Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Fog Creek - The Problems with Open Source

And how to fix them with Justin Searls

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Fog Creek - The Problems with Open Source launched in 2015; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1
The Bike Shed - #32: Bug For Bug Compatibility▲55
Microsoft's interest in open source and Sean's progress imp…
2015 · bikeshed.thoughtbot.com · its alternatives →
2
I made an open-source Replit▲9
I spent the past few weeks making an open source cloud code editing environment with an AI copilot and multiplayer collaboration! It's fully self-hostable in 5-10 minutes. There's a lot of minor improvements to be made, and some are already listed in the Github issues. Let me know what you think and feel free to try it out.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
3
Flowhub▲85
Let's Make Code More Playful (Beta Open)
2014 · 12bet.review · its alternatives →
4
Codetree (pre-launch)▲95
Improved Github issues
2014 · codetree.com · its alternatives →
5
Frankly▲101
A dashboard of issues and PRs across GitHub repositories.
2016 · github.com · its alternatives →
6
Waffle▲84
Your github workflow open sourced.
2014 · its alternatives →
7
Wick Editor▲88
The Internet's free and open-source creation suite
2016 · wickeditor.com · its alternatives →
8
Stack Overflow Podcast - A Bunch of Bald Yaks▲66
HyperDev, the fastest way to bang out code and run it online
2016 · stackoverflow.blog · its alternatives →
9
To Be Continuous - 12: The clash in OSS economics▲53
Developers want $$ but everyone else wants free software...
2016 · heavybit.com · its alternatives →
10
Fog Creek - Success and failure at Fog Creek▲73
Joel Spolsky & team reflect on 15 yrs of Fog Creek Software
2015 · soundcloud.com · its alternatives →
11
ZenHub for Firefox▲99
Turn GitHub into a project management suite! Plus, socks
2015 · app.zenhub.com · its alternatives →
12FF
Fixbounty – Find security issues in open source projects▲8
2021 · spatcher.io · its alternatives →
13
Add a License Please▲87
The open source vigilante bot that is cleaning up Github.
2015 · github.com · its alternatives →
14CN
Contributor Ninja – help open source projects▲5
2017 · contributor.ninja · its alternatives →
15
Sumbli▲7
Collaborative content
2018 · its alternatives →
16
GitHub Issues & mental health▲5
Maintaining an open-source project and the tolls it takes
2016 · bumpers.fm · its alternatives →
17LG
Launching GoatCounter; or: let's try and make a living from Open Source▲8
2019 · arp242.net · its alternatives →
18
Winds▲9
An open source RSS reader
2016 · github.com · its alternatives →
19OS
Our skunkworks project, easy CSS editing and hosting.▲5
Fog Creek gave us a couple of months to work on something "new" for the company. After a ton of brainstorming, we came up with an idea kind of like JS fiddle for CSS, but with instant hosting baked-in. The result is http://webputty.net WebPutty is built on Google AppEngine (a first for Fog Creek) using Python with Flask and Jinja2. We'd love to hear what you think and if you find it useful!
2011 · webputty.net · its alternatives →
20OS
Open-source API-only Builders Forum (beta)▲5
2022 · youonlygetanapi.com · its alternatives →
21
Codix.io – open source repo ratings and discovery▲6
2017 · codix.io · its alternatives →
22BP
BugBucket – Public Issues for Private Repos▲9
2018 · bugbucket.io · its alternatives →
23
WakeMeOps – A Debian/Ubuntu repo for popular DevOps tools and more▲7
WakeMeOps documentation
2022 · docs.wakemeops.com · its alternatives →
24
Wick▲5
A free and open-source creation suite
2016 · wickeditor.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →