Open-Source LLMs Will Win

Of course, open-source LLMs will win. Anyone who looks at the history of software development can see this trend.

➡️ No vendor lock-in. Qwen 3.6 is the same on every provider, so switching to avoid bad service is trivial.

➡️ Grassroots distribution. Proprietary software needs to convince decision-makers to buy. Open-source targets engineers who convince their boss.

➡️ Data privacy and self-hosting. How long will we keep sending confidential data to companies that benefit from training on it?

➡️ Cost-cutting. Look at the model prices on OpenRouter. Then look at Anthropic’s pricing page. No-brainer.

The only reason companies will remain paying frontier prices is if they get frontier models. For most run-of-the-mill LLM applications, open-source will be the norm.