Are you looking for remote paid open source internships for this summer?
I have rounded up 12 open source opportunities accepting students and beginners for their summer 2025 programs.
Major League Hacking (MLH) Fellowship
MLH partners with employers to offer three tracks in Software Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering, and Web3 Engineering.
The MLH remote internship is open to applicants who can code in at least one programming language, have taken part in at least one MLH Hackthon or Global Hack Week event, and can commit at least 20 hours weekly to the program.
The open source fellowship runs remotely for 12 weeks and pays interns a stipend of up to $5,000.
Applications close on 30th April, 2025.
Google Summer of Code (GSoC)
Google Summer of Code (GSoC) brings together hundreds of organizations like The Linux Foundation, NumFOCUS, GNOME, and VideoLAN to provide open source fellowships and mentorship to students.
The summer open source projects last for 12 weeks, but some can stretch to 22 weeks. GSoC stipend varies by the size of the project, small projects start with a base amount of $1500, medium projects $3,000, and large projects $6,000.
Outreachy
Outreachy offers a 3-month paid, remote open source internship for people from underrepresented groups in tech—including women, non-binary folks, Black and Latinx communities.
Outreachy runs two internship cohorts twice a year, May to August and December to March. Interns earn a stipend of $7,000 paid in installments.
LFX Mentorship Program
The Linux Foundation Mentorship Program brings together various open source communities interested in offering beginner coders internships to develop their skills.
Each project participant develops its program, outlining custom eligibility, duration, stipend, and mentors.
LFX open source mentees earn a stipend of between $3,000 and $6,000, depending on their location and program they choose.
Here are some open source LFX mentorship programs available for students to apply:
Linux Kernel Mentorship Program
Contribute to the heart of Linux by making it more stable and secure with support from seasoned developers and maintainers. Having some basic knowledge of the Linux Kernel will help you complete the assigned tasks when applying.
Linux Kernel open source program runs for 12 weeks full-time or 24 weeks part-time. Applications are done in February, and the program begins in March. The program is conducted in spring, summer, and fall.
Hyperledger Mentorship Program
Be part of developing and deploying blockchain projects in a supportive open source community with the Hyperledger mentorship program.
While the program is open to beginners, showing previous contributions in open source software and being active in the LF Decentralized Trust (LDFT) community will increase your chances.
Applications open in April for the summer program running from June to November.
CNCF Mentorship Program
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation partners with LFX Mentorship and Google Summer of Code to mentor beginners interested in cloud-native technologies.
The CNCF open source internship runs for 3 months and applications open in February.
Open Mainframe Project Mentorship
Contribute to open source projects for mainframe systems such as COBOL and z/OS while learning from experienced developers.
This year, the Open Mainframe Project has 13 programs, including documenting and fixing bugs under the Feilong project, COBOL programming, and AI-based mainframe modernization.
The open Mainframe remote open source program runs for 3 months. Applications close on May 9th, 2025.
Processing Foundation Fellowship
The Processing Foundation Fellowship funds creative techs working on open source projects that involve art, code, education, and activism.
Fellows work on tools, libraries, tutorials, and community-based initiatives that advance creative coding and digital literacy—especially for underrepresented groups in tech and the arts.
The summer fellowship runs from approximately 16 weeks in June to October, and interns earn a stipend of $10,000. Applications close on May 2, 2025.
Summer of Bitcoin
Summer of Bitcoin offers paid remote internships for students to contribute to Bitcoin and related open-source projects.
Interns collaborate with experienced developers and designers from the Bitcoin ecosystem to work on projects such as; protocol development, lightning network, Bitcoin Core, design, research, and other critical infrastructure.
The program runs for 12 weeks, usually between June and August. Summer of Bitcoin pays contributors a stipend of between $3,000 and $6,600 (paid in BTC equivalent).
FOSSASIA University Students Program
FOSSASIA internship connects beginners with open source projects from participating organizations in artificial intelligence, web & mobile development, and hardware.
Contributors receive a monthly payment depending on the project scope, location, and qualifications.
The program lasts 2-6 months, depending on the specific project you’re assigned to.
Applications are on a rolling basis, and each project sets individual start and end dates for the internship program.
Summer of Nix
Summer of Nix allows students to develop free and open source software (FOSS) projects and make them publicly available as Nix packages.
Participants work in teams of five to contribute to the Nix ecosystem through writing code, testing software, documentation, and web design.
Summer of Nix pays EU participants a stipend of 3,000 euros while foreign interns receive an adjusted pay depending on their location.
The remote open source program runs for approximately 13 weeks. Applications open in late spring until 12 May, 2025 for the summer cohort.
Open Source Promotion Plan (OSPP)
OSPP is a summer program that connects university students with open source organizations to work on real-world coding projects.
OSPP is based in China but welcomes applications from students worldwide. International students can apply to contribute to projects hosted by global open source communities.
The open source internship lasts between 3-4 months and interns earn up to ¥12,000 CNY (~$1,600) based on project complexity.
Start Preparing Now for Paid Open Source Internships
Remote paid open source internships are competitive and preparing early will give you a higher chance of success.
Polish your GitHub profile and start making small contributions to beginner-friendly open source projects.
Also, join and actively participate in tech communities you're interested in. Engage with mentors before applying to open source internships to create a rapport and ensure your project proposal aligns with their goals.
Finally, customize each application to showcase your skills, motivation, and willingness to learn.
