The Best of 30+ OpenSource Portable Applications

With Flash Drives with higher data rates & high capacity, you can store virtually anything – starting from your holiday photos to PowerPoint presentations, starting from Applications to Operating Systems.

Here is a list of the best of OpenSource Portable Apps, starting from simple utilities to 3D modelling applications, categorized. But before that,

Why should you choose OpenSource?

  • It’s because I love OpenSource :P
  • Because FOSS (Free & OpenSource Software) are free, literally
  • You can freely modify
  • You can freely distribute – no piracy issues (Because you have the power to cut/copy/paste)
  • You can be proud that you use OpenSource Softwares ;)

Back to our subject. Here goes the list.

Text Editors & Office Automation

Notepad++ Portable is a full-featured Text editor that has predefined syntax color based on the language. This usual Notepad++ has been packaged as a Portable Application so you don’t have to install and you can do your development on the go. Official Site.

OpenOffice Portable is a well-known complete office suite that includes a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation and Database tools. If you have used OpenOffice, this is a portable version of the same that helps you work with your documents on the go. Official Site.

AbiWord is a light-weight Word Processor that has the compatibility with Microsoft Word .DOC files and helps you to work with your documents on the go. Official Site.

KompoZer (Nvu) Portable is an easy-to-use Web Editor similar to Microsoft Frontpage or Adobe Dreamweaver. Based on Gecko engine, Nvu features CSS editor, color picker, spell-checker and FTP manager. Official Site: Nvu | KompoZer

PDF

Sumatra PDF Portable is a slim, free, open-source PDF viewer for Windows. Portable out of the box. It has a minimalistic design, light-weight and loads up quickly.

Tasks, Notes & Finance Management

PNotes, expanded as Pinned Notes or Portable Notes, is a fast, light-weight alternative you to your yellow sticky notes on your table. It is written entirely in C Language and Windows API.

GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software. Easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports. The usual GnuCash has been packaged to a Portable application. Official Site.

Learning / Educational

BPBible is portable version of the regular BPBible Bible Study Tool. It is a package of Bible, commentaries, dictionary and helps you examine Gospel Harmonies and search for verses. Has both Old and New Testament. Official Site.

Celestia Portable is a planetarium software that has 3D planet viewing, travelling beyond the galaxy and viewing the stars. You can travel throughout the solar system, the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. Official site.

Stellarium Portable is a portable version of the regular Stellarium. It has constellation drawing, star names, planet viewing, nebulae watching, and more. It leaves no information behind. Official Site.

Development Tools

XAMPP is every PHP developer’s favourite tool that combines Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) and gives you a virtual server to test all your PHP files and PHP based Content Management Systems (CMS). XAMPP is an every upgrading team so you will always have the latest version of Apache server, PHP, phpMyAdmin and MySQL. Official site.

NSIS Portable, expanded as Nullsoft Scriptable Install System, lets you create standard Windows Installers capable of installing, uninstalling, setting system settings, etc. NSIS is on based on script files, so you can create both simple and advanced installers. Official Site.

DOSBox Portable is a DOS Emulator for modern PCs with support for graphics, sound, mouse, modem that helps executing old DOS application / playing good old DOS games. Official Site.

Multimedia

Graphic Editors

Blender is a well-known 3D modeling, animation and rendering tool to create interactive 3D models. This is a portable version of the regular Blender. Official Site.

GIMP is a well-known Image Editor with several tools for touching up and altering photos. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert-quality photo-retouching program, an online batch-processing system, a mass production image renderer, or an image-format converter. Official Site.

Music & Video Players

VLC Portable is world’s favourite video player with support for multiple codecs. Give it a file with the rarest codec, and VLC will play for you. Official Site.

Audio Editors

Audacity Portable is very simple, easiest to use Audio Recorder and Editor to make recordings on the go. Primary available for Linux, is now available for Windows too. Official Site.

DVD

DVDStyler Portable is a portable version of the regular DVDStyler that helps you create interactive menus with its interactive interface, with easy drag-n-drop feature and has support for MPEG, AVI and VOB files. This portable version is the best choice when you are on holidays, and are looking to create an interactive menu for your holiday video, on the go. Official Site.

Internet Tools

FTP, SSH & Telnet (For Webmasters)

FileZilla Portable is a full-featured FTP client for webmasters. Supporting both uploads and downloads, SFTP, FTPS and FTPES and intuitive drag-n-drop interface. Official Site.

WinSCP Portable is another free FTP & SFTP client with PuTTY integration with a simple Windows Explorer-like interface. Official Site.

PuTTY Portable is a portable of the well-known PuTTY client for Telnet & SSH, so you have access even on the go. Official Site.

Browsers, Chat, Email

Mozilla Firefox, an award-wining well-known secure OpenSource web browser in a portable version. Official Mozilla site.

Pidgin Portable is a portable version of the regular Pidgin chat client. Pidgin, pronounced Pigeon, with Pigeon as their logo, is an open-source cross-platform multi-user multi-protocol Chat client that usually comes with Linux Operating Systems, that kicks off all your chat clients with its simple interface yet powerful in features. Official Site.

Mozilla ThunderBird is again a well-known email client from the house of Mozilla, well-known for its browser product – Firefox. ThunderBird Portable is a portable version of the regular ThunderBird email client that features a simple interface yet maintaining its security, powered by Gecko engine.

Security

ClamWin Portable is a portable version of the regular ClamWin AntiVirus, thus giving you easy access to check for Viruses on your Flash Drive. A good rule of thumb is to update it regularly. Official Site.

EraserDrop Portable gives you an easy-to-use interface to securely erase your data so that it is impossible to recover. All you need to do is drop your files into the floating icon in your desktop.

KeePass Portable is a password repository where you can store all your passwords which is locked with one master-key or a key-disk. The database is encrypted using AES-256 algorithm. Official Site.

Toucan is an all-in-one tool to synchronize, backup, secure your data. Your data is backed up with industry standard ZIP / 7-Zip and encrypted using AES-256 algorithm with more functionalities.

Utilities

Appetizer is a dock / application launcher to organize your shortcuts. If you use PortableApps.com’s folder structure, Appetizer can automatically detect & organize your portable apps.

7-Zip Portable is a portable version of the regular 7-zip. Allows you to compress & uncompress your files in 7z, ZIP, RAR, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2 and more. Official Site.

LightScreen Portable is a screenshot application packaged as Portable that allows you to take screenshots with support for saving in multiple formats (JPG, BMP, PNG, etc). Official Site.

InfraRecorder Portable is a portable version of the regular InfraRecorder that helps you burn CD/DVDs on the go with support for CDRW, dual-layer DVDs, ISO/BIN/CUE Disc images, audio tracks and multi-session. Official Site.

SpeedCrunch Portable is an advanced algebraic calculator to could process simple to advanced calculations. Salient features include using unlimited variables, syntax highlighting with multiple mathematical functions. Official Site.

By the way, this list doesn’t include all the applications and I could have missed some. If I do, let me know through the comments. I’ll also keep updating this list.

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