Apache Software Foundation
The Apache Software Foundation provides software for the public good and sustains open-source communities through community-over-code governance. It supplies organizational, legal, financial, infrastructure, licensing, and community support for hundreds of freely available projects.
At a Glance
- Open-source developers and contributors
- Enterprises using data, cloud, search, web, streaming, workflow, and infrastructure software
- Technology companies and corporate sponsors
- Organizations operating APIs, microservices, Kubernetes, and AI workloads
AI Tools by Apache Software Foundation
(6)
Apache APISIX
Open Source API and AI Gateway
Apache Maka
Local First AI Agent Workspace
Apache Ossie
Open Source Semantic Metadata Standard
Apache Burr
Python AI State Machine Framework
Apache TVM
ML Model Compilation Framework
Apache Airflow
Open Source Workflow Orchestration Platform
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Latest News
ASF announced new top-level projects Apache Auron, Apache Reqsign, and Apache ResilientDB.
ASF released its FY2026 annual report, reporting 10,225 committers across 302 projects and launching its Responsible AI Initiative.
ASF announced Apache Iggy and Apache Sourcelume as new top-level projects.
ASF announced Apache Fluss and Apache Pony Mail as new top-level projects.
Products & Services
Open-source, high-performance API Gateway and AI Gateway for dynamic routing, load balancing, authentication, observability, and LLM traffic; built on NGINX and etcd and distributed under Apache License 2.0.
Kubernetes ingress controller release adding broad Gateway API support, Gateway API extensions, etcd-free API-driven mode, and multi-data-plane deployment.
Freely available, commercial-grade, feature-rich HTTP/Web server project and the project from which the Foundation grew.
Open-source project in the ASF ecosystem for workflow orchestration.
Market Position
ASF is a nonprofit steward and community platform rather than a conventional software vendor. It differentiates through a large multi-project portfolio, neutral governance, Apache License 2.0, long-term project stewardship, legal/IP protection, and the Apache Way; comparable ecosystem organizations include the Linux Foundation and Eclipse Foundation. Apache APISIX competes in API gateways with products such as Kong, NGINX, Traefik, and Envoy-based gateways, emphasizing open-source extensibility, dynamic configuration, and 100+ plugins.
Leadership
Founders
Brian Behlendorf
Original Apache Group web developer; he and Cliff Skolnick organized the mailing list, shared information space, and developer access used to coordinate Apache HTTP Server patches. ASF history identifies him as a co-founder and the first person to use the Apache name.
Roy T. Fielding
One of the eight original Apache Group contributors who coordinated code and enhancements to the NCSA HTTP daemon.
Rob Hartill
One of the eight original Apache Group webmasters and an early Apache HTTP Server developer who worked on the 0.7.x feature set.
David Robinson
One of the eight original Apache Group contributors; he produced early Apache HTTP Server documentation.
Cliff Skolnick
One of the eight original Apache Group contributors; he co-organized the early Apache developer mailing list and shared infrastructure with Brian Behlendorf.
Randy Terbush
One of the eight original Apache Group contributors who coordinated and tested patches to the NCSA server.
Robert S. Thau
One of the eight original Apache Group contributors; he designed the Shambhala server architecture that became the basis of Apache 0.8.8.
Andrew Wilson
One of the eight original Apache Group contributors who helped coordinate the initial Apache HTTP Server code and releases.
Executive Team
Ruth Suehle
President
Volunteer ASF corporate officer; ASF leadership describes its officers as elected/servant leaders.
Daniel Ruggeri
Executive Vice President
Volunteer ASF corporate officer.
Board of Directors
Founding Story
In February 1995, after NCSA HTTP daemon development stalled following Rob McCool's departure, webmasters pooled bug fixes and enhancements over email. Eight core contributors formed the Apache Group and released Apache 0.6.2 in April 1995; in 1999 members of that group incorporated the ASF so the HTTP project and later projects could continue beyond any individual volunteer and have an independent legal and organizational home.
Business Model
Revenue Model
Charitable contributions from individuals, corporate sponsorships, and foundation support; the Foundation's software is freely available and it does not operate as a conventional product-subscription vendor.
Target Markets
- Open-source developers and contributors
- Enterprises using data, cloud, search, web, streaming, workflow, and infrastructure software
- Technology companies and corporate sponsors
- Organizations operating APIs, microservices, Kubernetes, and AI workloads
- Developing and sustaining open-source software communities
- Enterprise adoption of freely available data, cloud, search, libraries, geospatial, IoT, and developer infrastructure software
- Incubating and graduating new open-source projects
- API and microservice traffic management, Kubernetes ingress, and AI/LLM gateway operations through Apache APISIX
- Software supply-chain security, release verification, standards, and responsible AI infrastructure
- Billions of users benefit from ASF software; prominent projects include Apache HTTP Server, Airflow, Kafka, Cassandra, Camel, and Groovy.