FrOSCon e.V.

What FrOSCon e.V. does

FrOSCon e.V. (Free and Open Source Software Conference) is a German non-profit association (eingetragener Verein, Register of Associations No. 2642 at Siegburg) founded in 2005 and based at Grantham-Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin. It organizes an annual Free and Open Source Software Conference held at the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, co-produced with the university's Fachbereich Informatik. The conference runs over two days with parallel tracks of talks, workshops, project booths, and a FrogLabs youth program; the 21st edition is scheduled for August 15-16, 2026, comprising 77 talks and 12 workshops across 7 parallel tracks plus 2 workshop tracks, with all main tracks live-streamed and recordings archived on media.ccc.de.

The organization is governed by a volunteer board (1. Vorsitzender Hinrikus Wolf, 2. Vorsitzender Andreas Kupfer, 1. Schatzmeister Holger Nelson, 2. Schatzmeister Bernd Schönbach) and is operationally supported by community volunteers coordinated through helfen.froscon.org. Its monetization is not for equity return but to fund free admission: revenue comes from a tiered partner/sponsor network (one Konferenzpartner, roughly 20 Stand/Supporter/Media partners including B1 Systems GmbH as core conference partner and Linux Professional Institute Inc. as core community partner), optional paid business tickets with backstage catering, merchandise (t-shirts, posters), and donations. General admission is free, enabling the organization to serve developers, IT professionals, students/educators, FOSS project maintainers, and families with children as primary attendee segments, while corporate partners access a developer/IT-pro audience for recruiting and brand visibility.

The technology stack behind the event is conventional conference logistics: a website hosted with Hetzner Online GmbH, a dedicated CfP/CfP partner/CfP project submission pipeline, an event ticketing integration with Deutsche Bahn for travel-discounted attendance, on-site LPI certification exams, and persistence of talks to media.ccc.de via the Chaos Computer Club infrastructure. FrOSCon does not develop proprietary software products; FrogLabs, the youth-education sub-brand, was spun off in 2013 into the separate non-profit Teckids e.V.

Name

FrOSCon e.V.

Legal name

Free and Open Source Software Conference (FrOSCon) e.V.

Website

https://froscon.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

FrOSCon e.V. is a German non-profit association that organizes an annual free-admission Free and Open Source Software conference at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, serving developers, IT professionals, students, project maintainers, and families through talks, workshops, project booths, and the FrogLabs youth program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Source Software Conferences

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAHACAE

Academic & Education Conference Organizers

Travel & Hospitality/MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions)/Professional Conference Organizers (PCOs) & Meeting Planners

SECONDARYTHAHACAM

Virtual/Hybrid Conference Production & Platform Management

Travel & Hospitality/MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions)/Professional Conference Organizers (PCOs) & Meeting Planners

SECONDARYTHAHACAA

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies)

Travel & Hospitality/MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions)/Professional Conference Organizers (PCOs) & Meeting Planners

SECONDARYTHAHAAAD

University & Academic Conference Venues

Travel & Hospitality/MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions)/Conference & Convention Venues (Convention Centers, Civic Centers)

Keywords

• Open source conferences
• Free software events
• FOSS community conferences
• Technology community gatherings
• Developer education events

Headquarters

HQ city

Sankt Augustin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Partner sponsorships: The conference is primarily funded through partnership agreements with companies and organizations in the FOSS ecosystem. Partners receive booth space, visibility, and access to attendees in exchange for financial support.
2. Business tickets and merchandise: Optional paid business tickets provide backstage catering, free food and drinks during social events, and support the organization. Merchandise including t-shirts and posters is available for purchase.
3. Donations: The organization accepts donations to support conference operations and maintain free admission.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

FrOSCon e.V. organizes an annual two-day Free and Open Source Software Conference at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg in Sankt Augustin, Germany, featuring community-selected talks, hands-on workshops, project booths, vendor exhibition, on-site LPI certification exams, and a dedicated youth program (FrogLabs). Admission to the general program is free, funded through partner sponsorships and donations, with optional paid business tickets and merchandise available.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FrogLabs: Children and youth program at FrOSCon featuring workshops on programming, game development, and technology education for young people. Organized since 2013 as part of Hack'n'Fun project by Teckids e.V.
• FrogLabs Youth Camp

Products and services

• FrOSCon Annual Conference Two-day annual Free and Open Source Software conference held at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg in Sankt Augustin, Germany, featuring 77 community-selected talks and 12 workshops across 7 parallel tracks plus 2 workshop tracks, with free admission, live streaming, vendor exhibition, and a social event. Targets developers, IT professionals, students, educators, and FOSS enthusiasts.
• FrogLabs Youth Program Family and youth program at FrOSCon featuring workshops on programming, game development, and technology education for children and teenagers, including the FrogLabs Youth Camp. Run by Teckids e.V. in partnership with FrOSCon.
• LPI Certification Exams

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• B1 Systems GmbHcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Conference partner providing significant support for the annual FrOSCon event.
• Qvest Digital AGminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• DAASI InternationalminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• Flying Circus Internet Operations GmbHminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• H2 invent GmbHminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• ownCloud GmbHminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner and project contributor with exhibition presence.
• PlusServer GmbHminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• Schwarz Digits KGminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• Taler Systems SAminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• Deutsche WelleminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• Icinga GmbHminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• Linux Professional Institute Inc.coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Long-time Community Partner of LPI, offering certification exams at reduced rates during the conference.
• TUXEDO ComputersminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Stand partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-SiegcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Co-organizer of the conference. The Fachbereich Informatik (Computer Science department) hosts the event on its campus in Sankt Augustin, Germany.
• Teckids e.V.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Organizes the FrogLabs youth program at FrOSCon since 2013, working on free software topics for youth and education.
• Computec Media GmbH | Marquard Media Group AGminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Media partner covering the conference through their publications.
• Gesellschaft für InformatikminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Media partner - German Computer Science society.
• NewPipe e.V.minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Supporter partner - open source project with exhibition presence.
• SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbHminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Supporter partner providing support for the conference.
• Proxmox Server Solutions GmbHminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Partner with exhibition presence at the conference.
• German Unix User Group e.V.minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026Partner with exhibition presence at the conference.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• FOSDEM: FOSDEM is Europe's largest free and open source software event, held annually in Brussels with thousands of community-driven talks. It is the most direct peer to FrOSCon in terms of volunteer-run, community-CFP, free-admission FOSS conference model, though at significantly larger scale.
• FOSSASIA: FOSSASIA is an Asia-based open technology event series with community-CFP and free-admission elements similar to FrOSCon, focused on open source hardware, software, and developer communities. Comparable in mission and community-driven delivery, though geographically distinct.
• openSUSE Conference: The openSUSE Conference is a community-organized annual gathering for the openSUSE distribution, run on a volunteer model with free admission and project-driven talks. It is a direct peer in format and audience, though narrower in topical scope to a single distribution.
• LibrePlanet: LibrePlanet is the Free Software Foundation's annual community conference, run on a similar free-admission, community-CFP model with a strong focus on free software ideology. Comparable in scale and philosophy but oriented more toward FSF activism than enterprise FOSS adoption.
• Chemnitzer Linuxtage: Chemnitzer Linuxtage is a German annual FOSS conference with a similar community-organized, free-admission format and university-affiliated roots. It is a closely comparable mid-sized German FOSS event directly competing for the same regional audience and sponsors.

Broad incumbents

• Open Source Summit Europe: Open Source Summit Europe is the Linux Foundation's flagship FOSS conference, much larger in scale with paid tickets and corporate sponsorship. It overlaps with FrOSCon on the enterprise FOSS community but operates at a different commercial and attendance tier.
• OSCON (O'Reilly): OSCON was O'Reilly's long-running commercial open source conference. It targets a similar FOSS developer audience as FrOSCon but operated as a paid, commercially produced event rather than a community non-profit model.
• KubeCon + CloudNativeCon: KubeCon is the largest CNCF-run open source conference, focused on cloud-native projects including Kubernetes. It overlaps with FrOSCon on FOSS developers but at vastly larger commercial scale with paid admission and significant corporate sponsorship.

Emerging players

• DebConf: DebConf is the annual Debian project conference, run on a community non-profit model with free or low-cost attendance and project-driven content. Comparable in operating philosophy to FrOSCon but narrower in scope to a single distribution's contributors.
• Akademy: Akademy is the annual KDE community conference, organized on a volunteer basis with free community talks. It shares the volunteer-driven, community-CFP FOSS conference format with FrOSCon but is narrowly scoped to the KDE ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/FrOSCon
• YouTubemedia.ccc.de/b/conferences/froscon
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/froscon
• Instagraminstagram.com/froscon

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FrOSCon e.V.