Terms of Use

Next Level Open Source (nextlevelopensource.com) is an informational website that helps people discover open-source alternatives to paid software, compare what they can do, understand what they may cost to run and learn how to get started. You can read more about us.

The website is operated by Aurora Media House, a partnership registered in Malaysia ("we", "us", "our"). These Terms govern your access to and use of the website.

By using the website, you agree to these Terms, to the extent the law allows. If you do not agree, please stop using the website. You do not need an account to use it, and we do not offer accounts, paid plans or purchases on the website.

You are welcome to use the website for any lawful purpose, including discovering, researching, comparing and learning about software, and to share links to it. Reading tools, screen readers, translation tools and search engines are welcome too.

When using the website, you must not:

• break the law, or use the website to help anyone else do so;
• try to gain unauthorised access to the website, its systems or any related account or service;
• disrupt, overload or impair the website, for example with a flood of automated requests;
• get around security measures or access restrictions;
• upload or send malicious code, or use the website to distribute it;
• collect content from the website by automated means in a way that breaks the law, ignores the rules in our robots.txt file, or puts an unreasonable load on our infrastructure.

We may limit or block access that we reasonably believe breaks these rules or threatens the website's security or availability.

We work to keep project pages accurate, and we explain our process on How We Evaluate Software. Project pages are prepared with the help of automated tools, including AI, from each project's own published pages and other stated sources, and a person reviews each page before it is published. Even so, please keep the following in mind:

• Information changes. Features, compatibility, licences, prices, hosting requirements, installation steps, security status and maintenance activity can change after we publish a page.
• Listings are not endorsements. Including a project, or comparing it with a paid product, does not mean we endorse, certify, audit or guarantee it, or that it fully replaces the paid product.
• Cost estimates are estimates. They depend on your configuration, usage, infrastructure, region and providers' current prices, and on the assumptions shown with each estimate. They are not quotes.
• Setup guidance may need adapting. Instructions and setup prompts point to each project's official documentation and may need changes for your own environment.

Before you install software, spend money, move data or make a decision that affects security or compliance, please check the important details with the project's official sources and the providers concerned. If you find an error, please tell us at hello@nextlevelopensource.com.

The projects we list, their code repositories, and the hosting providers, APIs, AI assistants and other services we mention or link to are operated by independent third parties. We do not control them.

• Each has its own terms, privacy policy, licence and restrictions, which apply when you visit or use it.
• Using a listed project or an external service may create a relationship directly between you and that third party.
• We cannot guarantee the availability, security, performance, continued maintenance or suitability of third-party software or services.

Please review the relevant licences, documentation and provider terms before you use them.

Open-source software is made available under the licence chosen by its rights holders. Listing a project on our website does not give you a licence to it; you receive any licence directly from the project, and you must follow its terms.

Project names, logos, screenshots, code, documentation and quoted passages belong to their respective owners. We show them to identify and describe the projects and products concerned, and we do not claim ownership of them. Their appearance on our website does not mean their owners endorse us.

The text, design and arrangement we create for the website belong to us and are protected by law. You may link to any page and quote short passages with a link back to the source page. Please ask us before republishing larger parts of the website.

We do not currently use affiliate links.

If we add affiliate links or other commercial relationships in future, we will disclose them clearly where they appear and update these Terms and our How We Evaluate Software page. If you then buy something through such a link, the seller's own terms and prices apply, so please check them before you buy.

The website provides general information and education. It is not legal, financial, cybersecurity, compliance or technical advice for your particular situation. Software being listed does not mean it is safe, compliant or suitable for your use. Where the stakes are high, please get advice from a qualified professional.

We may update, change, suspend or remove the website or any part of it, including project pages, at any time. We aim to keep the website available, but we do not promise uninterrupted access or any particular level of service.

We provide the website and its information free of charge and "as available". To the extent the law allows, we do not give promises or guarantees about the website beyond those that the law requires.

To the extent the law allows, we are not responsible for losses that arise from:

• inaccuracies or omissions in project or third-party information, including information that has changed since we published it;
• software that is incompatible with your systems or fails to install or work as expected;
• changes to third-party prices, availability or features;
• decisions you make based on information on the website, without checking the official sources;
• problems caused by third-party software or services.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the law that applies to you, including liability for our own fraud, and any rights you have as a consumer, for example under Malaysia's Consumer Protection Act 1999.

If you use the website unlawfully or seriously break these Terms, for example by attacking the website or its systems, you are responsible, to the extent the law allows, for the reasonable losses and costs this directly causes us.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information. These Terms do not change it.

We may revise these Terms as the website develops, for example when we add new features. The current version is always on this page, with its "Last updated" date at the top. If we make a significant change, we will say so clearly on this page. Changes apply from the date shown and do not apply to anything that happened before.

These Terms are governed by the laws of Malaysia. If a dispute arises, please contact us first, so we can try to resolve it informally. If that does not work, the courts of Malaysia may decide the dispute. If you live outside Malaysia, you keep any protection that the law of your own country gives you and that cannot be excluded by agreement.