Open source dominates server environments and databases. But will open source win AI?

This morning, I investigated which models are most popular among developers…

America’s Next Top Model

There’s no one place to go to definitively determine which models are most popular among developers. But one strong indicator comes from a company called OpenRouter.

OpenRouter publishes rankings of the most used models by developers. Open source models take 3 of the top 10 spots this month. All 3 are from DeepSeek.

If you look at the “trending” ranking of models that are growing quickly, almost all are open source. Alibaba’s Qwen, DeepSeek, and Llama dominate the list.

The Benefits of Open Source

An open source model may not be the absolute best model available. But if you’re building it into your app, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the best. It just has to give you the output you need.

Once you have that, you optimize for price and platform risk.

Closed source models can raise prices whenever they want. What’s more, a closed source model provider can cut me off at any time if they’re worried about me competing with them. Anthropic did this to Windsurf recently, although they later restored access.

Who wants to deal with that if you don’t have to?

Wrap-Up

Assuming you can get output of the necessary quality, open source seems like a no brainer. As open source models get better and better, I expect to see developers adopt them rapidly.

Ten years from now, I think open source AI will have won the war for developers.

What are you using in your applications, open source or closed source? And which models do you prefer?

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