Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

Open source monitoring tools are free to licence and not free to run. The licence question matters more than most guides admit — one popular option is under SSPL, which is not an OSI-approved open source licence, and one widely listed “open source” tool has no licence file at all. Two of the tools that appear on every list are not employee monitoring software in any sense their own authors would recognise.

Open source collaboration software gives organizations more control over how teams communicate, share files, manage projects, and work together. However, the category covers a wide range of tools, and the right choice depends on what your teams need to accomplish and how much control your organization needs over its data and security. In this guide, we’ll explain the main types of open source collaboration software, the features to look for, and the best tools for different collaboration needs.

Enterprises are rethinking their communication infrastructure due to growing concerns about vendor lock-in, US cloud jurisdiction, cyberattacks targeting collaboration systems, stricter compliance requirements, and growing pressure around AI and data governance. Open source communication platforms have become part of the solution because they offer greater visibility, deployment control, and infrastructure independence.

The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is a major new piece of EU legislation that aims to bring security-by-design into how digital products are developed and brought to market across Europe. Adopted at the end of 2024 and applying from late 2027 (with some requirements coming into effect towards the end of this year), the CRA introduces baseline cybersecurity requirements for any product with digital elements placed on the EU market.

At FOSDEM 2026, Denise R. S. Almeida (Head of Policy & Compliance at Element and Data Protection Officer for the Matrix.org Foundation) presented a practitioner perspective on the recently proposed Digital Omnibus.

‍ Government agencies face a fundamental question when choosing communication tools: who ultimately controls your data? For public sector organizations handling sensitive citizen information, classified communications, or cross-agency coordination, the answer matters enormously.

Open source is becoming central to Europe’s digital strategy as organizations look for alternatives that respect privacy and sovereignty. XWiki and CryptPad are not new names in the European tech space. Both are open source platforms with roots going back over 20 years. Headquartered in Paris, the company behind them has grown from community-driven projects into widely used tools across industries and governments.