The 20 Fastest-Growing Open Source Startups of 2024
The landscape of open source startups continues to evolve, with artificial intelligence (AI) taking center stage in the latest rankings. A newly released report identifies the 20 most rapidly growing open source startups worldwide, more than half of which are heavily involved in AI.
The ROSS Index: Measuring Open Source Momentum
This report originates from European venture capital firm Runa Capital, which has been maintaining the Runa Open Source Startup (ROSS) Index since 2020. The Index provides quarterly updates on the fastest-growing open source projects based on GitHub “stars,” a metric similar to social media “likes.” Since 2023, Runa has also been producing an annual report highlighting the most popular commercial open source startups each year.
Last year’s report indicated a significant surge in demand for AI and data infrastructure tools, with LangChain topping the Index for its open source framework tailored for building large language model (LLM)-centric applications. The trend continues in 2024, with AI-driven companies accounting for 11 out of the top 20 startups.
To be considered for inclusion in the ROSS Index, projects must be commercially affiliated (i.e., vendor-led), be less than 10 years old, have raised under $100 million in funding, and remain independent (not publicly traded or a subsidiary of a larger entity).
The Fastest-Growing Open Source Startups of 2024
1. Ollama
Topping the 2024 ROSS Index is Ollama, a Y Combinator-backed startup specializing in open source tools for running LLMs like Meta’s Llama and DeepSeek locally. Over the course of 2024, Ollama’s GitHub stars surged by 76,000—a 261% growth—to reach more than 105,000. The count has since climbed past 135,000.
2. Zed Industries
Zed Industries ranks second with its cross-platform, AI-enhanced collaborative code editor. Although the Zed project had been in development for some time, it only became open source in January 2024. Since then, it has accumulated over 52,000 GitHub stars.
3. LangGenius
In third place is LangGenius, the creator of Dify, an open source LLM application development platform. Over 2024, its GitHub star count skyrocketed from around 13,000 to nearly 57,000, marking a 326% increase. This number has since exceeded 84,000 stars.
4. ComfyUI
ComfyUI, an open source node-based platform for generating images, videos, and audio through generative AI models, experienced a 195% rise in GitHub stars, reaching 61,900 in 2024.
5. All Hands
Rounding out the top five is All Hands, the company behind OpenHands, an open source platform designed for software development agents. Since its launch in March 2024, OpenHands amassed 39,600 GitHub stars by year-end and has now added another 12,000.
Key Trends and Insights
While AI remains a dominant force, the 2024 ROSS Index also highlights the sustained demand for developer tools. Notably, Zed and Astral’s UV (ranked ninth) showcase the ongoing interest in collaborative development environments.
Privacy-focused, self-hosted solutions are also gaining traction, as indicated by the inclusion of Stirling PDF (No. 7), Maybe Finance (No. 8), and RustDesk (No. 17). Meanwhile, Fuel (No. 12), an Ethereum blockchain-focused project, underscores the resilience of crypto and web3 technologies.
Geographic Distribution
Open source projects are inherently global, but most commercial startups still have a primary location. The 2024 ROSS Index reveals that six of the top 20 startups are based in San Francisco. Canada follows with three entries, while Europe (UK, Switzerland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic), Singapore, and China round out the list.
Alternative Open Source Rankings
There are multiple ways to track trending open source projects. Two Sigma Ventures runs the Open Source Index, which ranks the top 100 projects without specifically focusing on commercial startups. GitHub also provides a trending projects list that lacks a business-centric approach.
The ROSS Index Methodology
While GitHub “stars” provide a useful gauge of popularity, they are not a perfect metric. Stars indicate interest but do not necessarily reflect active use. Older projects naturally accumulate more stars, which is why Runa Capital prioritizes relative growth over 90-day periods for its quarterly reports and total new stars for its annual report.
Additionally, the definition of “open source” can be fluid. While many projects in the Index adhere to recognized open source licenses, Runa Capital considers “commercial perception” over strict licensing terms. This means projects under the Server Side Public License (SSPL), which is not certified by the Open Source Initiative, may still be included.
Conclusion
The 2024 ROSS Index offers valuable insights into the evolving open source startup ecosystem. AI remains the dominant force, but developer tooling, privacy-centric applications, and blockchain innovations continue to hold significant market interest. With San Francisco leading the way in startup activity, global interest in commercial open source projects shows no signs of slowing down.
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