Budget for open-source software beyond the licence
A free download still needs someone to run it.
Separate permission from operation
An open-source licence describes permissions and obligations around software. It does not provide a service desk, a backup operator or a guaranteed maintenance window. The Open Source Initiative definition is a useful starting point for checking the licensing claim; the operating budget is a separate piece of work.
Build a year-one cost sheet
For a fictional ten-person team, create rows for setup, migration, hosting, support, upgrades, training and recovery exercises. Enter supplier quotations where available and mark estimates as estimates. Give staff time an explicit internal rate rather than treating it as free. Compare the same scope with a hosted service: storage limits, restore support and migration assistance often sit outside the advertised subscription.
Assign the unglamorous jobs
Name the person responsible for applying updates, reviewing access and checking that backups can be restored. Agree who covers absences. If an external maintainer handles these tasks, write down the response arrangement and the boundary between application and infrastructure support. A system with many contributors still needs an accountable operator in your organisation.
Review the exit cost too
Keep a sample export with its schema and instructions for opening it. Include attachments and links between records in the test. A low monthly bill does not compensate for a migration that loses the history your team needs. Revisit the cost sheet after the first month of actual operation; replace estimates with observed effort without rewriting the original assumptions.
References provide background. The working methods and fictional examples here are our editorial guidance, not an endorsement by the referenced organisations.
Put this into practice: open the worksheet →