What belongs here
We cover applications that ordinary users, creators and teams can use directly: editing images, producing video or audio, working with documents, organizing research or managing personal tasks. A self-hosted application can qualify if its main purpose is a user-facing workflow. SDKs, databases, APIs and code libraries are outside this release’s scope.
Open source needs a license
A free download, a public demo or visible code is not enough. A listing needs a public source location and an identifiable open-source license. Bundled assets, trademarks, plug-ins, models and hosted services may have different terms; a source-code license is not a promise that every related service is free.
License names are informational summaries. Read the project’s current files and notices for the version you use. Inkscape, for example, distinguishes licenses in individual files from the terms covering combined binaries.
Maturity labels
Established project means a released application with a recognizable user-facing workflow; it is an editorial category, not a performance certification. Early Alpha and In Development follow explicit official labels where available. Mixed maturity describes a family whose applications are at different stages.
An installer, a screenshot or a long feature list does not by itself make an application production-ready. Official claims and availability are kept separate from our advice about migration.
Sources and review dates
Primary sources come first: official websites, documentation, repositories, license files and release pages. Profiles link those sources and show the date they were reviewed. We do not silently turn an official feature claim into a claim that we have tested it.
Fast-moving projects can change after a review. Check the linked release and official status before downloading or migrating. Conflicting details should be recorded with their source, rather than hidden behind a single score.
A task is not a whole product
Comparisons answer what you can try, what needs testing and when to keep the original. Krita can be relevant for painting without replacing every Photoshop task. PDFsam Basic can replace PDF page operations without becoming a full Acrobat editor.
Corrections and project suggestions
A useful correction includes the affected page, the specific statement, an official source and the date checked. A project suggestion should include the application website, public repository, license and the user task it solves.
Editorial information reviewed