There is little doubt that ESRI’s ArcGIS is the industry standard for GIS professionals.  No open source GIS can compare to the breadth of features and specialty extensions available with a paid ESRI license.  Nevertheless, there is a steep learning curve and cost associated with intelligent use of the software.  Sometimes, you just want to make an attractive, accessible and most of all, free map.  For that, and for non-GIS professionals, open source may be the way to go.  To that end, below is a gallery of “freemium” (free to start, paid for high use) open source GIS platforms to investigate.  Each gallery item contains a brief description of the application and you can click on the company icon to open their website in a new browser tab.  This list only includes the more well known open source GIS programs.  For a more complete list, please visit the GIS Lounge blog.

Click any icon below to open a new tab at their website.