🩺 Vitals
- 🟢 Last active: 2026-09-23
- 📦 Latest release: 4.3.4 (2026-09-23)
- 🐞 Open issues: 47
- 🌟 Stars: 648
What do these metrics mean?
- Last active: when code was last pushed, as of our last check. The dot is green when that was recent, grey otherwise. A long gap can mean a tool is finished and stable, not only unmaintained.
- Latest release: the most recent tagged, packaged version the maintainers published. Not every healthy project tags releases.
- Open issues: unresolved reports and requests. A high number is normal for a popular project and is not a warning on its own.
- Stars: how many people bookmarked the project on its forge. A rough popularity signal, not a measure of quality.
🏗️ Profile
- Official: openslides.com
- Source: github.com/OpenSlides/OpenSlides
- License: MIT
- Deployment: Docker
- Data Model: PostgreSQL / Redis
- Jurisdiction: Germany 🇩🇪, EU 🇪🇺 (Intevation GmbH)
- Compliance (SaaS): N/A (managed hosting runs in an ISO 27001 data centre; the application itself holds no certification)
- Compliance (Self-Hosted): GDPR Ready
- Complexity: High (4/5) - Microservice stack (multiple Go and Python services, an Angular client, PostgreSQL, Redis and a proxy) orchestrated on one node via Docker Compose
- Maintenance: Moderate (3/5) - Coordinated updates across the microservice stack plus PostgreSQL and Redis backups
- User Management: High (4/5) - SAML SSO, granular permission groups and a global change and restore history, all in the MIT self-hosted build with no paid tier
1. The Executive Summary
What is it? OpenSlides is a self-hosted platform for running formal assemblies end to end: building agendas, managing speaker lists, submitting and amending motions, holding elections, and conducting live secret-ballot votes with results projected in real time. It is built for organisations whose decisions must follow procedure and withstand scrutiny, such as parliaments, political parties, trade unions, and large membership associations. The entire application, including live voting, SAML single sign-on, and hierarchical committee management, is distributed under the MIT license across a set of microservices, so there is no paywalled feature tier: the paid plans from the vendor sell managed hosting and support, not software capability. For remote and hybrid meetings it integrates a video backend such as BigBlueButton, keeping the debate and the decision record in one system.
The Strategic Verdict:
- 🔴 For Small Organisations Without IT Capacity: Caution. The self-hosted deployment is a microservice stack, not a single container. An association without operations staff should use the vendor's managed hosting rather than run this in-house.
- 🟢 For Institutions Needing Sovereign Digital Assemblies: Strong Buy. A German, MIT-licensed, EU-domiciled platform gives parliaments, parties, and unions full control over sensitive voting data with no license traps, no per-meeting fees, and no US jurisdictional exposure.
2. The "Hidden" Costs (TCO Analysis)
| Cost Component | Lumi (SaaS) | OpenSlides (Self-Hosted) |
|---|---|---|
| Per-Meeting Fees | Charged per meeting or AGM | $0 (unlimited meetings) |
| Participant Licensing | Priced per participant | $0 (unlimited participants) |
| Live Voting | Premium module | Included (MIT) |
| Hosting & Support | Bundled (managed) | Self-managed, or vendor SLA |
3. The "Day 2" Reality Check
🚀 Deployment & Operations
- Installation: Deployed via Docker Compose using the project's management CLI, which orchestrates the backend, authentication, voting, autoupdate, media, and projector services alongside PostgreSQL and Redis. There are no forced cloud callbacks; the entire system runs on infrastructure you control.
- Scalability: The microservice split lets the read-heavy autoupdate and projector paths scale independently of the write path, which matters during live votes when thousands of participants receive real-time updates at once. PostgreSQL is the durability anchor and the component to size and back up first.
🛡️ Security & Governance (Risk Assessment)
- Jurisdiction & Geopolitics (Germany / EU): OpenSlides is developed and commercially backed by Intevation GmbH, a German company operating under EU law. There is no US parent and no CLOUD Act exposure, and self-hosting keeps voting data entirely within infrastructure the operator controls. For European public-sector and civic bodies handling sensitive ballots, this jurisdiction is a strategic asset.
- The Compliance Shift: The vendor's managed hosting runs in an ISO 27001 data centre, but that certification covers the facility, not the application, and it does not transfer to a self-hosted instance. Self-hosting shifts database durability (PostgreSQL WAL archiving), transport security (TLS termination at the proxy), and denial-of-service mitigation onto the operator. The software's secret-ballot design supports GDPR obligations, but the surrounding infrastructure controls are the operator's to implement.
- License & Governance (MIT, Concentrated Development): The MIT license carries no copyleft, network clause, or badgeware restriction, so there is no license risk and the code can be forked or embedded freely. The real residual consideration is governance concentration: development is centralised around a single commercial provider, with no broad contributor base or independent foundation behind it. The permissive license is the mitigant, since any capable party can fork and continue the project if that backing ever lapses.
4. Market Landscape
🏢 Proprietary Incumbents
- Lumi: The established platform for shareholder and member meetings with live voting; organisations switch to OpenSlides to eliminate per-meeting and per-participant fees and to keep ballot data in their own infrastructure.
- Diligent: An enterprise board and governance portal; OpenSlides covers the assembly, motion, and voting workflow without the per-seat licensing model or the US-based vendor relationship.
🤝 Open Source Ecosystem
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