Which program should I pick?
Pick 2–3 targets, not ten. Use this map, then read the program page and official guide.
Start here
flowchart TD
A[What do you need most?] --> B[Cash stipend this summer]
A --> C[Learn OSS without pressure]
A --> D[Bitcoin / crypto OSS]
B --> B1{Eligible for Outreachy?}
B1 -->|Yes| O[Outreachy]
B1 -->|No| B2[Compare GSoC vs SoB vs LFX vs ESoC]
C --> C1[GSSoC / SSoC / Season of KDE / Hacktoberfest]
D --> D1[Summer of Bitcoin]
By goal
| Your goal | Strong fits |
|---|---|
| Highest fixed stipend (US-style) | Outreachy |
| Flexible global program, non-students OK | GSoC |
| New to OSS worldwide | ESoC |
| Bitcoin dev or design | Summer of Bitcoin |
| Cloud / CNCF / kernel / LF ecosystem | LFX |
| Technical writing | Season of Docs |
| India gov-tech | C4GT |
| India science / simulation | FOSSEE, eSim |
| Beginner certificate track | GSSoC, SSoC |
| Haskell / via GSoC org | Summer of Haskell |
| Grant for a FOSS idea (EU) | NLnet |
By experience
| You are… | Suggested path |
|---|---|
| Never opened a PR | first-contribution.md → Hacktoberfest or GSSoC → then GSoC/ESoC |
| Some PRs, no mentor relationship | Pick one org, 2–3 merged PRs, then GSoC or LFX |
| Strong systems / C | Kernel mentorship, LFX, GSoC orgs (LLVM, etc.) |
| Designer | Summer of Bitcoin designer track, Outreachy UX projects |
India-specific
See india.md for SIH, Devfolio, C4GT, FOSSEE, GSSoC, SSoC together.