Linux companies like RedHat and Canonical, the company behind the incredibly popular Ubuntu Linux distro, also make much of their money from professional support services as well. If you think about it, software used to be a one-time sale (with some upgrades), but professional services are an ongoing annuity.

Who pays for Linux?

The Linux kernel is an enormous open source project that has been in development for more than 25 years. While many people tend to think of open source projects as being developed by passionate volunteers, the Linux kernel is mostly developed by people who are paid by their employers to contribute.

Is Linux paid?

There’s also a big cost difference between deploying Linux and Windows: Linux itself is free, so it’s the distributor’s support that you’ll pay for. And, yes, you will want to do that. The price for proper enterprise-ready support still makes Linux desktop a much less expensive option.