and VLC. The Affero GPL (AGPL) extends this to software provided over a network, which is why self-hosted web apps such as Nextcloud use it.
• Permissive licences let you reuse the code with very few conditions, even inside closed commercial products, as long as you keep the original copyright notice. The MIT, BSD and Apache 2.0 licences sit here. The Mozilla Public License (MPL) 2.0, used by Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice, is a middle ground: changes to existing files must be shared, but you can combine the code with other licences more freely than the GPL allows.

You do not need to read the licence to use the software. It only becomes important if you plan to build on the code or bundle it into a product you sell.

Is open-source software safe to use?

Open-source software can be more trustworthy than closed alternatives precisely because the code is public. Security researchers, auditors and rival developers can read it, so hidden tracking, backdoors or sloppy encryption are far harder to conceal than in a sealed product. Projects such as the Bitwarden and KeePassXC password managers and the Signal messenger publish independent security audits, and Signal’s messaging code is released under the AGPL so anyone can verify its encryption.

That said, “the code is public” is not the same as “someone is watching it”. A small, abandoned project can still carry unpatched flaws. The practical safety rules are simple: download only from the project’s official website or an official app store or Linux repository; check that the project is actively maintained (recent releases and a responsive community); and, for sensitive tools such as password managers, prefer ones that have been externally audited. Never grab an open-source installer from a random mirror or a “free download” aggregator, which is a common way malware is slipped into otherwise clean software.

Open-source software worth running, by category

The catalogue below covers the programs most New Zealand home users and small businesses actually install. Each is free, cross-platform unless noted, and downloaded from the project’s own site.

Office suites and documents

LibreOffice is the leading open-source office suite and the standard replacement for Microsoft Office. It includes a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation tool (Impress) and more, opens and saves Microsoft formats such as .docx and .xlsx, and is released under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. It is developed by The Document Foundation and updated several times a year. If you are weighing up the options, our guide to open-source alternatives to Microsoft Office compares LibreOffice with ONLYOFFICE and the web-based suites. The older Apache OpenOffice project still exists but is updated far less often, so LibreOffice is the safer default.

Web browsers and email

Mozilla Firefox is the most widely used open-source web browser, licensed under the MPL 2.0 and funded largely by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. It offers strong privacy controls, tracking protection and a large extension library. Its sibling, Mozilla Thunderbird, is a free email, calendar and contacts client that works with any standard email provider and is a popular desktop alternative to Outlook.

Media playback, servers and audio

The VLC media player plays virtually any audio or video file without extra codecs and runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS under the GPL. For streaming your own library to a TV or phone, you can set up a Jellyfin media server — a completely free, self-hosted alternative to Plex with no subscription and no accounts phoning home. Audacity, now maintained by Muse Group under the GPL, remains the go-to free multi-track audio editor for recording and cleaning up podcasts or music.

Password managers and privacy tools

Good password managers are where open source really pays off, because you are trusting the program with the keys to everything. Bitwarden is open source (its apps and server are published under the GPL/AGPL), offers a genuinely usable free tier with unlimited passwords across devices, and can even be self-hosted. KeePassXC is a fully offline, GPL-licensed vault that stores an encrypted file on your own machine with no cloud at all. For messaging, Signal provides end-to-end encrypted chat and calls with its code released under the AGPL.

Images, design and 3D

GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a GPL-licensed photo editor comparable to Photoshop for many tasks; the current 3.x series brought a modernised interface and non-destructive editing. Inkscape covers vector graphics and logo design in the Adobe Illustrator mould, while Blender — a GPL project backed by the Blender Foundation — is a professional-grade 3D modelling, animation and rendering suite used in real film and game production.

Operating systems

The biggest open-source project of all is the operating system itself. Linux, built around the GPL-licensed Linux kernel, powers most of the world’s web servers and is packaged into user-friendly “distributions” such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Fedora that you can install free on almost any PC. A reliable, well-supported machine is often the easiest way in — see our guide to buying a Linux laptop in New Zealand. If you would rather tinker with the physical side as well, open-source principles extend to open-source hardware like the Raspberry Pi and Arduino.

Home servers and self-hosting

Running services yourself is where open source shines for people who want control over their data. Proxmox VE is a free, GPL-licensed platform for running virtual machines and containers on a home server. Nextcloud (AGPL) gives you a private, self-hosted replacement for Dropbox and Google Drive, and Home Assistant, released under the permissive Apache 2.0 licence, is the most capable open-source smart-home hub. Small businesses can take the same approach with a range of self-hosted software for files, email and project management.

Communications and VoIP

Open-source Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software lets individuals and businesses build their own internet-based phone systems without licence fees or vendor lock-in. Because the source is open, the platform can be tailored to specific needs and integrated with other tools, though it usually takes more technical skill to set up and run than a hosted service. The main projects are Asterisk, the long-established GPL-licensed PBX framework; FreeSWITCH, a flexible telephony engine released under the Mozilla Public License; and Kamailio, a GPL SIP server built to route very high volumes of calls. Common uses include cloud-hosted phone systems, integration with customer-relationship-management (CRM) and collaboration tools, and newer setups that add AI-based features such as call transcription.

How to get started with open-source software

Getting started is usually easier than people expect and does not require switching your whole computer. Pick one program that replaces something you already pay for or dislike, and try it alongside your current tools.

• Download from the official source. Type the project’s real website address (for example libreoffice.org or videolan.org) or install from your operating system’s app store, the Microsoft Store, or a Linux package manager. Avoid search ads and “download portals”.
• Verify the project is active. Look for a recent release date and an obvious community — forums, a GitHub page, documentation. Active projects get security fixes.
• Keep your files in open formats. Saving documents as .odt, .pdf or .csv rather than proprietary formats means you are never trapped if you switch tools again.
• Donate or contribute if you can. Most projects run on donations and volunteer time; even reporting a bug helps keep the software you rely on healthy.

Common mistakes to avoid

The most common mistake is treating open source as “lower quality by default”. For mainstream tasks — writing, browsing, media, image editing, file storage — the leading open-source programs match or beat their paid rivals, and millions of businesses run on them. Judge each program on its own maintenance and features, not on the fact that it is free.

Other frequent errors include downloading installers from unofficial mirrors (a real malware risk); assuming “open source” guarantees privacy when a tool may still collect analytics unless you opt out; expecting pixel-perfect compatibility when opening complex Microsoft Office files with heavy macros or unusual formatting; and installing an abandoned project because it appears at the top of an old blog post. Check the latest release date before committing. Finally, do not skip backups: self-hosting your own files or password vault means the responsibility for backing them up is now yours, not a cloud provider’s.

Open source vs proprietary software: the trade-offs

Open source is not automatically better than paid, closed software — it is a different set of trade-offs. Knowing them helps you decide where to switch and where to stay put.

Advantages of open source: no licence cost and no per-seat subscriptions; no vendor lock-in, because the software and your data stay portable; transparency, since the code can be audited for security and privacy; longevity, as a community can keep a project alive even if a company loses interest; and freedom to customise. Trade-offs: support is often community-based rather than a paid help desk with guaranteed response times; polish and onboarding can lag behind commercial products with large design budgets; file compatibility with proprietary formats is usually very good but not always perfect; and the responsibility for installation, updates and backups sits more with you, especially when self-hosting. For most everyday computing the advantages win comfortably; for specialised professional workflows, a proprietary tool may still be the pragmatic choice.

Who open-source software suits

Open-source software suits almost everyone, but the strongest cases are clear. Home users and students get professional tools at no cost and without subscriptions. Privacy-conscious people gain software they can audit and data they can keep local. Small businesses and non-profits on tight budgets can equip a whole team with office suites, communications and file storage for the price of the hardware. Developers and tinkerers get code they can study and adapt. The main people it suits less well are those who need a specific proprietary program for compatibility with clients or industry workflows — in which case open-source tools can still sit alongside the paid one rather than replace it entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is open-source software really free?

Yes. Almost all mainstream open-source programs are free to download and use for any purpose, on any number of devices, with no licence fee. “Free” here refers both to price and to the freedom to study and modify the code. Some projects offer paid hosting, premium tiers or support contracts on top, but the core software remains free.

Is open-source software safe and secure?

It can be very safe, because the public code can be inspected and audited by anyone, making hidden tracking or backdoors hard to conceal. The key is to download from the official website or an official app store, use actively maintained projects, and prefer tools that have passed independent security audits for sensitive jobs like password management.

What is the difference between open-source and freeware?

Open-source software publishes its source code under a licence that lets you view, modify and share it. Freeware costs nothing to use but keeps its code closed, so you cannot inspect or change how it works. All open source can be free to use, but not all free-to-use software is open source.

Can open-source software replace Microsoft Office?

For most home and small-business work, yes. LibreOffice reads and writes Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and covers everyday documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Very complex files with advanced macros or intricate formatting may not convert perfectly, so test your own documents before switching completely.

Do I need technical skills to use open-source software?

Not for everyday programs. Installing Firefox, LibreOffice, VLC or Bitwarden is no harder than installing any other app. Technical skill only becomes relevant for advanced projects such as self-hosting a server, running an open-source VoIP phone system or installing Linux, and even those have beginner-friendly guides and distributions.