Irving Wladawsky-Berger reviews the research done on the value of open source contributions, highlighting the latest LF Research report on ROI.

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A Linux Foundation Research report from February 2026 quantifies the ROI of contributing to open source software. Based on a survey of 567 organizations, contributing to OSS yields a 2.5x benefit-to-cost ratio on average (3.6x for code contributions, 4.8x for foundation contributions), compared to a 4.8x ratio for simply using OSS. The report highlights the hidden costs of maintaining private forks — organizations average 86 private forks requiring ~60 labor hours per release cycle each — and argues that upstream contribution distributes maintenance costs across the community, reduces technical debt, and improves talent attraction. Three recommendations emerge: consider contributing upstream instead of just consuming, evaluate the opportunity cost of private forks, and explore financial/foundation contributions as alternatives to code contributions.

The Economic Value of Open Source Software Contributions

Private Forks: the Hidden Costs of Non-Contribution